Dave Bayer

David Bayer
Dave Bayer in 2006 (photo from MFO)
Born (1955-11-29) November 29, 1955 (age 69)
Rochester, New York
Alma materHarvard University
Scientific career
Fieldsmathematics, film
InstitutionsColumbia University
ThesisThe Division Algorithm and the Hilbert Scheme (1982)
Doctoral advisorHeisuke Hironaka

David Allen Bayer (born November 29, 1955) is an American mathematician known for his contributions in algebra and symbolic computation and for his consulting work in the movie industry. He is a professor of mathematics at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Education and career

Bayer was educated at Swarthmore College as an undergraduate, where he attended a course on combinatorial algorithms given by Herbert Wilf. During that semester, Bayer related several original ideas to Wilf on the subject. These contributions were later incorporated into the second edition of Wilf and Albert Nijenhuis' influential book Combinatorial Algorithms, with a detailed acknowledgement by its authors.[1] Bayer subsequently earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1982 under the direction of Heisuke Hironaka with a dissertation entitled The Division Algorithm and the Hilbert Scheme. He joined Columbia University thereafter.

Bayer is the son of Joan and Bryce Bayer, the inventor of the Bayer filter. [2]

Contributions

Bayer has worked in various areas of algebra and symbolic computation, including Hilbert functions, Betti numbers, and linear programming. He has written a number of highly cited papers in these areas with other notable mathematicians, including Bernd Sturmfels, Jeffrey Lagarias, Persi Diaconis, Irena Peeva, and David Eisenbud. Bayer is one of ten individuals cited in the white paper published by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto describing the technological underpinnings of Bitcoin. He is cited as a co-author, along with Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, of a paper to improve on a system for tamper-proofing timestamps by incorporating Merkle trees.[3]

Consulting

Bayer was a mathematics consultant for the film A Beautiful Mind, the biopic of John Nash, and also had a cameo as one of the "Pen Ceremony" professors.[4]

References

  1. ^ Nijenhuis, Albert; Wilf, Herbert (1978). Combinatorial Algorithms. Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (2nd ed.). New York-London: Academic Press. ISBN 0125192606. MR 0510047.
  2. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (29 November 2012). "Bryce Bayer, Inventor of a Filter to Make Color Digital Pictures, Dies at 83". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Chinweokwu, Okereke (June 9, 2022). "The History of Blockchain".
  4. ^ Polster, Burkard; Ross, Marty (2012). Math Goes to the Movies. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-1-4214-0484-4. MR 2953095.