Clifford Hugh Dowker (; March 2, 1912 – October 14, 1982) was a
topologist known for his work in
point-set topology
In mathematics, general topology is the branch of topology that deals with the basic set-theoretic definitions and constructions used in topology. It is the foundation of most other branches of topology, including differential topology, geomet ...
and also for his contributions in
category theory
Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations that was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Nowadays, cate ...
,
sheaf theory and
knot theory
In the mathematical field of topology, knot theory is the study of knot (mathematics), mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are ...
.
Biography
Clifford Hugh Dowker grew up on a small farm in Western
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. He excelled in
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and was paid to teach his math teacher math at his secondary school. He was awarded a scholarship at
Western Ontario University
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...
, where he got his
B.S.
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in 1933. He wanted to pursue a career as a teacher, but he was persuaded to continue with his education because of his extraordinary mathematical talent. He earned his
M.A. from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
in 1936 and his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1938. His dissertation ''Mapping theorems in non-compact spaces'' was written under the supervision of
Solomon Lefschetz and was published (with additions) in 1947 in the ''
American Journal of Mathematics''.
After earning his doctorate, Dowker became an instructor at the
Western Ontario University
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...
for a year. The next year, he worked as an assistant back at Princeton under
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he worked for the
U.S. Air Force, calculating the
trajectories
A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete traj ...
of
projectiles. He married
Yael Naim
Yael Naim ( he, יעל נעים, born 6 February 1978) is a French-born Israeli singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2008 in the US after her hit single " New Soul" was used by Apple in an advertising campaign for its MacBook Air. The song pe ...
in 1944. After the war, he was appointed
associate professor
Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''.
Overview
In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...
at the
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
. Because of Senator
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
's
red scare
A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
, he decided to take his family to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
shortly thereafter, where he was appointed Reader in applied mathematics at
Birkbeck College
Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...
in 1951. In 1962 he was granted a personal chair, until he retired in 1979. The last years of his life were marked by a long illness, yet he continued working, developing
Dowker notation Dowker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Clifford Hugh Dowker (1912–1982), Canadian mathematician
* Fay Dowker (born 1965), British physicist
*Felicity Dowker, Australian fantasy writer
* Hasted Dowker (1900–1986), Canadi ...
in the weeks before his death.
Work
Dowker showed that
Čech
Čech (feminine Čechová) is a Czech surname meaning Czech. It was used to distinguish an inhabitant of Bohemia from Slovaks, Moravians and other ethnic groups. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dana Čechová (born 1983), Czech tabl ...
and
Vietoris homology
Homology may refer to:
Sciences
Biology
*Homology (biology), any characteristic of biological organisms that is derived from a common ancestor
* Sequence homology, biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences
*Homologous chrom ...
groups coincide, as do the
Čech cohomology and Alexander cohomology groups. Along with
Morwen Thistlethwaite, he developed
Dowker notation Dowker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Clifford Hugh Dowker (1912–1982), Canadian mathematician
* Fay Dowker (born 1965), British physicist
*Felicity Dowker, Australian fantasy writer
* Hasted Dowker (1900–1986), Canadi ...
, a simple way of describing
knots
A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines.
Knot may also refer to:
Places
* Knot, Nancowry, a village in India
Archaeology
* Knot of Isis (tyet), symbol of welfare/life.
* Minoan snake goddess figurines#Sacral knot
Arts, entertainme ...
, suitable for computers.
His most highly cited article is his 1951 paper in which he introduced the concept of
countably paracompact spaces.
Dowker conjectured that so-called
Dowker spaces could not exist, a conjecture ultimately proven false in a famous 1971 paper by
Mary Ellen Rudin.
See also
*Dowker notation Dowker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Clifford Hugh Dowker (1912–1982), Canadian mathematician
* Fay Dowker (born 1965), British physicist
*Felicity Dowker, Australian fantasy writer
* Hasted Dowker (1900–1986), Canadi ...
* Dowker space
* Čech cohomology
* Morwen Thistlethwaite
* Sheaf theory
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowker, Clifford
Topologists
1982 deaths
1912 births
University of Western Ontario alumni
20th-century Canadian mathematicians
Canadian emigrants to the United States