Max Atkin Woodbury (1917–2010) was an American mathematician. He was born in St George, Utah to Angus Munn Woodbury and Grace (Atkin) Woodbury.[1][2][3] He had three brothers and two sisters, including the biologists Dixon Miles Woodbury and John Walter Woodbury.[3]
He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah in 1939, Master of Science from the University of Michigan in 1941 and metrology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4][2] He obtained his doctorate at the University of Michigan in 1948 advised by Arthur Herbert Copeland. His dissertation was entitled Probability and Expected Values.[5]
He was a member of the faculty, University of Michigan 1947-1949, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton 1949-1950,[6] member of faculty Princeton University 1950-1952.[7] He moved to be an associate professor in statistics at the University of Pennsylvania from 1952-1954.[8] After a brief leave at the Office of Naval Research 1954-1956,[9] he became faculty at New York University from 1956-1965,[10][11] then a professor of computer science and biomathematics at Duke University.[12][13] He became an emeritus professor at Duke, but continued to take an active role in research for many years.[14][15]
The Woodbury matrix identity used in linear algebra is named after him.[7][16] The related Sherman–Morrison formula is a special case of the formula,[17][18][19] with the term Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury sometimes used. An early overview of some of its uses has been given by Hager,[20] see also the book "Woodbury Matrix Identity".[21] These methods are taught in many mathematics courses on linear algebra.