Talk:Leonidas Alaoglu

Untitled

What is the correct pronunciation of his name (in particular, where the stress goes)? Reminiscenza 20:00, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Somewhere I got the information it's stressed alAoglu, on the capital A. (I don't have the reference handy). EdJohnston 20:24, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Ethnicity in opening paragraph

Here is advice on what should be included in the opening paragraph from Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies):

3. Nationality (In the normal case this will mean the country of which the person is a citizen or national, or was a citizen when the person became notable. Ethnicity should generally not be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability.)

According to this, we should call him either Canadian or American in the opening paragraph. Note this sentence: Ethnicity should generally not be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability. That suggests we should remove 'Greek descent' from the first sentence, since nothing else in the article indicates that a connection to Greece was important in his mathematical work, the thing for which he is known. EdJohnston 20:50, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Canadian-American?

I don't find anything in the article about whether Alaoglu ever took American citizenship, but comments on this talk page seem to suggest he did. If so, he should probably be identified in the first sentence as a Canadian-American mathematician rather than just a Canadian mathematician. --Trovatore (talk) 03:52, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Though I don't have a reliable source, I have a CV for Alaoglu (provided by Tom Apostol) which says that Alaoglu became a naturalized US citizen in November, 1946. This fact might also be in the cited reference 'American Men and Women of Science, 14th edition' but I'd have to go to the library to check. I know we have an article Canadian American but the sources look weak. It even admits Canadian-American is a term that is rarely used by Canadians within the US to refer to themselves. Why identify somebody in an encyclopedia using an identifier almost no-one actually uses? EdJohnston (talk) 04:19, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, I don't suppose I'd identify him that way if he never became a US citizen, but if he did, then it seems a bit misleading to call him just "Canadian". Actually in those days I think he probably had to renounce his Canadian citizenship in order to be naturalized. Nowadays he probably wouldn't have to -- I don't think Gretzky did. --Trovatore (talk) 04:26, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

When I created the article, he was identified as an American mathematician, but Some Other Editor must have changed it. EdJohnston (talk) 05:27, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

If you don't like the hyphenated version, how about "Canadian and American", since he seems to have been both (whether serially or simultaneously), and he apparently produced mathematical work in both eras. --Trovatore (talk) 05:42, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Linking..

I have provided all the links for a stubborn high school student to be able to read this article, no matter where on Earth he/she is attending high school....--Oracleofottawa (talk) 03:34, 25 June 2010 (UTC)