John Thompson, CLAS mathematics professor, has received one of the country's top scientific awards, the National Medal of Science. "It's wonderful to receive this recognition. I am truly honored," says Thompson.

According to the National Science Foundation, which administers the awards, Thompson is "considered a world leader in algebra and a foremost group theorist." The National Medal of Science is given each year by the White House and is the highest honor bestowed upon a scientist by the US government. This year twelve medals were awarded by President Clinton, and Thompson was honored during a dinner on December 1 in Washington, DC. "These exceptional scientists and engineers have transformed our world and enhanced our daily lives," said Clinton in a White House news release. "Their imagination and ingenuity will continue to inspire future generations of American scientists to remain at the cutting edge of scientific discovery and technological innovation."

Thompson's research focuses on group theory, a branch of mathematics that studies symmetries, such as those that arise in geometry and in the solutions to algebraic equations. Thompson is noted in the field for collaborating with fellow mathematician Walter Feit to solve one of its most difficult problems. The two worked on the so-called "odd order" problem and wrote a 253-page proof that comprised an entire issue of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics. This achievement won Thompson the Fields Medal in 1970, the highest prize in mathematics, equivalent in prestige to the Nobel Prize.

In addition to the Fields Medal, Thompson was awarded the Cole Prize of the American Mathematical Society in 1966, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1971, and elected Fellow of The Royal Society in 1979. He was awarded The Royal Society's Sylvester Medal in 1987, and, in 1992, the Israeli government awarded Thompson the Wolf Prize for his lifelong contributions to mathematics. In 1992 he was also awarded the Henri Poincare Golden Medal by the Académie des Sciences in Paris. This prestigious medal has only been awarded on two other occasions.

Thompson's career began at Yale University, where he entered as a theology major and intended to become a Presbyterian minister. Thompson says a college roommate helped spark his interest in math. "One of my undergraduate roommates was a pre-med student and was reading Gamow's book, One, Two, Three...Infinity, and I started reading it. Math started to really interest me."

After receiving his PhD in 1959 from the University of Chicago, Thompson worked as an assistant professor at Harvard University and then as a professor at the University of Chicago. He was appointed Rouse Ball Professor at the University of Cambridge in England in 1970, where he spent the next 23 years before coming to UF. One of Thompson's students at the University of Chicago, Chat Ho, joined the math faculty at UF in 1985. Ho and mathematics chair Al Bednarek were instrumental in recruiting Thompson to UF. The two first convinced Thompson to visit UF in 1986. Bednarek's successor, David Drake, then persuaded Thompson to join the math department permanently in 1993.

In the last few years, Thompson has been working on the famous inverse Galois problem, which deals with the question of deciding which groups can be realized as Galois groups. Group theory was born with the work of nineteenth-century French mathematician Evariste Galois, who died in a duel at the age of 20. On the night before his death, Galois wrote a letter to a friend describing his mathematical ideas. This was the birth of group theory in general and Galois theory in particular.

Although Thompson's work is abstract, group theory has applications in other fields such as chemistry and physics. It has also been used to create error-correcting codes, which help reduce interference and improve clarity in satellite-Earth communication systems. "I wouldn't be surprised to see group theory used in any number of places," says Thompson. "It's a rich structure and gives information about complex circumstances in certain cases."

Neil Sullivan, CLAS interim dean, says Thompson's contributions to mathematics are significant, and his dedication to research on fundamentals is perhaps even more impressive. "He is recognized worldwide as a leader in his field, and he conducts research without regard for applications or immediate benefit."

Krishnaswami Alladi, UF math department chair, refers to Thompson as the "crown jewel of our department." He also explains how Thompson's work in group theory has had a profound impact on shaping modern mathematics in general, and algebra in particular. "Thompson's name is closely associated with one of the monumental achievements of the twentieth century, namely the classification of the finite simple groups, which was completed in the 1980s. His record of sustained research activity at the highest level for four decades is a rarity even among Fields medallists."

--Allyson A. Beutke

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