Martin D. Kruskal spent several decades at what is now the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory working on the mathematical physics and engineering problems of thermonuclear fusion. He developed his involvement in astrophysics and in mathematics, and for many years pursued the two subjects simultaneously. A focus of his work with pure mathematics is the study of surreal numbers, strange objects which are either bigger or smaller than any known decimal numbers but which are neither infinite or zero. Dr. Kruskal's work produced a collection of seminal research papers that opened up new fields of mathematics, physics, and astronomy.
Dr. Kruskal received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago in 1945 and his M.S. and Ph.D. from New York University. In 1993, he was awarded the President's National Medal of Science.
Information as of 1986