Faculty Achievement Recognition
The 2007 Honorees
Faculty Achievement Recognition
The 2007 Honorees
John Griggs Thompson
Graduate Research Professor
Department of Mathematics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
1993
Degrees earned:
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1959
Professor John Thompson is one of the most eminent mathematicians in the world. He is the premier authority in group theory, which deals with symmetries within and outside of mathematics. For his revolutionary contributions, he has received numerous prestigious awards and distinctions, including the Cole Prize of the American Mathematical Society (1966), and the Fields Medal (1970)—the most prestigious prize in mathematics and equivalent to the Nobel Prize. He has been awarded the Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society (1987), the Poincare Medal of France (1992), and the Wolf Prize of Israel (1992). Thompson also has been a fellow of the Royal Society (1979) and member of the National Academy of Sciences (1967). He has honorary doctorates from Illinois (1968), Yale (1975), and Oxford (1987). Thompson received the National Medal of Science (2000) from former-President Bill Clinton, bringing worldwide recognition to the Department of Mathematics and UF.
