Memories of Ian G. Macdonald
History and Overview
2026-01-13 v2 Classical Analysis and ODEs
Combinatorics
Representation Theory
Abstract
This is a slightly edited translation of a paper in Dutch which appeared in Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde (5) 25 (2024), No.2, 87-90 on the occasion of I.G. Macdonald's death in 2023, and aimed at a very broad mathematical audience. First we review some of Macdonald's most important older results. Then we focus on the period 1985-1995 when Macdonald often visited the Netherlands and there was much interaction between his work, notably the Macdonald polynomials, and the work by the authors. We end with some glimpses about Macdonald as a person.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2410.07882,
title = {Memories of Ian G. Macdonald},
author = {Gert Heckman and Tom Koornwinder and Eric Opdam},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.07882},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
9 pages, 4 photos; v2: some textual improvements and one reference added; to appear in Quarterly Journal of Mathematics (Macdonald Memorial Issue)