Anneli Cahn Lax

Anneli Cahn Lax (23 February 1922, Katowice – 24 September 1999, New York City) was an American mathematician, who was known for being an editor of the Mathematics Association of America's New Mathematical Library Series, and for her work in reforming mathematics education with the inclusion of language skills. She was a professor of mathematics at New York University's Courant Institute. She was married to the mathematician Peter Lax.

Life Career In 1942, she earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Adelphi University in Long Island. In 1956, she earned a PhD from New York University with the dissertation Cauchy's Problem for a Partial Differential Equation with Real Multiple Characteristics with thesis adviser Richard Courant.

She became a mathematics professor at NYU and was the editor of the Mathematics Association of America's New Mathematical Library Series. Lax and her colleagues planned the series to make mathematics accessible to the average reader while still being technically accurate. In 1961, the first two books were Numbers: Rational and Irrational by Ivan Niven and What Is Calculus About? by W. W. Sawyer. By 1995, the series had expanded to 36 published volumes.

In 1977, she won the first annual George Pólya Award for her College Mathematics Journal article: "Linear Algebra, A Potent Tool". In 1980, the mathematics department of New York University assigned Lax to design a remedial course in mathematics for freshmen. The course she devised and called "Mathematical Thinking" presented mathematics not as a body of facts but as a set of problems to be analyzed and resolved.

An insert from her writing at the Mathematics as a Humanistic Discipline Session stated: "I am convinced that the use of language – reading, writing, listening and speaking – is an essential part of learning anything, and especially mathematics."

She was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. In 1993, one of the last projects Lax worked on with her husband was the Parent's Guide. Parent's Guide constructed a basic mathematics list for adults to use to help their children with their schoolwork.

In 1998, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Anneli Cahn Lax died on September 24, 1999, at the age of 77. The Lax Lecture is given by a historian of the highest distinction to commemorate the work and spirit of John Lax by making the latest advances in history accessible to the public. Elena Marchisotto, a family friend and thesis student, said Anneli spent her last summer in the Adirondacks with her husband and family.