David M. Goldschmidt (born 21 May 1942,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) is an American mathematician specializing in

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ( ...

. Goldschmidt received in 1969 from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

a Ph.D. under John Griggs Thompson with thesis ''On the 2-exponent of a finite group''. From 1969 to 1971 he was a Gibbs Instructor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. From 1971 to 1989 he was on the faculty of the mathematics department at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. In 1989–1991 he was Deputy Director and in 1991 he became Director of the

Institute for Defense Analyses The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American non-profit corporation that administers three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), Science and Technology Policy Institute, t ...

's Center for Communication Research in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. Goldschmidt published his amalgam method for

finite group In abstract algebra, a finite group is a group whose underlying set is finite. Finite groups often arise when considering symmetry of mathematical or physical objects, when those objects admit just a finite number of structure-preserving tra ...

s in 1980. In the 1980s this method was important for new developments in the local structure theory of finite groups. In addition to his work on the amalgam method, Goldschmidt has done research on the

representation theory of finite groups The representation theory of groups is a part of mathematics which examines how groups act on given structures. Here the focus is in particular on operations of groups on vector spaces. Nevertheless, groups acting on other groups or on sets are ...

and has written a book on

algebraic curve In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane cu ...

s without the sophisticated approach of modern

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...

. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
/ref> His doctoral students include

Jeffrey Shallit Jeffrey Outlaw Shallit (born October 17, 1957) is an American computer scientist and mathematician. He is an active number theorist and a noted critic of intelligent design. He is married to Anna Lubiw, also a computer scientist. Early life ...

Selected publications

Algebraic functions and projective curves
Springer 2002

American Mathematical Society 1993 *with Alberto Delgado and Bernd Stellmacher: Groups and graphs: new results and methods, Birkhäuser 1985 *Lectures on character theory, Publish or Perish 1980

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldschmidt, David 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Group theorists American cryptographers University of Chicago alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 1942 births Living people Mathematicians from New York (state) Mathematicians from New York City