Wilfred Kaplan

Wilfred Kaplan
Wilfred Kaplan, circa 1960
Born	(1915-11-28)November 28, 1915 Boston, Massachusetts, US
Died	December 26, 2007(2007-12-26) (aged 92) Ann Arbor, Michigan, US
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Professor emeritus of mathematics President of University of Michigan Chapter of the AAUP
Spouse(s)	Ida Roetting (married 1938)
Children	Roland Kaplan Muriel Kaplan
Parent(s)	Jacob Kaplan Anne Kaplan

Wilfred Kaplan (November 28, 1915—December 26, 2007) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan for 46 years, from 1940 through 1986. His research focused on dynamical systems, the topology of curve families, complex function theory, and differential equations. In total, he authored over 30 research papers and 11 textbooks.

For over thirty years Kaplan was an active member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and served as president of the University of Michigan chapter from 1978 to 1985.

Wilfred Kaplan was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Jacob and Anne Kaplan. He attended Boston Latin School and furthered his education at Harvard University, where he was granted his A.B. in mathematics in 1936 and graduated summa cum laude. Later that same year he received his master's degree at Harvard. Kaplan received a Rogers Fellow scholarship to study in Europe from 1936-1937, during his second year of graduate school. He was based out of Zürich, Switzerland where many of the mathematicians working on the applications of topology to differential equations were located. He also spent a month in Rome to work with famous mathematician Tullio Levi-Civita. Upon returning to the United States, Kaplan accepted a yearlong teaching fellowship at Rice Institute for the 1938-1939 school year, thus completing his graduate program. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1939 under the advisement of Hassler Whitney. His dissertation covered regular curve families filling the plane.

While attending lectures at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich he met a fellow mathematician, Ida Roetting, whom he nicknamed Heidi and would eventually marry in 1938. The couple lived in Houston for a year after their wedding while Kaplan taught at the Rice Institute. The Kaplans had two children, Roland and Muriel. Wilfred Kaplan died at the age of 92 after a short illness.