U. of C.'s Charles Amick, 39
By Kenan Heise
Charles James Amick, 39, professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, was an internationally recognized expert in applied mathematics, particularly in fluid dynamics and the behavior of water waves. A resident of Hyde Park, he died of cancer in his home Monday. "His resolution of the Stokes Conjecture concerning the behavior of water waves is one of the finest results in all of applied mathematics during the last quarter of a century, according to Peter May, chairman of mathematics at U. of C. The question, named after a British mathematician who posed it 100 years ago, concerned whether a person could use rigorous mathematics and deduce the unusual motion of a certain very high wave with a cusp on it. Mr. Amick, with the help of several other mathematicians, achieved that. "His enthusiasm and energy
were an important part of his personality and of the way he did mathematics," Norman Lebovitz, a fellow professor of mathematics, said. "He was like an express train - he talked fast and he thought fast." A native of Cleveland, he earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics from Carnegie Mellon University and received his doctorate at the University of Cambridge. He was a research fellow at St. John's College in Cambridge while holding two National Science Foundation fellowships. Mr. Amick joined the U. of C. faculty in 1979 and became a professor there in 1984. Survivors include his wife, Joanna Hawthorne, a daughter, Alexandra; a son, Charles; his parents, Charles and Janet; and two sisters. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. June 15 in St. Paul & The Redeemer Church, 4945 S. Dorchester Ave., and at 2 p.m. Sept. 27 in the university's Joseph Bond Chapel, 1025 E. 58th St.