Paul Frank Baum (born 1936) 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 ...

, the Evan Pugh Professor of Mathematics at Pennsylvania State University. He is known for formulating the

Baum–Connes conjecture In mathematics, specifically in operator K-theory, the Baum–Connes conjecture suggests a link between the K-theory of the reduced C*-algebra of a group and the K-homology of the classifying space of proper actions of that group. The conj ...

with

Alain Connes Alain Connes (; born 1 April 1947) is a French mathematician, and a theoretical physicist, known for his contributions to the study of operator algebras and noncommutative geometry. He is a professor at the , , Ohio State University and Vande ...

in the early 1980s. Baum studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, earning a bachelor's degree ''summa cum laude'' in 1958. He went on to

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 ...

for his graduate studies, completing his Ph.D. in 1963 under the supervision of

John Coleman Moore John Coleman Moore (May 27, 1923 – January 1, 2016) was an American mathematician. The Borel−Moore homology and Eilenberg–Moore spectral sequence are named after him. Early life and education Moore was born in 1923 in Staten Island, New ...

and

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 was several times 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 ...

(1964–65, 1976–77, 2004) After several visiting positions and an assistant professorship at Princeton, he moved to Brown University in 1967, and remained there until 1987 when he moved to Penn State. He became a distinguished professor in 1991 and was given his named chair in 1996.Curriculum vitae
retrieved 2012-03-14. In 2007, a meeting in honor of his 70th birthday was held in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

by the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

. In 2011, the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

gave him an honorary doctorate. In 2012 he became a fellow 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 ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2012-11-10.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baum, Paul Frank 1936 births Brown University faculty Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Harvard College alumni Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty Pennsylvania State University faculty Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Fellows of the American Mathematical Society