René Thom
Born: 2 Sept 1923 in France
Died:
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Thom is known for his development of catastrophe theory, a mathematical treatment of continuous action producing a discontinuous result.
He attended the Collge Cuvier at Montbéliard, then he attended the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris. His university education was at the École Normale Supeacute;rieure in Paris. Thom taught at Grenoble in 1953-54, then at Strasbourg from 1954 until 1963. He was appointed a professor in 1957. In 1964 he moved to the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifique at Bures-sur-Yvette.
Thom's theory is an attempt to describe, in a way that is impossible using differential calculus, those situations in which gradually changing forces lead to so-called catastrophes, or abrupt changes. The theory has widespread application in the physical and biological sciences and in the social sciences.
Presented by Thom in Structural Stability and Morphogenesis (1972), the theory has been developed by many mathematicians.
His earlier work had made him well known before he worked on catastrophe theory. His work on topology, in particular on characteristic classes, cobordism theory and the Thom transversality
theorem led to his being awarded a Fields' medal in 1958.
Thom was awarded the Grand Prix Scientifique de la Ville de Paris in 1974.
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