Robert Evert Stong (August 23, 1936, Oklahoma City – April 10, 2008, Charlottesville, Virginia) was a mathematician at 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 ...

who proved the Hattori–Stong theorem.

Early life and education

Stong received a B.A. and M.A. in mathematics at the University of Oklahoma. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

in 1962. His Ph.D. dissertation, ''Some relations among characteristic classes and numbers'', was written under the supervision of Richard Lashof. He served on active duty with the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020, ...

s from 1962 to 1965 and was stationed at

Fort Benjamin Harrison Fort Benjamin Harrison was a U.S. Army post located in suburban Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis, between 1906 and 1991. It is named for the 23rd United States president, Benjamin Harrison. History In 19 ...

and

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...

. He worked on computer development and rose to the rank of captain.

Career

After serving with the Army, he went to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

as a post-doctoral fellow (1964–66), and then 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 ...

as faculty (1966–68). In 1968 he became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, where he taught until his retirement in 2007. His doctoral students included Nelson Saiers.

Selected publications

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References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stong, Robert Evert 1936 births 2008 deaths People from Oklahoma City University of Virginia faculty 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Topologists University of Chicago alumni University of Oklahoma alumni Princeton University faculty Academics of the University of Oxford United States Army officers Mathematicians from Oklahoma