Michael Atiyah
1929–2019, London, England, Edinburgh, Scotland
AlgebraGeometryTopology
British mathematician who created K-theory and the Atiyah–Singer index theorem, linking topology, geometry, and analysis.
Michael Atiyah reshaped twentieth-century geometry through K-theory, index theory, and the interaction between topology and differential equations. The Atiyah–Singer index theorem explains how an analytic index equals a topological index, with consequences across geometry, analysis, and mathematical physics. He received the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004.
Workplaces: University of Oxford, University of Cambridge
United Kingdom