This special issue of Linear and Multilinear Algebra is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ky Fan, who passed away in March 2010 at the age of 95.
Ky Fan was born in Hangzhou, China, in September 1914. He received his BS degree from Peking University in 1936, and continued his studies at the University of Paris, earning his doctorate in 1941 under Frechet. He held positions at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and at the University of Notre Dame. In 1965, he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he stayed for the rest of his career.
Throughout his long and distinguished career, Professor Fan made significant contributions to many areas of mathematics. His work in linear algebra, particularly in matrix inequalities, positive definite matrices, nonnegative and M-matrices, inequalities for eigenvalues, majorization, matrix norms, location of eigenvalues and linear programming has had a lasting influence on the subject. The papers appearing in this special issue are indicative of the depth and breadth of Professor Fan's research interests.
Professor Fan enjoyed a long-standing and fruitful association with Linear and Multilinear Algebra, serving on the journal's editorial board from 1973 to 1992. Indeed, one might say that Ky Fan helped to launch the journal, for his paper ‘On Real Definite Matrices with Positive Symmetric Component’ is the first paper to appear in volume 1, issue 1 of Linear and Multilinear Algebra.
The special issue editors would like to express thanks to Koenraad Audenaert, who served as handling editor for one of the papers appearing in this issue.