William Schumacher Massey | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1920-08-20)August 20, 1920 |
| Died | June 17, 2017(2017-06-17) (aged 96) Hamden,Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago Princeton University |
| Known for | Massey product Blakers–Massey theorem Exact couple |
| Spouse | Ethel H. Massey |
| Children | 3 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Topology |
| Institutions | Brown University Yale University |
| Thesis | Classification of mappings of an (n + 1)-dimensional space into an n-sphere (1948) |
| Doctoral advisor | Norman Steenrod |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Service years | 1942–1945 |
William Schumacher Massey (August 23, 1920[1] – June 17, 2017) was an American mathematician, known for his work inalgebraic topology. TheMassey product is named for him. He worked also on the formulation ofspectral sequences by means ofexact couples, and wrote several textbooks, includingA Basic Course in Algebraic Topology (ISBN 0-387-97430-X).
William Massey was born inGranville, Illinois, in 1920, the son of Robert and Alma Massey, and grew up inPeoria. He was an undergraduate student at theUniversity of Chicago. After serving as a meteorologist aboard aircraft carriers in theUnited States Navy for 4 years duringWorld War II, he received aPh.D. degree fromPrinceton University in 1949.[2] His dissertation, titledClassification of mappings of an-dimensional space into an n-sphere, was written under the direction ofNorman Steenrod. He spent two additional years at Princeton as a post-doctoral research assistant.[3] He then taught for ten years on the faculty ofBrown University. In 1958 he was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4] From 1960 till his retirement he was a professor atYale University. He died on June 17, 2017, inHamden, Connecticut. He had 23 PhD students, including Donald Kahn, Larry Smith, andRobert Greenblatt.
