[Herman Jurjus]
Just curious: was Alexander Abian a renowned mathematician?

[Dave L. Renfro]
I posted some information about Abian back on September 20, 2000:

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.m...2c5aba7c6bb6b9


[Dik T. Winter]
I remember that one. Perhaps he was not really renowned, but as far
as I know he never was wrong in his mathematics. His articles in
this newsgroup were in general impeccable as long as they concerned
mathematics only. That he was not overly concerned about other
publications, and was going his own way, does not make him a bad
mathematician. He had published a few textbooks, in addition to his
papers, and I never have heard any wrong about them. We have one of
his books in our library: "The theory of sets and transfinite
arithmetic", published in 1965. I think it conveys a thorough
understanding of the subject (more than some posters to this
newsgroup actually do), and was at that time a good introduction
for students.

I never met Abian, or studied his work, but I followed his Usenet posts
until they stopped. His mathematical posts were wide-ranging, accurate, and
often models of clear exposition, patiently taking a questioner's level of
knowledge into account. Based on that I /expect/ he was an excellent
teacher. OTOH, "raving mad" would be a generous assessment of his physics
posts. It took me years to fully realize he wasn't just putting people on
with stuff like:

RADICAL CHANGE IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. THE MOST PRACTICAL
THE MOST EFFECTIVE THE MOST URGENT RADICAL CHANGE IS
TO BLOW UP THE MOON TO SMITHEREENS AND GET RID OF
ITS EVIL PRESENCE ONCE AND FOR ALL!

In honor of his memory, I'd also like to note that he was unfailingly
civil -- even in his lunatic posts. He was a unique character.