Ali Reza Amir-Moez

Ali Reza Amir-Moez
Born	(1919-04-07)April 7, 1919
Died	August 25, 2007(2007-08-25) (aged 88)
Residence	Lubbock, TX, United States
Nationality	Iranian-American
Known for	Matrix theory, Linear transformations, Geometry of unitary space
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics (matrix theory, linear algebra)

Ali Reza Amir-Moez (April 7, 1919 – August 25, 2007) was an Iranian-American mathematician, author, and educator, long a professor of mathematics at Texas Tech University. Known for his work in matrix theory and the geometry of linear transformations in unitary space, he published more than 150 papers, articles, and books over his career. Beyond mathematics he was also an actor, artist, dancer, playwright, and world traveler, fluent in four languages.

Early Life and Military Service

Amir-Moez was born on April 7, 1919 in Tehran, Persia (Iran), the youngest son of Mohammad and Fatema (Gorgestani) Amir-Moez. Raised in the Muslim faith, he later described himself as a "Universal Theist." During 1936–1938 he served in the Persian Army as a 2nd Lieutenant and was decorated with the Honor Emblem of the Persian Royal Court.

Education

He earned his B.A. at the University of Tehran in 1942. After immigrating to the United States in 1947 — where his first love was drama and the performing arts, but where he took up mathematics in part to extend his visa — he continued his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), earning his M.A. in 1951 and his Ph.D. in 1955 under the matrix theorist Alfred Horn.

Academic Career

Amir-Moez began teaching as a mathematics instructor at Tehran Technical College from 1942 to 1946. In the United States he held professorships at the University of Idaho; Queens College, New York City; Purdue University; the University of Florida, Gainesville; Clarkson College, Potsdam, New York; and finally Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he arrived in 1965. He became Professor Emeritus at Texas Tech in 1988. Dedicated to mathematics research and teaching, he established scholarships at both Texas Tech and UCLA — the latter, the Horn–Moez Scholarship, named for his doctoral advisor.

Prior to suffering a stroke in 2004, he was an active member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, Sigma Xi, Pi Mu Epsilon, Kappa Mu Epsilon, the Texas Academy of Science, and the New York Academy of Science.

Mathematical Work

Amir-Moez's research centered on matrix theory and the geometry of linear transformations in unitary (inner-product) spaces, including extremal properties of eigenvalues and singular values. His writings numbered more than 150 papers, articles, and books, and he published in Persian, French, English, and Spanish, with works translated into several more languages. He also wrote frequently for the children's magazine Highlights for Children, reflecting a lifelong interest in making mathematics accessible.

Books and Plays

• Elements of Linear Space
• Extreme Properties of Linear Transformations and Geometry in a Unitary Space
• Kaleeleh and Demneh (play)
• Three Persian Tales (play)

He also published mathematical works in French and Spanish.

Honors

• Honor Emblem, Persian Royal Court (military decoration)
• Medal of Pro Mundi Beneficio, Academia Brasileira de Ciências Humanas (1975)

Personal Life and Death

Amir-Moez became a naturalized American citizen in 1961; his favorite holiday was Thanksgiving, in gratitude to his adopted country. Though he had traveled the world, he considered Lubbock, Texas his home town after arriving at Texas Tech in 1965. He was a devoted supporter of the Children's Home of Lubbock, for which he sketched portraits of children at fundraising events, and an enthusiastic member of the Lubbock Gem and Mineral Society.

In 1992 he became close friends with Deborah Ashmore, and after a long friendship the two married on December 23, 2005. He died on August 25, 2007 at his home in Lubbock, and was survived by his wife Deborah, her family, his sister Dr. Forouzandeh Brelian Jahan Shahi of Nice, France, and numerous nieces and nephews — among them the cell biologist Dr. Mina J. Bissell of Berkeley, California. Per his own request, there was no visitation or memorial service.

He is remembered for a personal credo:

"One looks to the past as a source of events to be used to entertain others. No regret is worth the time spent for it. Greed, jealousy, envy … create illnesses which have no cure. Looking into the future and aiming at more important goals than attaining petty objectives is the best remedy for whatever is bothersome." — A. R. Amir-Moez

See also the original obituary (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 2007).

Abstracts

• 1995 - "Mathematical Interpretations of Indian String Figures"
• 1990 - "El Teorema De De Moivre, La Ecuacion Cuadratica Y El Pentagono Regular"
• 1990 - "The Rotation Group, Axes and Angles of Rotation"
• 1989 - "The Euclidean Plane as a Source of Research"
• 1989 - "Orthogonal Vectors Ending on Quadrics"
• 1989 - "The Polar Curves of a Polygon"
• 1988 - "Pythagorean Properties of a Set of Vectors"
• 1988 - "Spheres of Transformations"
• 1986 - "Models of Tensor Algebras"
• 1986 - "A Nomenclature of Numerals"
• 1985 - "Variations on Parabolic Mirrors"
• 1984 - "The Sound and the Music"