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 invariants that classify topological spaces up to homeomorphism, though usually most classify ...

. The

Massey product In algebraic topology, the Massey product is a cohomology operation of higher order introduced in , which generalizes the cup product. The Massey product was created by William S. Massey, an American algebraic topologist. Massey triple product L ...

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 hav ...

s by means of

exact couple In mathematics, an exact couple, due to , is a general source of spectral sequences. It is common especially in algebraic topology; for example, Serre spectral sequence can be constructed by first constructing an exact couple. For the definition o ...

s, and wrote several textbooks, including ''A Basic Course in Algebraic Topology'' ().

Life

William Massey was born in

Granville, Illinois Granville is a village in Putnam County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,427 at the 2010 census, up from 1,414 in 2000, making it the largest community in Putnam County. It is part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

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, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

. After serving as a meteorologist aboard aircraft carriers in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

for 4 years during World War II, he received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

in 1949. His dissertation, entitled ''Classification of mappings of an

(n+1)

-dimensional space into an n-sphere,'' was written under the direction of

Norman Steenrod Norman Earl Steenrod (April 22, 1910October 14, 1971) was an American mathematician most widely known for his contributions to the field of algebraic topology. Life He was born in Dayton, Ohio, and educated at Miami University and University of ...

. 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 research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Provide ...

. In 1958 he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 ...

. From 1960 till his retirement he was a professor at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

. He died on June 17, 2017 in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a New England town, town in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant (Connecticut), Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 United ...

. He had 23 PhD students, including Donald Kahn, Larry Smith, and

Robert Greenblatt Robert Greenblatt (born 1959/1960) is an American television executive, former Chairman of NBC Entertainment and former Chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment. He has since launched his production company, The Green Room Early life and educati ...

Selected works

* * * * *

External links

Address at Yale

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, William S 1920 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 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

Life

Selected works

See also

External links

References