Burt James Totaro,
FRS (b. 1967), is an American
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
, currently a professor at 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 ...
, specializing in
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 ...
and
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 ...
.
Education and early life
Totaro participated in the
Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth
The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) is a prospective longitudinal survey study of persons (mostly in the United States) identified by scores of 700 or higher on a section of the SAT Reasoning Test before age 13. It is one of the lon ...
while in grade school and enrolled at
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 1980 at the age of thirteen, becoming the youngest freshman in its history.
He scored a perfect 800 on the math portion and a 690 on the verbal portion of the
SAT-I exam at the age of 12.
[ He graduated in 1984 and went on to graduate school 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 ...
, receiving his Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in 1989.
Career and research
Since 2009, he has been one of three managing editors of the journal ''Compositio Mathematica
''Compositio Mathematica'' is a monthly peer-reviewed mathematics journal established by L.E.J. Brouwer in 1935. It is owned by the Foundation Compositio Mathematica, and since 2004 it has been published on behalf of the Foundation by the London ...
''; he is also on the editorial boards of Forum of Mathematics, Pi and Sigma, the Journal of the American Mathematical Society
The ''Journal of the American Mathematical Society'' (''JAMS''), is a quarterly peer-reviewed mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. It was established in January 1988.
Abstracting and indexing
This journal is abs ...
, and the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society
The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society.
Scope
It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. ...
. In 2012, he became a Professor in the UCLA Department of Mathematics.
Totaro's work is influenced by the Hodge conjecture
In mathematics, the Hodge conjecture is a major unsolved problem in algebraic geometry and complex geometry that relates the algebraic topology of a non-singular complex algebraic variety to its subvarieties.
In simple terms, the Hodge conjectur ...
, and is based on the connections and application of topology to algebraic geometry. His work has applications in a number of diverse areas of mathematics, from representation theory
Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebra, abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their element (set theory), elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies Module (mathematics), ...
to Lie theory
In mathematics, the mathematician Sophus Lie ( ) initiated lines of study involving integration of differential equations, transformation groups, and contact (mathematics), contact of spheres that have come to be called Lie theory. For instance, ...
and group cohomology
In mathematics (more specifically, in homological algebra), group cohomology is a set of mathematical tools used to study groups using cohomology theory, a technique from algebraic topology. Analogous to group representations, group cohomology ...
.[
]
Selected works
*
*
Recognition
In 2000, he was elected Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry
The Lowndean chair of Astronomy and Geometry is one of the two major Professorships in Astronomy (alongside the Plumian Professorship) and a major Professorship in Mathematics at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1749 by Thomas Lowndes, an ...
at the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. In the same year, he was awarded the Whitehead Prize
The Whitehead Prize is awarded yearly by the London Mathematical Society to multiple mathematicians working in the United Kingdom who are at an early stage of their career. The prize is named in memory of homotopy theory pioneer J. H. C. Whitehe ...
by the London Mathematical Society
The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...
.
In 2009, Totaro was elected Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
. He was included in the 2019 class of fellows 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, ...
"for contributions to algebraic geometry, Lie theory and cohomology and their connections and for service to the profession".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Totaro, Burt
1967 births
Living people
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
Algebraic geometers
American topologists
Princeton University alumni
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Whitehead Prize winners
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Cambridge mathematicians
Lowndean Professors of Astronomy and Geometry