Hassler whitney biography of martin

(b. New York, New York, 23 March 1907;

d. Princeton, New Jersey, 10 May 1989), mathematician, topology, geometry.

One of the most creative mathematicians of the twentieth century, Whitney contributed fundamental notions and results to several areas of mathematics.

His impact was most forcefully felt in topology, where he founded the field of differential topology.

Hassler Whitney was born to an accomplished family; his father, Edward Baldwin Whitney, was a state supreme court judge and his mother, Josepha Newcomb, an artist, was active in politics.

Hassler whitney biography of martin

His grandfathers were William D. Whitney, a noted Sanskrit scholar, and Simon Newcomb, a renowned astronomer and political economist. While young, Whitney spent two years in Switzerland, where he took up mountaineering, a lifelong passion.

Among climbers, he is known for the first ascent of the Whitney-Gilman ridge on Cannon cliff in New Hampshire, which he made with his cousin in 1929. He is considered a pione