Notices of the AMS
  June 1995
  
   
   
   
   
                             GáBOR SZEGö CENTENARY
                                       
by Paul Nevai[note]

   
   
   
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   Gábor Szegö was born one hundred years ago on January 20, 1895, in
   Kunhegyes, Hungary (and died on August 7, 1985, in Palo Alto,
   California).
   
   To the mathematics community, Szegö is best known for his masterpiece
   Aufgaben und Lehrsätze aus der Analysis, vols. I and II (written with
   his mentor and friend, George (György) Pólya, Springer-Verlag, Berlin,
   1924), which was used by generations of mathematics students (and
   their professors). Quoting Pólya: ``It was a wonderful time; we worked
   with enthusiasm and concentration. We had similar backgrounds. We were
   both influenced, like all other young Hungarian mathematicians of that
   time, by Leopold (Lipót) Fejér. We were both readers of the same
   well-directed Hungarian Mathematical Journal for high school students
   that stressed problem solving. We were interested in the same kind of
   questions, in the same topics; but one of us knew more about one
   topic, and the other more about some other topic. It was a fine
   collaboration. The book Aufgaben und Lehrsätze aus der Analysis, the
   result of our cooperation, is my best work and also the best work of
   Gábor Szegö.''
   
   For analysts, Szegö is best known for Szegö's extremal problem and his
   results on Töplitz matrices which led to the concept of the Szegö
   reproducing kernel and which were the starting point for the Szegö
   limit theorem and the strong Szegö limit theorem and for Szegö's
   theory of Szegö's orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle. These
   have been summarized in his books Orthogonal Polynomials (Colloquium
   Publications, vol. 23, American Mathematical Society, Providence,
   Rhode Island, 1939) and Toeplitz Forms and their applications (jointly
   with Ulf Grenander, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los
   Angeles, 1958). The former is one of the most successful books ever
   published by the American Mathematical Society (four editions and
   several reprints).
   
   Several of his friends, collaborators, and students have corresponded
   on a plan for a memorial (most likely a bronze relief to be set up in
   Kunhegyes in front of the city library) dedicated to Gábor Szegö.
   
   Kunhegyes is a small town situated approximately 150 km southeast of
   Budapest. Szegö was one of the (two or three) most prominent people
   born there, so it is very appropriate to have a memorial placed there,
   especially since the citizens of Kunhegyes are committed to maintain
   such a memorial for many years to come. One might justifiably argue
   that either Budapest or Stanford would also be a proper place for such
   a memorial. As a matter of fact, there is a discussion going on about
   placing copies of the Szegö memorial in either Budapest or Stanford or
   both.
   
   It is expected that such a memorial will cost in the neighborhood of
   three to five thousand U.S. dollars. For information on how to
   participate in this project, please contact either Paul Nevai,
   Department of Mathematics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
   43210-1174, USA. (e-mail: nevai@math.ohio-state.edu, phone:
   1-614-292-3317) or perhaps the other sponsors of this project: namely,
   Dick Askey, Paul Erdös, Samuel Karlin, Peter Lax, Lee Lorch, Gilbert
   Strang, and Harold Widom, or one of the children of Gábor Szegö.
   
   Finally, additional information can be found on Szegö at
   http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/JAT/DATA/ATNET/szego.