George Mostow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1923-07-04)July 4, 1923 |
| Died | April 4, 2017(2017-04-04) (aged 93) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Known for | Mostow's rigidity theorem Mostow–Palais theorem |
| Children | Jonathan Mostow |
| Awards | Wolf Prize (2013) Leroy P. Steele Prize (1993) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Syracuse University Johns Hopkins University Yale University |
| Thesis | The Extensibility of Local Lie Groups of Transformations and Groups on Surfaces (1948) |
| Doctoral advisor | Garrett Birkhoff |
George Daniel Mostow (July 4, 1923 – April 4, 2017) was an Americanmathematician, renowned for his contributions toLie theory. He was the Henry Ford II (emeritus) Professor of Mathematics atYale University, a member of theNational Academy of Sciences, the 49th president of theAmerican Mathematical Society (1987–1988), and a trustee of theInstitute for Advanced Study from 1982 to 1992.[1]
Therigidity phenomenon forlattices inLie groups he discovered and explored is known asMostow rigidity. His work on rigidity played an essential role in the work of threeFields medalists, namelyGrigori Margulis,William Thurston, andGrigori Perelman.[2]
Mostow was born inBoston, Massachusetts. His parents wereJews fromUkraine who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century.[3] Mostow attended theBoston Latin School andHebrew College[4] before going toHarvard University, where he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1943 and followed by hisPh.D. in mathematics in 1948. His Ph.D. thesis was written under the supervision ofGarrett Birkhoff.[5] His academic appointments had been atSyracuse University from 1949 to 1952, atJohns Hopkins University from 1952 to 1961, and atYale University from 1961 until his retirement in 1999.[6] He died on April 4, 2017.[7]
Mostow was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1974, served as the President of the American Mathematical Society in 1987 and 1988, and was a Trustee of theInstitute for Advanced Study inPrinceton, New Jersey from 1982 to 1992. He was awarded the AMSLeroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research in 1993 for his bookStrong rigidity of locally symmetric spaces (1973).[8] In 1993 he was awarded the American Mathematical Society'sLeroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research. In 2013, he was awarded theWolf Prize in Mathematics "for his fundamental and pioneering contribution to geometry and Lie group theory."[2]
