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George Purdy Obituary
Dr. George B. Purdy, Phd, 73 years, died Saturday, December 30, 2017, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Purdy was born and raised in San Francisco, California. He received a 1 st in Mathematics from the University of Reading in 1964 followed by a MSc in 1967. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1972. Dr. Purdy was a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Cincinnati. He joined the faculty in 1986. Previously he was a member of the faculty in the Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M University and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2015 he was awarded the IEEE Joseph Desch Award for his innovative work on the ARPA network and the Purdy polynomial. He had an Erdös number of one. He was passionate about his work with his students. His many other interests included quantum physics, film, and classical music. He is survived by his wife Carla Cecilia Purdy of Cincinnati, Ohio; his sons John Paul Purdy (Kathy) of League City, Texas and Eric George Purdy of Berkeley, California; his stepdaughters Sarah Neaderhouser of Magnolia, Texas and Johanna Neaderhouser of Berkeley, California; his granddaughter Victoria Purdy; and his stepgrandson Christopher Wharton. There will be a private service at T. P. WHITE & SONS Funeral Home, Mt. Washington. Memorial contributions may be directed to the University of Cincinnati Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Scholarship Fund, in memory of Dr. George B. Purdy.
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Memories and Condolences
for George Purdy
1 Entry
January 18, 2018
I was a student in one of his courses, he often told us stories of his time studying under Paul Erdos at UIUC.
Now sometimes when mathematicians come up with an interesting problem they can't solve, they will offer a monetary reward for others to find the solution.
Onto the story.... When Dr. Purdy was a student, he came across an interesting conjecture (which I can't chance to remember). At the time he thought it was an incredibly intriguing problem, but it was only afterthought in some old paper and he couldn't manage to come up with a proof himself. With no resolution in sight and a grinding curiosity, he offered a few hundred dollars as a reward to anyone who could come up with a solution.
After-the-fact, he told Erdos about his reward offer. To his embarrasment, Erdos scolded him for offering a reward, as the typical etiquette in mathematics is to only offer monetary rewards for conjectures that you have come up with yourself.
Anyways, despite this, I think Dr. Purdy looked back on this as a pleasant and happy memory. After all, he couldn't help but laugh while recounting this tale to us. I think he had a good relationship with Erdos at the time... I'm sure he looked back on those days with much nostalgia.
Wish I got the chance to get to know him better.
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