Edwin Earl Floyd (8 May 1924, in
Eufaula, Alabama
Eufaula is the largest city in Barbour County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census the city's population was 13,137.
History
The site along the Chattahoochee River that is now modern-day Eufaula was occupied by three Muscogee Cree ...
– 9 December 1990) was an American mathematician, specializing in topology (especially
cobordism
In mathematics, cobordism is a fundamental equivalence relation on the class of compact manifolds of the same dimension, set up using the concept of the boundary (French '' bord'', giving ''cobordism'') of a manifold. Two manifolds of the same ...
theory).
Education and career
Floyd studied received in 1943 his bachelor's degree from the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
and in 1948 his Ph.D. from the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...
under
Gordon Whyburn with thesis ''The extension of homeomorphisms''. He was in the academic year 1948–1949 an instructor at
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 n ...
and became in 1949 a member of the faculty of the University of Virginia, where in the 1960s he collaborated with
Pierre Conner in research on cobordism theory. At the University of Virginia, he was the chair of the department of mathematics from 1966 to 1969 and since 1966 the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Mathematics. In 1974 he became the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and in 1981 the vice-president and provost of the university. In the academic years 1958/59 and 1963/64 he was a visiting scholar at the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...
.
From 1960 to 1964 he was a
Sloan Fellow
The Sloan Fellows program is the world's first mid-career and senior career master's degree in general management and leadership. It was initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, the late CEO of General Motors, to his alma mater, MI ...
. In 1962 he was an
invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians
This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame." ...
in Stockholm and gave a talk ''Some connections between cobordism and transformation groups''. In 1964 he was the Hedrick Lecturer of the
Mathematical Association of America. In 1981 he received the Thomas Jefferson Award of the University of Virginia. His burial was in
University Cemetery, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Personal life
Floyd had a daughter,
Sally
Sally may refer to:
People
*Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name
Military
* Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port
*Sally, the Allied reporting na ...
.
Selected publications
Articles
*
*
*
*
*with
R. W. Richardson:
*with Pierre E. Conner:
*with P. E. Conner:
*with P. E. Conner:
*with P. E. Conner:
*
Books
*with Pierre E. Conner: 2nd edn. 1979
*with P. E. Conner:
*with P. E. Conner:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Floyd, Edwin
20th-century American mathematicians
1924 births
1990 deaths
People from Eufaula, Alabama
University of Alabama alumni
University of Virginia alumni
University of Virginia faculty
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Topologists
Mathematicians from Alabama