Charles Livingston (mathematician)

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Charles Livingston is a mathematician working in geometric topology, low-dimensional topology and knot theory. He is a professor emeritus at Indiana University. [1]

Contents

In 1982, he posed a conjecture on Seifert surfaces that remained open for 40 years. It was finally solved in 2022 in a collaborative effort of five mathematicians: Kyle Hayden, Seungwon Kim, Maggie Miller, JungHwan Park, and Isaac Sundberg. [1]

His undergraduate studies where at University of California, Los Angeles and MIT. [2] Livingston obtained his PhD in 1980 from the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Robion Kirby (thesis: The Knotting of Surfaces in 4-Spaces). [3]

He is the author of the textbook Knot Theory (MAA). [4] [5] In 2004, he was awarded the Lester R. Ford Award from the Mathematical Association of America. [6]

Selected publications

Research papers

Textbooks

References

  1. 1 2 Hartnett, Kevin (16 June 2022), "Surfaces So Different Even a Fourth Dimension Can't Make Them the Same", Quanta Magazine
  2. Mathematical Association of America, MathFest 2004, PRIZES and AWARDS, https://maa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PRZBKmathfest2004.pdf
  3. Mathematics Genealogy Project: https://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=22697
  4. 1 2 Book review 1 (by Joan S. Birman) at The American Mathematical Monthly ): https://www.jstor.org/stable/2974659
  5. 1 2 Book review 2 (by W. B. R. Lickorish) at The Mathematical Gazette : https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/mathematical-gazette/article/abs/knot-theory-by-charles-livingston-pp-240-3150-1994-isbn-0883850273-mathematical-association-of-america/FA5EDC177114CA94B2AD3F9C213C0F07
  6. "Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Awards – Mathematical Association of America".