William Browder (January 6, 1934 – February 4, 2025) was an American mathematician, who specialized in

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 ...

differential topology In mathematics, differential topology is the field dealing with the topological properties and smooth properties of smooth manifolds. In this sense differential topology is distinct from the closely related field of differential geometry, which ...

and

differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...

. He served as president 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, ...

from 1989 to 1991.

Life and career

William Browder was born in a Jewish hospital in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on January 6, 1934,Curriculum vitae
from Browder's web site, retrieved October 6, 2010. the son of Raisa (née Berkmann), a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish woman from

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, and American Communist Party leader Earl Browder, from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. His father had moved to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1927, where he met and married Raisa. Their first two sons, Felix and

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, were born in Moscow in 1931. William attended local public schools in Yonkers for early schooling and graduated from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

with a B.S. degree in 1954. He was a instructor at the University of Rochester from 1957 to 1958 and at Cornell University from 1958 until 1963. In August 1957, his original thesis fell apart when his advisor,

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, Ne ...

, found an issue with the idea. However, William came up with a new idea which was titled '' Homology of Loop Spaces.'' He received his Ph.D. from

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 1958, using the dissertation. From 1964 onwards, Browder was a professor at

; he was chair of the mathematics department at Princeton from 1971 to 1973. He was editor of the journal ''

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 ...

'' from 1969 to 1981, and president of the

from 1989 to 1991. Browder was elected to the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1980, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1984, and the

Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (, , ) is a Finnish learned society for natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It is a bilingual (Swedish and Finnish) science academy and the oldest of the four science academies in Finland. ...

in 1990. In 1994, a conference was held at Princeton in celebration of his 60th birthday.. A conference was held at Princeton on the occasion of his retirement in 2012. Browder advised 30 Ph.D. students in his career as well as multiple undergraduate students. Browder died on February 4, 2025, at the age of 91.

Selected bibliography

; Books * ''Surgery on Simply-Connected Manifolds'', Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete, vol. 65,

Springer-Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

, Berlin (1972) * ''Algebraic Topology and Algebraic

K-Theory In mathematics, K-theory is, roughly speaking, the study of a ring generated by vector bundles over a topological space or scheme. In algebraic topology, it is a cohomology theory known as topological K-theory. In algebra and algebraic geometr ...

'',

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, 1987, ; Seminal papers * "Homotopy Type of Differentiable Manifolds", Proc. 1962 Aarhus Conference, published in Proc. 1993 * Oberwolfach Novikov Conjecture Conference proceedings, London Mathematical Society Lecture Notes 226 (1995) * "The Kervaire Invariant of Framed Manifolds and Its Generalization", ''

'' 90, 157–186 (1969)

References

External links

*
William Browder (AMS brief bio)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browder, William 1934 births 2025 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American people of Russian-Jewish descent American topologists

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Presidents of the American Mathematical Society Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty Mathematicians from New York City

Life and career

Selected bibliography

See also

References

External links