View source for Biography:Robert MacPherson (mathematician)

{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{Other people|Robert Macpherson (or MacPherson)|Robert Macpherson (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Robert MacPherson
| image             = Macpherson.jpeg
| image_size        = 200px
| caption           = MacPherson at [[Organization:Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach|Oberwolfach]] in 2008
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1944|05|25}}
| birth_place       = Lakewood, Ohio
| death_date        =
| death_place       = 
| nationality       = American
| fields            = Mathematics
| workplaces        = [[Organization:Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]<br>[[Organization:Brown University|Brown University]]<br>[[Organization:Princeton University|Princeton University]]
| alma_mater        = [[Organization:Swarthmore College|Swarthmore College]] <br> [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Biography:Raoul Bott|Raoul Bott]]
| doctoral_students = [[Biography:Mark Goresky|Mark Goresky]]<br>Julianna Tymoczko<br>Kari Vilonen<br>[[Biography:Zhiwei Yun|Zhiwei Yun]]
| known_for         = 
| awards            = NAS Award in Mathematics <small>(1992)</small> <br>
Leroy P. Steele Prize <small>(2002)</small> <br>Heinz Hopf Prize <small>(2009)</small>
}}
'''Robert Duncan MacPherson''' (born May 25, 1944) is an American mathematician at the Institute for Advanced Study and [[Organization:Princeton University|Princeton University]]. He is best known for the invention of [[Intersection homology|intersection homology]] with [[Biography:Mark Goresky|Mark Goresky]], whose thesis he directed at Brown University, and who became his life partner. MacPherson  previously taught at [[Organization:Brown University|Brown University]], the [[Organization:University of Paris|University of Paris]], and the [[Organization:Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. In 1983 he gave a plenary address at the International Congress of Mathematicians in [[Place:Warsaw|Warsaw]].

== Education and career ==
Educated at [[Organization:Swarthmore College|Swarthmore College]] and [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]], MacPherson received his PhD from [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard]] in 1970.  His thesis, written under the direction of [[Biography:Raoul Bott|Raoul Bott]], was entitled ''Singularities of Maps and Characteristic Classes''. Among his many PhD students are Kari Vilonen and [[Biography:Mark Goresky|Mark Goresky]].

== Honors and awards ==
In 1992, MacPherson was awarded the NAS Award in Mathematics from the National Academy of Sciences.<ref name=NASMath>{{cite web|title=NAS Award in Mathematics|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_mathematics|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|accessdate=February 13, 2011}}</ref> In 2002 he and Goresky were awarded the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research by the American Mathematical Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/notices/200204/comm-steeleprz.pdf|title=Notices of the AMS 2002 p. 466|website=ams.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/pabrowse?purl=steele-prize?SCR|title=List of Steele Prizes Seminal Contribution to Research|website=www.ams.org}}</ref> In 2009 he received the Heinz Hopf Prize from [[Organization:ETH Zurich|ETH Zurich]]. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.<ref>[https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved February 2, 2013.</ref>

== Personal ==
MacPherson's PhD advisee, Mark Goresky, later became his life partner. Their discovery of intersection homology made "both of them famous."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Robert D. MacPherson |url=https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2012/05/30/robert-d-macpherson/ |website=Simons Foundation}}</ref> After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were instrumental in channeling aid to Russian mathematicians, especially many who had to hide their sexuality.<ref name=":0" />

==Selected publications==
* Goresky, Mark; MacPherson, Robert, ''La dualité de Poincaré pour les espaces singuliers'', C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. A-B 284 (1977), no. 24, A1549–A1551.  {{MathSciNet|id=0440533}}
* Goresky, Mark; MacPherson, Robert,  ''Intersection homology theory'', Topology 19 (1980), no. 2, 135–162. {{doi|10.1016/0040-9383(80)90003-8}} {{MathSciNet|id=0572580}}
* Goresky, Mark; MacPherson, Robert, ''Intersection homology. II'', [[Inventiones Mathematicae]] 72 (1983), no. 1, 77–129. {{doi|10.1007/BF01389130}} {{MathSciNet|id=0696691}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{MathGenealogy|id=11546|title=Robert MacPherson}}
*[http://www.math.ias.edu/people/faculty/rdm IAS page, including links to publications and CV]
*[http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/macpherson/talk.pdf The work of Robert MacPherson]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Robert}}
[[Category:Topologists]]



{{Sourceattribution|Robert MacPherson (mathematician)}}