Allen Edward Hatcher (born October 23, 1944) is an American mathematician specializing in

geometric topology In mathematics, geometric topology is the study of manifolds and Map (mathematics)#Maps as functions, maps between them, particularly embeddings of one manifold into another. History Geometric topology as an area distinct from algebraic topo ...

Biography

Hatcher was born in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. After obtaining his B.A. and B.Mus. from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in 1966, he went for his graduate studies to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he received his Ph.D. in 1971. His thesis, ''A K₂ Obstruction for Pseudo-Isotopies'', was written under the supervision of Hans Samelson. Afterwards, Hatcher went to

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 ...

, where he was an NSF postdoc for a year, then a lecturer for another year, and then Assistant Professor from 1973 to 1979. He was also a member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

in 1975–76 and 1979–80. Hatcher moved to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

as an assistant professor in 1977. From 1983 he has been a professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

; he is now a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

. In 1978 Hatcher was an invited speaker at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

in Helsinki. In 1983 Hatcher proved the Smale conjecture, named after

Stephen Smale Stephen Smale (born July 15, 1930) is an American mathematician, known for his research in topology, dynamical systems and mathematical economics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and spent more than three decades on the mathematics faculty ...

Selected publications

Papers

* Allen Hatcher and

William Thurston William Paul Thurston (October 30, 1946August 21, 2012) was an American mathematician. He was a pioneer in the field of low-dimensional topology and was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982 for his contributions to the study of 3-manifolds. Thurst ...

, ''A presentation for the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface,''

Topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

19 (1980), no. 3, 221–237. * Allen Hatcher, ''On the boundary curves of incompressible surfaces,''

Pacific Journal of Mathematics The Pacific Journal of Mathematics is a mathematics research journal supported by several universities and research institutes, and currently published on their behalf by Mathematical Sciences Publishers, a non-profit academic publishing organisa ...

99 (1982), no. 2, 373–377. * William Floyd and Allen Hatcher, ''Incompressible surfaces in punctured-torus bundles,'' Topology and its Applications 13 (1982), no. 3, 263–282. * Allen Hatcher and

, ''Incompressible surfaces in 2-bridge knot complements,''

Inventiones Mathematicae ''Inventiones Mathematicae'' is a mathematical journal published monthly by Springer Science+Business Media. It was established in 1966 and is regarded as one of the most prestigious mathematics journals in the world. The current (2023) managing ...

79 (1985), no. 2, 225–246. * Allen Hatcher, ''A proof of the Smale conjecture,

\mathrm(S^)\simeq (4)

,''

Annals of Mathematics The ''Annals of Mathematics'' is a mathematical journal published every two months by Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. History The journal was established as ''The Analyst'' in 1874 and with Joel E. Hendricks as t ...

(2) 117 (1983), no. 3, 553–607.

Books

* * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatcher, Allen 1944 births Living people People from Indianapolis Mathematicians from Indiana Oberlin College alumni Stanford University alumni 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American topologists Princeton University faculty Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars University of California, Los Angeles faculty Cornell University faculty