TRIBUTE

Farewell to a mathematician

Mahmood Khoshkam (1951-2003)

By James Brooke and Jacek Szmigielski
Dept. of Mathematics & Statistics

Khoshkam

On October 13, 2003 the Department of Mathematics and Statistics lost one of its most dedicated teachers and scholars in Professor Soltan Mahmood Khoshkam.

Mahmood was born in the port of Bandar Lengeh in the Persian Gulf on the ancient caravan route to Shiraz, a city of great cultural significance for Iranian culture, and the place of burial of its two most beloved poets Hafez and Saadi. It was in Shiraz where Mahmood spent his formative years which left an indelible mark on him. Mahmood was educated in Iran and Canada receiving both his BSc and MSc in Mathematics from Shiraz University and his PhD from Dalhousie University under the supervision of Professor John Phillips. While studying Mathematics at Shiraz University he also developed, in the very rich cultural environment of that ancient city, his passion for political ideas and poetry. After finishing his PhD Mahmood received first a postdoctoral fellowship at Queen’s University (1982-83), followed by another postdoctoral position at the University of Waterloo (1983-84). Perhaps the best illustration of the enlivening collaborative spirit of those years is found in the following excerpt from the letter from his friend and collaborator Georges Skandalis (Centre de Mathématiques de Jussieu, Université Paris - Denis Diderot): “ We spent a year together in Kingston - at Queens - with Thierry Giordano (who is now at the University of Ottawa). The three of us spent a great year, working a lot: we were talking Mathematics from early in the morning until late at night, each of us telling the others the Mathematics he knew. Mahmood taught us perturbation theory of operator algebras (he was writing a couple of papers from his thesis), Thierry Giordano explained to us the flow of weights and I talked about Kasparov’s KK-theory. But most of all, we had lots of fun. We were so young and having fun with everything.”

Mahmood became a member of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Saskatchewan in 1984. Passing through the academic ranks, Mahmood attained Full Professorship in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Mahmood’s greatest contribution to the administrative side of the department was undoubtedly through his six years as Chair of the Graduate Committee. What singled out Mahmood’s efforts was his selfless and generous promotion of the graduate program for the benefit of all members of the Department. Mahmood took it as his duty to direct students to whichever member of the graduate department best-suited the student’s interests, often excluding himself from the potential supervisors. By doing this he demonstrated, through his unselfish nature, the deepest respect for his discipline, and for this he will be fondly remembered.

To talk with him about Mathematics - and many of us in the department did this endlessly, at the office, at each other’s homes, on the tennis court - would be to discover his great passion. Mahmood was living proof of the fact that Mathematics is not only the language of Science - as Galileo made us realize - but that it is also an art - as the Greeks taught us. Its true value, as Mahmood saw it, is found in its ever-so-elusive beauty of expression; you would not expect anything less from a lover of poetry. Mahmood’s pursuit of Mathematics as an artistic ideal found its true realization in his later work; the work that brought him international recognition after a discouraging hiatus in his research activities in the early 1990s. He was particularly proud of his joint works with: Georges Skandalis, Bahman Mashood of almost twenty years duration, Javad Tavakoli, and Dave Cowan. Before he was stricken by his final illness Mahmood expressed to us, on many occasions in the summer of 2002, his sense of fulfilment in both his private and his professional life. Indeed, his life appeared to be on track, with prospects of so many new and exciting research projects, seminars, courses to teach and, above all, papers to write. It is perhaps ironic that Mahmood, having overcome the adversity of a lull in his research output for a few years, bounced back with an energy and success (as indicated by the recent glut of acceptances of his papers) that was truly inspiring. In his last months he continued to make plans for the next line of attack on his research problems and for the write-ups of the next papers. He was fully engaged until the end. What is even more astonishing is that he appeared never to have been happier with his work.

Mahmood was a kind and gentle man, unique in his positive attitude towards people, and a great social companion. Perhaps these few verses from Hafez will give a hint of how profound is our loss, but, at the same time, how near to us Mahmood remains. If Mahmood could speak to us perhaps he would say:

“Sit near my tomb, and bring wine and music - Feeling thy presence, I shall come out of my sepulchre - Rise, softly moving creature, and let me contemplate thy beauty”.