We have lost yet another of the “great trees” of Carleton. Roger Kirchner, 78, died at home on Tuesday, March 31st. A brilliant 1958 Carleton graduate, Roger returned to campus to teach Mathematics here for 38 years. He began as an Instructor in Mathematics in 1962 and retired as an emeriti Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science in 2000.
Colleagues describe Roger as a mathematician’s mathematician. He was broadly trained and interested, the person other faculty could go to for help in almost any area of math. An innovator, he introduced the widespread use of computers in the math curriculum, especially in calculus. For several summers, he led National Science Foundation institutes for college and high school mathematics teachers, developing math films using computer graphics. He dug deeply into many programming languages and became an excellent resource there as well. Roger was an inventive teacher, helping students learn how mathematicians think and approach problems, and thus preparing them very well for advanced work in math. He was dependable and supportive of all the activities in the department, a cohesive force in a department admired for its togetherness.
Roger’s intellectual curiosity was not limited to math and computer science but extended to everything he encountered. He was playful, cheerful, witty, and generous with his time and talents. He is survived by his wife, Kay, and his four children and their families. A more complete obituary will be forthcoming from the family.
A funeral service for Roger will be held at the Messiah United Methodist Church in Plymouth, MN on Friday, April 10th, at 11am, with visitation beginning at 10am at the church.
Please hold all of Roger’s family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.
In sorrow and gratitude for Roger’s life,
Carolyn
Comments
My father was a true inspiration.
Professor Kirchner (Mr. Kirchner in reality, this was after all Carleton) was my instructor in a couple of classes (back when he was in fact just an "instructor"), he helped lead a summer program I participated in, and worked with me in independent study. There was probably some problem he couldn't figure out, but I never saw it happen. I was grateful to have been his student and am saddened to learn of his passing.
I had Dr. Kirchner for multivariable calculus during my freshman year in the Spring of 1965. I was utterly amazed at the depth and breadth of his knowledge and his patience with me as I visited his office regularly with in class problems and some ideas I had explored on my home.
Subsequently I enjoyed having him as the instructor for several courses in which he continued to contribute to my mathematical training. He was definitely one of my favorite professors and certainly influenced my professional goal to earn a PhD in mathematics and become a mathematics professor myself. I enjoyed seeing him many times at regional MAA meetings where he always greeted me warmly. I will continue to carry fond memories of him forward.
I remember finding Prof Kirchner in what passed for the computer lab in 1970. I'd had him for a couple classes, so I knew what a pure mathematician he was, and it was therefore somewhat surprising to see him hunched over a display terminal.
He gestured me over and excitedly showed me his graph of e^x. He would cut out a "vertical" part of the graph and blow it up to see that it looked exactly like the whole original graph, over and over again, demonstrating in a very understandable form the highly conceptual "exponential increase". I feel like I got to witness the "aha" moment that lead to all that integration of computers with math.
Roger was my roommate for three year and remained one of my closest friends. I remember all the good times we had. I miss him greatly.
I had Roger for several classes while I was at Carleton, and I always appreciated the joy he seemed to bring to what he did. Though I am sure that teaching beginning calculus got old, he always seemed to be enjoying himself, and it was infectious. All my electives were in computer science (at the time it was all in the math department), and Roger was deeply engaged in everything. I still remember fumbling through my comps lecture, trying to talk about Tschebychev polynomials. It was a great relief to me that every time I looked into the audience I saw Roger sitting in the front row, smiling and nodding like it all made sense to him.
Good bye Professor Kirchner! It was good to have you as a teacher and as a mentor!
Roger Kirchner hired me to to assist with the NSF summer workshops (1974 and 1975) for mathematics teachers (creating computer graphics for assisting in teaching mathematics). We helped the participating teachers with their programming and developed the film for 35 mm slides and super 8 movies. I remember vividly the contraption that we had for taking single photographs (or movies, one frame at a time) of the images created on the Tektronix storage oscilliscopes driven by the PDP 8L computers. My how times and technology have changed! I also remember well the seemingly endless hours in the basement of Goodsell providing rapid-turnaround developing of the 35 mm film and the movies so that the participating teachers could see their work and move on to the next round of "debugging" (I wonder if it was called "debugging" back then). During the workshops, we had at least one BBQ at his house -- I remember meeting his delightful wife, Kay, and their dog (a terrier, but regretfully, I do not remember his/her name). I have fond memories of the math classes I took from Dr. Kirchner -- he was so kind and caring towards the students and so enthusiastic. It was SO obvious how passionate he was about teaching and how much he loved his job. I was really saddened by this news. I have many fond memories of my days at Carleton many moons ago, but some of the best ones are of the NSF Workshops, Dr. Kirchner's math and computer science classes, and our friendship.
I TA'd for Roger early in my Carleton years. He quickly figured out I'd be interested in his research and I was, which led to many fascinating sessions just imagining different aspects of the future of computing. He nominated me to be the student representative on the computer selection committee ... our choices were Tandy TRS80, DEC Rainbow, and IBM PC (we barely considered the Commodore 64 or Apple II). After graduation he proactively sent me papers and articles and inquired about my work. He encouraged me to come back to campus to give colloquium talks. He hosted my demonstration of an immersive virtual reality system on campus in 1991, 25 years before its time. No doubt Roger was a major influence in my life and a lifelong friend. It was such a personal experience that I thought I was getting special treatment. But reading the comments here, its clear Roger gave himself to many.
I took most of my math courses from Roger Kirchner. He inspired me to learn math by exploring. He helped me get into Berkeley for my Ph.D. Program. I remember him fondly.
I was a mathematics major and always enjoyed discussing math with Roger. Even at the 55th reunion, we still had fun talking about math. He was always willing to answer questions when I was a student and needed clarification about something. He will be missed
I took complex variables from Roger in the winter of 1963 (my senior year) from Lars Ahlfors' text. I believe it was Roger's first year back at Carleton and that Ahlfors was his dissertation advisor. His demeanor as a lecturer was very pleasant, but I found the course challenging (though I think I did well). When I enrolled at Stanford that fall and took complex variables, lo and behold Ahlfors was the text -- no wonder I found the Carleton course challenging. Roger was department chair when I applied for a position in 1971 and was very disappointed when I chose to go elsewhere; I didn't like disappointing him (but I think it turned out best for me personally). I enjoyed spending time talking with Roger during my 40th reunion and regretted not seeing him 2 years ago when I returned. He will be missed.
Another one of the sparkling stars of '58 and Washburn has departed. Roger's friendly smile and calming conversation will be missed.
I think I was in the first Calculus class he taught, in the first term of 1962. I remember the moment -- in the second (winter) term -- when he explained limits (he used an illustration of a box) and everything suddenly become clear. He had a great appreciation of the beauty of mathematics. He will clearly be missed.
Like Tom, Roger hired me to help with the early animation project as well ... drawing 1 frame every 30 seconds. I remember being surprised that he picked me and invited me to help, as I didn't know him very well and was pretty shy about approaching faculty. I enjoyed his company and learning from him informally, and went on to a career in software development post-Carleton. May his memory be a blessing to everyone whose life he touched. Ben
Roger Kirchner was both an advisor and teacher for me, and I was privileged to continue to have some contact with him in recent years. He never lost his intellectual curiosity and his drive to share knowledge with others when it would be valuable to them.
Those of us who had him as a professor will remember how he would sometimes trail off and stand quietly in thought for a while, as if some idea had captured his attention and he was letting it age to perfection before choosing the right words to say what he was thinking.
Then he had his playful side, too. His 1986 freshman seminar, Computing With Ideas, included a number of games and algorithms that we "played" with. After a program ran to completion, he said with some excitement, "See! It worked!" -- almost as though he had been expecting it not to work. :-)
A sample of Roger's recent work (from an emailed link 3/11/2012):
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/AutomaticDifferentiation/
I was one of the first Carleton students to get a concentration in Computer Science when I graduated in '82. I took several Computer Science classes from Roger. He was somewhat new to Computer Science, but he was always willing to help us out. I remember him as kind and warm. I am sure he will be missed by family and friends.
I had only one course from Roger, but I remember it distinctly to this day. Complex analysis, 1968 or so. What I distinctly remember is he had a unique, out of left field, way of approaching problems. So creative, it was art, and fun! Don't know how he did it, but I was enriched by the experience.
I did not take a class from Roger, but in summer of 1973 served him as an assistant to an NSF workshop creating slides for mathematics education and again in 1974 producing movies (with Tom Bushaw, see above). I spent hours developing film after Roger exposed strips of work finished by one participant to share with the other 20 participants. My fingers turned brown from the developer. On the fun side Roger took me out sailing on his Hobie Cat and let me act as the counterweight on the trapeze. We also shared a few six packs of Heineken beer and cans of filberts after mass producing the films in the dark corners of Goodsell Observatory. I also recall seeing him around campus giving his son Ernst a ride on his Vespa? scooter. As a result of working with him, I grew to know Roger quite well. He was a very unpretentious person and a very brilliant mathematician. He never mentioned it, but I had heard he finished in the top 10 on the Putnam Exam as an undergrad at Carleton, no doubt why he was hired directly out of grad school. I was saddened to hear of his death.