Charles Bradfield Morrey Jr. was born July 23, 1907, in
Columbus, Ohio; his father was a
professor of
bacteriology at
Ohio State University, and his mother was president of a school of music in Columbus, therefore it can be said that his one was a family of
academicians.[5] Perhaps from his mother's influence, he had a lifelong love for
piano,[6] even if
mathematics was his main interest since his childhood.[7] He was at first educated in the public schools of Columbus and, before going to the university, he spent a year at
Staunton Military Academy in
Staunton, Virginia.[5]
In 1933, during his stay at the Department of Mathematics of the
University of California, Berkeley as an instructor, he met Frances Eleonor Moss, who had just started studying for her
M.A.:[8] they married in 1937[7] and had three children.[9] With summers off the family enjoyed traveling: they crossed the
United States by car at least 20 times, visiting many natural wonders, and looked forward to the
AMS meetings, held each year in August. They usually spent abroad their
sabbatical leaves, and doing so they visited nearly every European country, witnessing many changes succeeding during the period from the 1950s to the 1980s.[8]
Kelley, Lehmer & Robinson (1989, p. 107) describe him as really very gifted for friendship, having a charming
sense of humor[17] and being continuously attentive for people, mathematics and musics. His human qualities are described as the complement to his ability in administrative duties and in scientific research:[18] as a confirmation of his skills in scientific research, also
Maull (1995a, p. 10) states that he was one of the strongest workers in
analysis.
The Charles B. Morrey Jr. Assistant Professorship
In 1985 his widow, Frances Eleonor Morrey, née Ross, established the Charles B. Morrey Jr. Assistant Professorship at the Berkeley Mathematics department, to honor his memory.[19]
Work
Research activity
Con l'opera di Morrey il metodo diretto del Calcolo delle Variazioni riprendeva il suo cammino ed i problemi esistenziali rimasti aperti trovavano soluzione.[20]
Charles B. Morrey Jr. was a very effective teacher.[13] His book (
Morrey 1962) was the forerunner of a sequence of texts on calculus and analytic geometry, written in collaboration with
Murray H. Protter. According to
Kelley, Lehmer & Robinson (1989, p. 106) and to
Maull (1995a, p. 10), these books have had a wide influence on both university and high school teaching of mathematics. Morrey was also a successful advanced level teacher and thesis supervisor: at least 17 Ph.D. dissertations were written under his supervision.[13]
Morrey, Charles B. Jr. (1943), "Multiple integral problems in the calculus of variations and related topics", University of California Publications in Mathematics, (New Series), 1: 1–130,
MR0011537,
Zbl0063.04107.
Morrey, Charles B. Jr. (1962), University Calculus with Analytic Geometry, Reading, Massachusetts:
Addison–Wesley, p. 754, reviewed by Hoffman, Stephen (May 1963), "University Calculus with Analytic Geometry. by C. B. Morrey Jr.", The American Mathematical Monthly, 70 (5): 590–592,
doi:
10.2307/2312108,
JSTOR2312108.
^See
Kelley, Lehmer & Robinson (1989, p. 107). Also
Maull (1995a, p. 10) alludes to their children, however without giving any detail except the birth year of their first born, i.e. 1941.
^According to Sarah Hallam (see her interview by
Maull (1995c, p. 11)) and to
Rider (1985, pp. 288–289). In this last reference, the author also describes briefly but comprehensively the events leading to his hiring.
^An English translation reads as:"With the work of Morrey the direct method in the Calculus of Variation found its path and the open existence problems found their solution".
Cesari, Lamberto (1986), "L'opera di Leonida Tonelli e la sua influenza nel pensiero scientifico del secolo", in Montalenti, G.;
Amerio, L.; Acquaro, G.; Baiada, E.; et al. (eds.),
Convegno celebrativo del centenario della nascita di Mauro Picone e Leonida Tonelli (6–9 maggio 1985), Atti dei Convegni Lincei (in Italian), vol. 77, Roma:
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 41–73, archived from
the original on February 23, 2011, retrieved June 27, 2015. "The work of Leonida Tonelli and his influence on scientific thinking in this century" (English translation of the title) is an ample commemorative article, reporting recollections of the Author about teachers and colleagues, and a detailed survey of his and theirs scientific work, presented at the International congress in occasion of the celebration of the centenary of birth of Mauro Picone and Leonida Tonelli (held in
Rome on May 6–9, 1985).
Fichera, Gaetano (1995), "Tre battaglie perdute da tre grandi matematici italiani", Atti del convegno di studi in memoria di Giuseppe Gemignani. Modena, 20 maggio 1994, Collana di Studi dell'Accademia (in Italian), vol. 11,
Modena:
Enrico Mucchi Editore on behalf of the
Accademia Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Modena, pp. 9–28,
MR1385469. This paper, included in the Proceedings of the Study Meeting in Memory of Giuseppe Gemignani, is an account of the failures of
Vito Volterra,
Leonida Tonelli and
Francesco Severi, when dealing with particular research problems during their career. An English translation of the title reads as:-"Three battles lost by three great Italian mathematicians".