Cameron Gordon (born 1945) is a Professor and Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in the Department of Mathematics at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, known for his work in

knot theory In the mathematical field of topology, knot theory is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot ...

. Among his notable results is his work with

Marc Culler Marc Edward Culler (born November 22, 1953) is an American mathematician who works in geometric group theory and low-dimensional topology. A native Californian, Culler did his undergraduate work at the University of California at Santa Barbara and ...

, John Luecke, and

Peter Shalen Peter B. Shalen (born c. 1946) is an American mathematician, working primarily in low-dimensional topology. He is the "S" in JSJ decomposition. Life He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1962, and went on to earn a B.A. from Harvard Coll ...

on the

cyclic surgery theorem In three-dimensional topology, a branch of mathematics, the cyclic surgery theorem states that, for a compact, connected, orientable, irreducible three-manifold ''M'' whose boundary is a torus In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloqui ...

. This was an important ingredient in his work with Luecke showing that

knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...

s were determined by their

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...

. Gordon was also involved in the resolution of the Smith conjecture.

Andrew Casson Andrew John Casson FRS (born 1943) is a mathematician, studying geometric topology. Casson is the Philip Schuyler Beebe Professor of Mathematics at Yale University. Education and Career Casson was educated at Latymer Upper School and Trinity Co ...

and Gordon defined and proved basic theorems regarding strongly irreducible

Heegaard splitting In the mathematical field of geometric topology, a Heegaard splitting () is a decomposition of a compact oriented 3-manifold that results from dividing it into two handlebodies. Definitions Let ''V'' and ''W'' be handlebodies of genus ''g'', and ...

s, an important concept in the modernization of Heegaard splitting theory. They also worked on the slice-

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...

conjecture, inventing the Casson-Gordon invariants in the process. Gordon was a 1999

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

. In 2005 Gordon was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

.RSE fellows.

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

, March 18, 2005. Accessed January 22, 2010.

References

External links

Cameron Gordon's personal webpage

Cameron McAllan Gordon

Mathematics Genealogy Project The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. By 31 December 2021, it contained information on 274,575 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a ty ...

1945 births 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Topologists Living people University of Texas at Austin faculty {{mathematician-stub