Victor Ya. Pan is a Soviet and American mathematician and computer scientist. He earned his Ph.D. at Moscow University then continued at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. During that time, he published a number of significant papers and became known informally as "polynomial Pan" for his pioneering work in the area of polynomial computations. In late 1970s, he immigrated in the United States and held positions at several institutions including IBM Research. Since 1988, he has taught at Lehman College of the City University of New York, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor in 2000.
Victor Pan is an expert in computational complexity and has developed a number of new algorithms. One of his notable early results is a proof that the number of multiplications in Horner scheme is optimal.
Famous quotes containing the words victor and/or pan:
“And in the next instant, immediately behind them, Victor saw his former wife.
At once he lowered his gaze, automatically tapping his cigarette to dislodge the ash that had not yet had time to form. From somewhere low down his heart rose like a fist to deliver an uppercut, drew back, struck again, then went into a fast disorderly throb, contradicting the music and drowning it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“When Pan sounds up his minstrelsy;
His minstrelsy! O base! This quill,
Which at my mouth with wind I fill,
Puts me in mind, though her I miss,
That still my Syrinx’ lips I kiss.”
—John Lyly (1553–1606)