Donald M. Davis (born 7 May 1945) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

mathematician specializing in algebraic topology. Davis received a B.S. from MIT in 1967 and a PhD in mathematics at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

in 1972, directed by

R. James Milgram Richard James Milgram (born 5 December 1939 in South Bend, Indiana) is an American mathematician, specializing in algebraic topology. He is the son of mathematician Arthur Milgram. Biography Milgram graduated from the University of Chicago with a ...

. After postdoctoral positions at University of California, San Diego and Northwestern University, he began a 50-year career at Lehigh University in 1974. In 2012 he was named an inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. . Since 2002, he has been Executive Editor of ''

Homology, Homotopy and Applications ''Homology, Homotopy and Applications'' is a peer-reviewed delayed open access mathematics journal published by International Press. It was established in 1999 and covers research on algebraic topology. The journal "Homology, Homotopy and Applicat ...

''.

Research

Davis has published in algebraic topology,

differential topology In mathematics, differential topology is the field dealing with the topological properties and smooth properties of smooth manifolds. In this sense differential topology is distinct from the closely related field of differential geometry, which ...

, topological robotics, and

combinatorial number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Math ...

. He is an expert on immersions of

projective spaces In mathematics, the concept of a projective space originated from the visual effect of perspective (graphical), perspective, where parallel lines seem to meet ''at infinity''. A projective space may thus be viewed as the extension of a Euclidean s ...

, and maintains a website with all known results for real projective spaces. He computed the

v_1

-periodic homotopy groups of all compact simple Lie groups.

Coaching

In 1993 Davis started the Lehigh Valley Math Team. In 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2024, they were national champions in the American Regions Math League (ARML). They have finished second or third in ARML seven other times. They won the Harvard/MIT Math Tournament (

HMMT HMMT is an annual high school math competition that started in 1998. The location of the tournament, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, alternates between Harvard University (November tournament) and MIT (February tournament). The contest is written an ...

) in 2023 and 2024, and the Princeton University Math Competition (PUMaC) in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2023.

Running

From 1977 through 2009, Davis competed in marathon and ultramarathon races. He was the overall winner of ultramarathon races of 31 to 78 miles in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

Selected publications

* This book was originally published by Princeton University Press in 1993. * *

Notes

External links

* at Lehigh University {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Donald 1945 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Lehigh University faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society American topologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Stanford University alumni Mathematicians from Kentucky