Editing J. Barkley Rosser

{{Short description|American logician (1907–1989)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = John Barkley Rosser
|image             = 
|image_size        = 
|caption           = 
|workplaces        = [[Cornell University]]<br/>[[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], [[Institute for Defense Analyses#Center for Communications and Computing|IDA/CRD]]
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1907|12|06}}
|birth_place       = [[Jacksonville, Florida]], U.S.
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1989|09|05|1907|12|06}}
|death_place       = [[Madison, Wisconsin]], U.S.
|fields            = [[Mathematical logic]]<br/>[[Number theory]]
|alma_mater        = [[Princeton University]]
|thesis_title      = A Mathematical Logic without Variables
|thesis_year       = 1934
|doctoral_advisor  = [[Alonzo Church]]
|doctoral_students = [[George E. Collins]]<br/> [[Elliott Mendelson]]<br/> [[Gerald Sacks]]
|known_for         = [[Church&ndash;Rosser theorem]]<br/>[[Kleene–Rosser paradox]]<br/>Rosser's sieve
}}

'''John Barkley Rosser Sr.''' (December 6, 1907 – September 5, 1989) was an American [[logician]], a student of [[Alonzo Church]], and known for his part in the [[Church–Rosser theorem]] in [[lambda calculus]]. He also developed what is now called the "[[Rosser sieve]]" in [[number theory]]. He was part of the mathematics department at [[Cornell University]] from 1936 to 1963, chairing it several times.<ref name="wisc-mem"/> He was later director of the Army Mathematics Research Center at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] and the first director of the [[Institute for Defense Analyses#Center for Communications and Computing|Communications Research Division of IDA]]. Rosser also authored mathematical textbooks.

In 1936, he proved [[Rosser's trick]], a stronger version of [[Gödel's first incompleteness theorem]], showing that the requirement for [[ω-consistency]] may be weakened to consistency.  Rather than using the [[liar paradox]] sentence equivalent to "I am not provable," he used a sentence that stated "For every proof of me, there is a shorter proof of my negation".

In prime number theory, he proved [[Rosser's theorem]].

The [[Kleene–Rosser paradox]] showed that the original lambda calculus was inconsistent.

Rosser died of an [[aneurysm]] September 5, 1989, at his home in [[Madison, Wisconsin]].<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1212612.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103074821/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1212612.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |title=Deaths |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=September 19, 1989 }}</ref><ref name="wisc-mem">{{Citation |url=http://www.cs.wisc.edu/news/rosser.memorial.pdf |title=Memorial Resolution on the Death of Emeritus Professor J. Barkley Rosser |work=University of Wisconsin, Madison |date=March 5, 1990 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608075258/http://www.cs.wisc.edu/news/rosser.memorial.pdf |archivedate=June 8, 2011}}</ref>

Rosser's son, [[J. Barkley Rosser Jr.|John Barkley Rosser Jr.]] (1948–2023), was a [[Mathematical economics|mathematical economist]] and professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

==Selected publications==
*''A mathematical logic without variables'' by John Barkley Rosser, Univ. Diss. Princeton, NJ 1934, p.&nbsp;127–150, 328–355
*''Logic for mathematicians'' by John B. Rosser, McGraw-Hill 1953;<ref>{{cite journal|author=Curry, H. B.|authorlink=Haskell Curry|title=Review: ''Logic for mathematicians'' by J. B. Rosser|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1954|volume=60|issue=3|pages=266–272|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1954-60-03/S0002-9904-1954-09798-7/S0002-9904-1954-09798-7.pdf|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1954-09798-7|doi-access=free}}</ref> 2nd ed., Chelsea Publ. Co. 1978, 578 p., {{ISBN|0-8284-0294-9}}
* ''Highlights of the History of Lambda calculus'', by J. Barkley Rosser, Annals of the History of Computing, 1984, vol	 6, n 4, pp.&nbsp;337–349
* ''Simplified Independence Proofs: Boolean Valued Models of Set Theory'', by J. Barkley Rosser, Academic Press, 1969
* See [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00212/cah-00212.html ''Barkley Rosser papers''] for a complete list of Rosser's publications.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{MathGenealogy|id=8013}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020308033648/http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/finding_aids/mathoral/pm02.htm Interview with Rosser and Stephen Kleene about their experiences at Princeton]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosser, J. Barkley}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Jacksonville, Florida]]
[[Category:American logicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Cornell University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics]]