Martin H. Krieger

Martin Harvey Krieger (March 10, 1944 – July 10, 2024) was an American physicist, author, and emeritus professor with decades of teaching in public policy and urban planning. He was known for his research on mathematical models of urban phenomena, ecological issues of design and planning, notions of uncertainty in policy and planning, environmental policy, defense policy, and aural and visual documentation of urban phenomena in southern California, especially Los Angeles.

Life and career Martin was born on March 10, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, and was brought up as an Orthodox Jew in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. At Columbia University he graduated in physics with a B.A. magna cum laude in 1965, an M.A. in 1965, and a Ph.D. in 1969. His Ph.D. thesis is entitled Neutron Emission from Muon Capture.

From 1968 to 1973 Krieger worked at the University of California, Berkeley — from 1968 to 1969 as a physicist at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, from 1969 to 1972 as an assistant research planner at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD, established in 1962), and from 1970 to 1973 at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design as a lecturer in environmental policy, in city and regional planning, and in architecture. From 1973 to 1974 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences adjacent to Stanford University. From 1974 to 1980 (with leave of absence from 1978 to 1980) he was an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. From 1978 to 1979 he was a fellow at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. From 1980 to 1984 he taught and did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society and in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. At the University of Southern California (USC) he was an associate professor of planning from 1984 to 1991 and a full professor from 1991 until his retirement as professor emeritus. For the academic year 1990–1991 he was on leave of absence from USC and held a visiting associate professorship in business administration at the University of Michigan, as the Zell-Lurie Fellow in the Teaching of Entrepreneurship. He received many fellowships and grants for his research and contributed to numerous photographic exhibits. He was the author of ten books.

Krieger received the USC-Mellon Award for Excellence in Mentoring three times: in 2005, in 2006, and in 2007, for mentoring, respectively, undergraduates, faculty, and graduate students. Martin died on July 10, 2024, at the age of 80.

Selected publications Articles

(over 350 citations)

Books xiv + 241 pp. xxiii + 182 pp. xxii + 343 pp. xxi + 157 pp. xviii + 454 pp. According to John H. Mason of the Open University, in "Review of Doing Mathematics," Math-Sci Net, MR1961400 (2004a:00011) "Not since conversations with Gian-Carlo Rota have I encountered such a sophisticated and comprehensive view of modern mathematics." xxiv + 467 pp. xviii + 130 pp. hbk xx + 168 pp. xxvi + 218 pp. xxxi + 380pp. e-book