Department History

Welcome

The history of UCSD as an outgrowth of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography is documented in the book An Improbable Venture, but there is little to be found there about the Mathematics Department.

The campus was first conceived in the late 1950s as a graduate and research Institute of Technology and Engineering. The new school was to provide instruction and research in mathematics, physics, chemistry, the earth and biological sciences, and engineering. The first faculty appointment was made in July 1957. The original plans were soon expanded into a more general campus under the leadership of Roger Revelle, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; and in 1959, the UC Regents approved the University of California, La Jolla. A year later, the campus was renamed the University of California, San Diego and its first graduate students were enrolled.

UCSD admitted its first undergraduate students in 1964, the year after the Mathematics Department was formed. The founder of the Mathematics Department was Stefan E. Warschawski, a complex analyst who had been Mathematics Department Chair at the University of Minnesota. The Mathematics Department's special Stefan E. Warschawski Visiting Assistant Professorship, the first appointment to which was made in 1980, is named in his honor. This named assistant professorship was originally a 2-year term and was extended to a 3-year term in 2006.

The Mathematics Department's first year was largely devoted to the recruitment of faculty and preparation of graduate and undergraduate curricula, but some graduate instruction was offered. In September 1964, the Mathematics Department started full-fledged operation with six professors and two assistant professors, approximately 30 graduate students, and an entering class of 181 undergraduates (freshmen). On February 1, 1965, the Mathematics Department's programs for instruction leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics were approved.

The graduate program in 1964-65 provided basic full-year courses in real and complex analysis, modern algebra and topology, a year course on Methods of Applied Mathematics, and one on Numerical Analysis. In addition, seminars on algebra, topology, and functional analysis were conducted for advanced students. A weekly colloquium was held and frequent special lectures by visiting lecturers, especially in connection with recruitment of additional faculty, were given.

The Mathematics Department began the year 1965-66 with a considerably expanded staff of 12 regular and five visiting (or acting) members of all professorial ranks. All senior members of the Mathematics Department had federal research grants. The graduate program was expanded by additional courses in partial differential equations, functional analysis, and probability. A program providing for the undergraduate major in mathematics and service courses to other fields was offered.

Click to see some of our faculty in 1968

Some of our faculty in 1968

Left to right:
Richard Faber, Jay Fillmore, Eugene Lee, Hubert Halkin, Carl FitzGerald, Don Smith, Michael Sharpe, Steve Andrea, Steve Warschawski, Roland Bulirsch, Ron Getoor, Bill Gragg, Adriano Garsia, Josef Stoer

The Mathematics Department was originally housed in Urey Hall on the Revelle campus, and moved to what was called Building 2A-2A' (now labeled the Applied Physics and Mathematics building) on the Muir campus in July 1969. The Mathematics Department offices currently occupy the entire 7th and 6th floors of AP&M, in addition to parts of the 5th, 2nd, and Basement floors.

A photographic and narrative history of the modernist architectural design used for Muir campus buildings such as AP&M is detailed in the The Campus Guide: University of California, San Diego book, on the Modern San Diego website, and on the The History of UC San Diego website.

In the following lists, years run from July 1 to June 30. An appointment listed during a year means that the appointment became effective during that year, normally July 1, and a departure listed during a year means that the person left at some time during the year, normally June 30. The list of teaching visitors is somewhat suspect, as the records are difficult to trace in many cases.

Department Chairs

Changes in Personnel