Frank Quinn

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Frank Stringfellow Quinn (born June 3, 1946 in Havana ) is an American mathematician who studies the topology of four-dimensional manifolds and geometric topology.

Frank Quinn (left) with Andrew Ranicki, Oberwolfach 2003

Quinn received his doctorate from Princeton University in 1970 with William Browder (and Michel Kervaire ) ( A geometric formulation of surgery ) From 1971 he taught at Princeton as an assistant professor, from 1973 at Yale University and from 1976 at Rutgers University . Since 1977 he has been a professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (from 1985 as Distinguished Professor ).

He made important contributions to surgery and the topology of four-dimensional manifolds . He also deals with algebraic topology and related problems in algebra. Further interests are mathematics education and mathematics history.

In 1982 ( End of Maps , Part 3) he proved the circular ring theorem for dimension 4. The theorem simply states that the space between two spheres (one of which is inside the other) is topologically ring-shaped (with additional assumptions about the topological behavior of the Spheres). The theorem was proved for two dimensions by Tibor Radó in 1924, for three dimensions by Edwin Moise (1952) and in five and more dimensions by Robion Kirby (1969). So Quinn filled the last dimensional gap in the proof of the theorem.

His 1993 essay with Arthur Jaffe Theoretical Mathematics in the AMS Bulletin sparked controversy at the time about the role of mathematical rigor in mathematical physics, especially string theory . But the essay also concerned the role of mathematical rigor in pure mathematics .

He was editor of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society . In 1986 he was invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Berkeley (Applications of topology with control). He is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society .

Fonts

  • Ends of Maps , Part 1, Annals of Mathematics, Volume 110, 1979, pp. 275-331, Part 2, Inventiones Mathematicae, Volume 68, 1982, pp. 353-424, Part 3, J. Differential Geometry, Volume 17, 1982, pp. 503-521
  • with Michael Freedman Topology of 4-Manifolds , Princeton University Press 1990
  • with Vyacheslav S. Krushkal Subexponential groups in 4-manifold topology , Geometric Topology, Volume 4, 2000, pp. 407-430.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ^ Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ↑ Jaffe, Quinn Theoretical mathematics: Toward a cultural synthesis of mathematics and theoretical physics , Bulletin of the American Math. Soc., Volume 29, 1993, pp. 1-13, online
  4. ↑ In the Topology you cite examples from Henri Poincaré , Dennis Sullivan , William Thurston , René Thom and others
personal data
SURNAME Quinn, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Quinn, Frank Stringfellow
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana