WALTER GOTTSCHALK

WALTER GOTTSCHALK, professor emeritus of mathematics at Wesleyan, died Feb. 15, 2004, of mesenteric ischemia. He was 85. In the early 1940’s, he and his doctoral adviser at the University of Virginia, G. A. Hedlund, introduced the field of topological dynamics: the abstract study of those properties of the set of all solutions of a differential equation that can be determined without solving the equation. In 1955 he and Hedlund published the seminal monograph “Topological Dynamics.” The influence of this work continues and can be seen in areas such as the study of chaotic behavior. He also had a keen interest in the relationship of art and mathematics, particularly in the development of three dimensional objects and sculpture. He showed his constructed polyhedra in a one-man exhibit, “Mathematical Sculpture: Polyhedral Forms” at the Davison Art Center in 1965. He joined the faculty at Wesleyan in 1963 and twice served a term as chairman of the Mathematics Department. He was predeceased by his wife, Margaret Gottschalk. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and four grandchildren.