Former Associate Professor Frank Ryan, who was a mathematics faculty member at the Case Institute of Technology from 1967 to 1971, is returning to campus after four decades to participate in homecoming weekend activities.
While his main appearance, “A Conversation With Frank Ryan,” has now sold out, Ryan has added a second event focused on students—but open to the entire campus community.
On Friday, Sept. 27, Ryan will present a lecture on his ongoing mathematics research titled, “The Prime Number Filtrate, or, An Easy Way to Find Primes (Sort Of).” The talk will include a review of the basic ideas around prime numbers, and will delve into various conjectures, including Ludvig Oppermann’s 1882 conjecture about the distribution of prime numbers. The event takes place in Clapp Hall 108 from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m., and reservations are not required.
Ryan is fondly remembered by many alumni from the late 1960s, but he’s also well-known as the last quarterback to lead the Cleveland Browns to a championship in 1964. After leaving Case Western Reserve, he headed a technology group at the U.S. House of Representatives that implemented the body’s first computer-driven electronic voting system. He spent 10 years as director of athletics and lecturer in mathematics at Yale University, and finished his institutional career as vice president for external affairs and professor of mathematics at Rice University.
Learn more about Ryan’s life from the fall/winter issue of art/sci magazine at newartsci.case.edu/magazine/