Doris Fischer-Colbrie

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Doris Fischer-Colbrie is a ceramic artist and former mathematician. [1] She received her Ph.D. in mathematics in 1978 from University of California at Berkeley, where her advisor was H. Blaine Lawson. [2]

Many of her contributions to the theory of minimal surfaces are now considered foundational to the field. In particular, her collaboration with Richard Schoen is a landmark contribution to the interaction of stable minimal surfaces with nonnegative scalar curvature. [3] A particular result, also obtained by Manfredo do Carmo and Chiakuei Peng, is that the only complete stable minimal surfaces in 3 are planes. [4] Her work on unstable minimal surfaces gave the basic tools by which to relate the assumption of finite index to conditions on stable subdomains and total curvature. [5] [6]

After positions at Columbia University and San Diego State University, Fischer-Colbrie left academia to become a ceramic artist. She is married to Schoen, with whom she has two children. [7]

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References

  1. "Doris Fischer-Colbrie". dorisfischer-colbrie.com.
  2. Doris Fischer-Colbrie at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. Li, Peter. Geometric analysis. Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, 134. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012. x+406 pp. ISBN   978-1-107-02064-1
  4. do Carmo, M.; Peng, C. K. Stable complete minimal surfaces in 3 are flat planes. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 1 (1979), no. 6, 903–906.
  5. Meeks, William H., III; Pérez, Joaquín The classical theory of minimal surfaces. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 48 (2011), no. 3, 325–407.
  6. Meeks, William H., III; Pérez, Joaquín. A survey on classical minimal surface theory. University Lecture Series, 60. American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2012. x+182 pp. ISBN   978-0-8218-6912-3
  7. The mathematics of Richard Schoen. Notices Amer. Math. Soc. 65 (2018), no. 11, 1349–1376.