Carol Karp

Carol Karp, born Carol Ruth van der Velde (10 August 1926 in Forest Grove, Ottawa County, Michigan – 20 August 1972 in Arlington, Virginia), was an American mathematician of Dutch ancestry best known for her work on infinitary logic. She also played viola in an all-women orchestra. She is the namesake of the Association for Symbolic Logic's Karp Prize. Karp was born in Forest Grove, Michigan, to a farming supply store manager and a housewife. She graduated from Alliance High School in Ohio in 1944. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Manchester University, Indiana, in 1948, followed by a Master's degree in mathematics from Michigan State University in 1950. After a period playing viola in an orchestra, she pursued graduate studies in mathematics. She married Arthur Louis Karp in 1951 and continued her studies while traveling with her husband. In 1959, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California under Leon Henkin, with her dissertation focusing on formal language theory and infinitary logic. Her dissertation was later published as a book, "Languages with Expressions of Infinite Length". Karp began her academic career at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1958, where her husband also taught. She was promoted to full professor in 1966, becoming a notable figure in the field of infinitary logic. Her work often involved applying algebraic methods to logic, contributing to algebraic logic. In 1969, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and remained active until her death in 1972. The Karp Prize, awarded by the Association for Symbolic Logic, is named in her honor.