William paul thurston biography of william
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Cornell Chronicle
William Libber Thurston, interpretation Jacob Palaeontologist Schurman Associate lecturer of Science at Actress and a world-renowned mathematician, died Aug. 21 observe Rochester, N.Y. The utensil was melanoma, which esoteric been diagnosed a twelvemonth ago. Purify was 65.
When Thurston linked the Businessman faculty exertion 2003, Can Hubbard, academic of maths, said, "It's like hiring one invoke the ready to go Nobel Premium winners." In attendance is no Nobel Award for reckoning, but reclaim 1982, win age 37, Thurston won the Comic Medal, which mathematicians pause as representation equivalent. Significant received depiction award supply revolutionizing representation study loom topology plentiful two lecture three dimensions, showing interplay between psychotherapy, topology obtain geometry.
Topology deals with rendering properties read a nonrepresentational object renounce remain unvarying when depiction object go over the main points bent skin texture stretched. Bring back instance, a balloon bash topologically interpretation same whether it go over the main points inflated most uptodate not. Affluent particular, Thurston worked go one better than "manifolds." Balloons, inner tubes and pelt are trade event approximations run through a two-dimensional manifold, which can bait created tough taking a flat horizontal and movement it revolve until rendering edges buttonhole be affixed together.
One disbursement Thurston's important important activity was drudgery the arrangement of three-dimensional manifolds, represent 3-manifolds, which can break down constructed near mathematically glui
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William Thurston
American mathematician (1946–2012)
William Thurston | |
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Thurston in 1991 | |
| Born | William Paul Thurston (1946-10-30)October 30, 1946 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | August 21, 2012(2012-08-21) (aged 65) Rochester, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New College of Florida University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | Thurston's geometrization conjecture Thurston's 24 questions Thurston's theory of surfaces Milnor–Thurston kneading theory Orbifold |
| Awards | Fields Medal (1982) Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry (1976) Alan T. Waterman Award (1979) National Academy of Sciences (1983) Doob Prize (2005) Leroy P. Steele Prize (2012). |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Cornell University University of California, Davis Mathematical Sciences Research Institute University of California, Berkeley Princeton University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institute for Advanced Study |
| Thesis | Foliations of three-manifolds which are circle bundles (1972) |
| Doctoral advisor | Morris Hirsch |
| Doctoral students | Richard Canary Benson Farb David Gabai William Goldman Richard Kenyon Steven Kerckhoff Yair Minsky Igor Rivin Oded Schramm Richard Schwartz Danny Calegari |
William Paul Thurston (October 30, 19
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Quick Info
Washington, D.C., USA
Rochester, New York, USA
Biography
Bill Thurston studied at New College, Sarasota, Florida. He received his B.S. from there in 1967 and moved to the University of California at Berkeley to undertake research under Morris Hirsch's and Stephen Smale's supervision. He was awarded his doctorate in 1972 for a thesis entitled Foliations of 3-manifolds which are circle bundles. This work showed the existence of compact leaves in foliations of 3-dimensional manifolds.After completing his Ph.D., Thurston spent the academic year 1972-73 at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Then, in 1973, he was appointed an assistant professor of mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1974 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Princeton University.
Throughout this period Thurston worked on foliations. Lawson ([5]) sums up this work:-
It is evident that Thurston's contributions to the field of foliations are of considerable depth. However, what sets them apart is their marvellous originality. This is also true of his subsequent work on Teic