Marguerite Frank

{{short description|American-French mathematician (1927–2024)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Marguerite Straus Frank | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|9|8}} | birth_place = France | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|12|11|1927|9|8}} | death_place = Palo Alto, California, U.S. | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Mathematics | workplaces = | patrons = | alma_mater = Harvard University | thesis_title = New Simple Lie Algebras | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1956 | doctoral_advisor = Abraham Adrian Albert | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Lie algebra<br/>Mathematical programming | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = {{marriage|Joseph Frank|1953|2013|end=d}} | children = }} '''Marguerite Straus Frank''' (September 8, 1927 – December 11, 2024) was a French-American mathematician who was a pioneer in convex optimization theory and mathematical programming.

== Education == After attending secondary schooling in Paris and Toronto,<ref name=paris>{{Cite book|isbn=9781469726397|title=A3 & His Algebra: How a Boy from Chicago's West Side Became a Force in American Mathematics|last1=Albert-Goldberg|first1=Nancy|year=2005|publisher=iUniverse|pages=348}}</ref> Frank contributed largely to the fields of transportation theory and Lie algebras, which later became the topic of her PhD thesis, ''New Simple Lie Algebras''.<ref name=MathGenealogy>{{cite web|access-date=2017-03-06|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=98669 |title=Marguerite Josephine Straus Frank|work=Mathematics Genealogy Project}}</ref> She was one of the first female PhD students in mathematics at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite book|isbn=9781441962812|title=Profiles in operations research: pioneers and innovators|last1=Assad|first1=Arjang A|last2=Gass|first2=Saul I|year=2011|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|location=Boston, MA}}</ref> completing her dissertation in 1956, with Abraham Adrian Albert as her advisor.<ref name=MathGenealogy/>

== Contributions== Together with Philip Wolfe in 1956 at Princeton, she invented the Frank–Wolfe algorithm,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Frank | first1 = M. | last2 = Wolfe | first2 = P. | doi = 10.1002/nav.3800030109 | title = An algorithm for quadratic programming | journal = Naval Research Logistics Quarterly | volume = 3 | pages = 95–110 | year = 1956 | issue = 1–2 }}</ref> an iterative optimization method for general constrained non-linear problems.

== Personal life == Marguerite Frank was born in France and migrated to U.S. during the war in 1939.<ref name=paris/> She was married to Joseph Frank from 1953 until his death in 2013. He was a professor of literature at Stanford and an author of widely acclaimed critical biography of Dostoevsky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/arts/joseph-frank-biographer-of-dostoevsky-dies-at-94.html|title=Joseph Frank, Biographer of Dostoevsky, Dies at 94|work=New York Times|date=4 March 2013|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref> Frank died on December 11, 2024, at the age of 97.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sad News - The Passing of Dr. Marguerite Frank {{!}} INFORMS Open Forum |url=https://connect.informs.org/discussion/sad-news-the-passing-of-dr-marguerite-frank |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=connect.informs.org}}</ref>

== Selected publications == * {{Cite journal| author = Frank, M|title = A New Class of Simple Lie Algebras|volume = 40|issue = 8|pages = 713–719|year = 1954|journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |bibcode = 1954PNAS...40..713S|doi = 10.1073/pnas.40.8.713|pmc = 534147|pmid=16589544|doi-access = free}} * {{Cite journal | last1 = Frank | first1 = M. | last2 = Wolfe | first2 = P. | doi = 10.1002/nav.3800030109 | title = An algorithm for quadratic programming | journal = Naval Research Logistics Quarterly | volume = 3 | pages = 95–110 | year = 1956 | issue = 1–2 }} * {{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/1994156| jstor = 1994156| title = Two New Classes of Simple Lie Algebras| journal = Transactions of the American Mathematical Society| volume = 112| issue = 3| pages = 456–482| year = 1964| last1 = Frank | first1 = M. | doi-access = free}} * {{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/2038767| jstor = 2038767| title = A New Simple Lie Algebra of Characteristic Three| journal = Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society| volume = 38| pages = 43–46| year = 1973| last1 = Frank | first1 = M. | issue = 1| doi-access = free}} * {{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF01589354| title = The Braess paradox| journal = Mathematical Programming| volume = 20| pages = 283–302| year = 1981| last1 = Frank | first1 = M. | s2cid = 206800589}} * {{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF02072642| title = Computer generation of network cost from one link's equilibrium data| journal = Annals of Operations Research| volume = 44| issue = 3| pages = 261| year = 1993| last1 = Frank | first1 = M. | last2 = Mladineo | first2 = R. H. | s2cid = 33907141}}

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web|access-date=2017-03-06|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24e08AX9Eww |title=Marguerite Frank - Inventor of the Frank-Wolfe Algorithm - Honorary Discussion Panel |work=Frank-Wolfe and Greedy Algorithms (NIPS 2013 Workshop)|publisher=YouTube}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Marguerite}} Category:1927 births Category:American operations researchers Category:Numerical analysts Category:American computer scientists Category:French women computer scientists Category:Women statisticians Category:20th-century French mathematicians Category:21st-century French mathematicians Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:21st-century French women mathematicians Category:20th-century American women mathematicians Category:French emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century French women mathematicians Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American statisticians Category:21st-century American statisticians