Whitehead, Henry

Whitehead, Henry

▪ British mathematician
in full  John Henry Constantine Whitehead 
born November 11, 1904, Madras, India
died May 8, 1960, Princeton, N.J., U.S.

      British mathematician who greatly influenced the development of homotopy.

      As a Commonwealth research fellow (1929–32), Whitehead studied under the American mathematician Oswald Veblen (Veblen, Oswald) at Princeton University and gained his Ph.D. in 1932. Their collaborative publications include The Foundations of Differential Geometry (1932), now regarded as a classic.

      Whitehead became tutorial fellow at Balliol College, University of Oxford, in 1933, and, after serving with various government departments during World War II, in 1947 he became Waynflete professor of pure mathematics at Oxford.

      After returning to England, Whitehead continued to work in differential geometry and his paper “On the Covering of a Complete Space by the Geodesics Through a Point” (1935), marks a turning point in the study of the subject. He always retained his interest in geometry but from 1941 was primarily concerned on topology. Initially his focus was on the strictly combinatorial type of topology but later he moved towards algebraic topology. He made substantial contributions to homotopy theory (the theory of a special kind of mapping of topological spaces). He set up a school of topology at Oxford. He died while on sabbatical leave at the Institute for Advanced Study.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Whitehead, Henry S[t. Clair] —    (1882–1932)    American author of weird tales and friend of HPL (1931–32). HPL reports (“In Memoriam: Henry St. Clair Whitehead”) that Whitehead, a New Jersey native, graduated from Harvard in 1904; this is false, although Whitehead did study… …   An H.P.Lovecraft encyclopedia

  • Whitehead — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), britischer Philosoph und Logiker Annie Whitehead (* 1955), britische Jazzposaunistin Chad Whitehead (* 1987), australischer Badmintonspieler Dean Whitehead (* 1982),… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • WHITEHEAD (J. H. C.) — WHITEHEAD JOHN HENRY CONSTANTINE (1904 1960) Né à Madras, neveu du philosophe et logicien Alfred North Whitehead, J. H. C. Whitehead fit ses études à Oxford; il y rencontra, en 1920, O. Veblen, avec qui il collabora pendant trois ans à Princeton …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Henry Taylor (Rennfahrer) — Henry Taylor Automobil /Formel 1 Weltmeisterschaft Nation: Vereinigtes Konigreich  Vereinigtes Königreich Erster Start: Großer Preis von Groß …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Henry Hayes Vowles — (born 26 June 1843 in Bath, England and died 13 November 1905 in Gloucester, England) was an author, theologian and a Wesleyan Minister. He also published religious poetry.ParentsHe was the son of Henry Vowles (born c1816) of bath and Mary Yeoman …   Wikipedia

  • Henry Perrine — was a physician, horticulturist, United States Consul in Campeche, Campeche, Mexico, and an enthusiast for introducing tropical plants into cultivation in the United States.Henry Edward Perrine was born April 5 1797 at Cranbury, New Jersey. He… …   Wikipedia

  • Henry Perigal Borrell — (1795, London – 2 October 1851, Smyrna) was a British numismatist. He was the son of John Henry Borrell, a London clockmaker, and Kitty Howe. Having learned the numismatics trade in London, he traveled to the Ottoman Empire and set up home and… …   Wikipedia

  • Henry Paul — Henry Rangi Paul, est né le 10 février 1974 à Tokoroa (Nouvelle Zélande). C’est un joueur de rugby à XIII, qui joue aux Harlequins Rugby League, évoluant au poste d ouverture (1,80 m et 95 kg). Durant son adolescence, Paul jouait à XV… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Henry Felix Woods — (Woods Pasha) (* 18. Juli 1843 auf Jersey; † 18. Februar 1929 in Konstantinopel[1]) war Admiral und Pascha in der osmanischen Marine. Werdegang Er stammte ab aus dem Yeoman Lager.[2] Im Alter von zehn Jahren begann er am Upper Greenwich Hospital… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Henry A. Bamman — is an American author. His titles focus on adventure and science fiction. He has co authored many books with Helen Huus and Robert J Whitehead.In 1978, he was invited to speak at Truman State University as a Baldwin Lecturer. He spoke on Crisis… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”