Phillip A. Griffiths
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Phillip Augustus Griffiths IV (born October 18, 1938) is an American mathematician, known for his work in the field of
geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...
, and in particular for the complex manifold approach to algebraic geometry. He was a major developer in particular of the theory of variation of Hodge structure in Hodge theory and moduli theory. He also worked on partial differential equations, coauthored with Shiing-Shen Chern, Robert Bryant (mathematician), Robert Bryant and Robert Brown Gardner, Robert Gardner on Exterior Differential Systems.


Professional career

He received his BS from Wake Forest College in 1959 and his PhD from Princeton University in 1962 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "On certain homogeneous complex manifolds", under the supervision of Donald C. Spencer, Donald Spencer. Afterwards, he held positions at University of California, Berkeley (1962–1967) and Princeton University (1967–1972). Griffiths was a professor of mathematics at Harvard University from 1972 to 1983. He was then a Provost and James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics at Duke University from 1983 to 1991. From 1991 to 2003, he was the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey. He remained as part of the Faculty of Mathematics at the IAS until June 2009, after which he has been emeritus at the IAS. He has published on algebraic geometry, differential geometry, geometric function theory, and the geometry of partial differential equations. Griffiths serves as the Chair of the Science Initiative Group. He is co-author, with Joe Harris (mathematician), Joe Harris, of ''Principles of Algebraic Geometry'', a well-regarded textbook on complex number, complex algebraic geometry.


Awards and honors

Griffiths was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1979 and the American Philosophical Society in 1992. In 2008 he was awarded the Wolf Prize (jointly with Deligne and David Mumford, Mumford) and the Brouwer Medal. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. Moreover, in 2014 Griffiths was awarded the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement by the American Mathematical Society. Also in 2014, Griffiths was awarded the Chern Medal for lifetime devotion to mathematics and outstanding achievements.


Selected publications


Articles

* * * * * * * * * *with Joe Harris: *with S. S. Chern: * *


Books

* ''Mumford–Tate groups and domains: their geometry and arithmetic'', with Mark Lee Green, Mark Green and Matt Kerr, Princeton University Press, 2012, * in pbk: * ''Exterior differential systems and Euler-Lagrange partial differential equations'', with Robert Bryant (mathematician), Robert Bryant and Daniel Grossman, University of Chicago Press, 2003, cloth;
''Introduction to Algebraic Curves''
American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1989, * ''Differential Systems and Isometric Embeddings'', with Gary R. Jensen, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1987, * ''Topics in Transcendental Algebraic Geometry'', Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1984, * ''Exterior Differential Systems and the Calculus of Variations'', Birkhäuser, Boston, 1983, * ''Rational Homotopy Theory and Differential Forms'', with John Morgan (mathematician), John W. Morgan, Birkhäuser, Boston, 1981, * ''Principles of Algebraic Geometry'', with Joe Harris (mathematician), Joe Harris, Wiley, New York, 1978, * ''Entire Holomorphic Mappings in One and Several Complex Variables'', Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1976,


References


External links

*
Science Initiative Group page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Phillip 1938 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Algebraic geometers Differential geometers Institute for Advanced Study faculty Directors of the Institute for Advanced Study Princeton University alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Princeton University faculty Harvard University faculty Duke University faculty Brouwer Medalists Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Wolf Prize in Mathematics laureates Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mathematicians from North Carolina People from Raleigh, North Carolina Woodward Academy alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society