William Schumacher Massey (August 23, 1920 – June 17, 2017) was an American mathematician, known for his work in
algebraic topology
Algebraic topology is a branch of mathematics that uses tools from abstract algebra to study topological spaces. The basic goal is to find algebraic invariant (mathematics), invariants that classification theorem, classify topological spaces up t ...
. The
Massey product is named for him. He worked also on the formulation of
spectral sequence
In homological algebra and algebraic topology, a spectral sequence is a means of computing homology groups by taking successive approximations. Spectral sequences are a generalization of exact sequences, and since their introduction by , they h ...
s by means of
exact couples, and wrote several textbooks, including ''A Basic Course in Algebraic Topology'' ().
Life
William Massey was born in
Granville, Illinois, in 1920, the son of Robert and Alma Massey, and grew up in
Peoria. He was an undergraduate student at 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 ...
. After serving as a meteorologist aboard aircraft carriers in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
for 4 years during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he received a
Ph.D. degree from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in 1949. His dissertation, entitled ''Classification of mappings of an
-dimensional space into an n-sphere,'' was written under the direction of
Norman Steenrod. He spent two additional years at Princeton as a post-doctoral research assistant. He then taught for ten years on the faculty of
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
. In 1958 he was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
. From 1960 till his retirement he was a professor 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 ...
. He died on June 17, 2017, in
Hamden, Connecticut. He had 23 PhD students, including Donald Kahn, Larry Smith, and
Robert Greenblatt.
Selected works
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See also
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Blakers–Massey theorem
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Exact couple
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Massey product
External links
Address at Yale
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, William S
1920 births
2017 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
American topologists
Brown University faculty
Yale University faculty
University of Chicago alumni
Princeton University alumni
United States Navy personnel of World War II
People from Granville, Illinois
Mathematicians from Illinois
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences