Thomas Goodwillie (mathematician)
Thomas G. Goodwillie is an American mathematician and professor at Brown University who has made fundamental contributions to algebraic and geometric topology. He is especially famous for developing the concept of calculus of functors, often also named Goodwillie calculus.Life
Goodwillie studied at Harvard University and Princeton University, where he completed his PhD at in 1982, under the supervision of Wu-Chung Hsiang. He then went to Harvard as an associate professor, and in 1987 to Brown University, where he obtained tenure in 1991.
He developed the calculus of functors in a series of three papers in the 1990s and 2000s, which has since been expanded and applied in a number of areas, including the theory of smooth manifolds, algebraic K-theory, and homotopy theory.
He has advised 11 PhD students.
Goodwillie is interested in issues of racial and gender equality and has taught a course on this topic. He is an active user on MathOverflow.Recognition
Goodwillie received a Sloan Fellowship and the Harriet S. Sheridan Award. He is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
A conference with leading topologists as speakers was organized on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
