A Tribute to Matts Essén

Abstract

Complex Analysts have suffered a severe loss with the departure of Matts Essén. When we celebrated him on the occasion of his retirement in June 1997, he was at the height of his powers. At that time I gave an interim report and was confident that he would greatly add to his achievements in the years to come. Alas he only had 6 years to do it in, but even so he fully justified my prediction. Several mathematicians will express their appreciation of Matts in this volume, but many more will miss a great and generous friend. Sten Kaijser in his fine Biography of Matts has pointed out the remarkable fact that 60% of Matts’ Mathematical papers were published after his 50th birthday. This is a great encouragement to the rest of us, especially when our friends tell us that Mathematicians are all genuises at 20 and after that it is downhill all the way. It seems to me that the reason why Matts was such a good counterexample to this theory was that he was such a great collaborator and friend. He was really interested in what we were doing, he listened and thought about it and could often bring out the sparkling diamond from the uncut stone. The same quality made him such a good companion. He loved to sing, play the piano, swim and ski with us. Conferences were not the same without him and Agneta. I remember their arriving at our Canterbury conference in 1973. Agneta told me then how much she had enjoyed the Meeting and that she wanted to come to many more such Meetings! It was because they both enjoyed these occasions that they were able to contribute so much to their success. Matts could not have been so good a host and friend without the marvellous qualities that Agneta contributed to the marriage. Of course Matts was a fine pianist, but Agneta is the only wife I know who actually claimed to enjoy listening to her husband’s playing. My wives were always pleased when I stopped! Agneta has a deep appreciation of literature and the arts. She introduced me to Strindberg and she and Matts invited me to an enchanting evening at Drottningholm. It was always wonderful to be with them. Many Mathematicians from all over the world were entertained by Matts and Agneta and left their hospitable home refreshed and full of good food and good ideas. In conclusion I would like to highlight a few results of Matts that I could not refer to in 1997. Let me start with [87-6].