John L. Kelley (December 6, 1916,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

– November 26, 1999,

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

) was an American mathematician at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, who worked in

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...

and

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. inner product, norm, topology, etc.) and the linear functions defined o ...

. Kelley's 1955 text, ''General Topology'', which eventually appeared in three editions and several translations, is a classic and widely cited graduate-level introduction to

. An appendix sets out a new approach to axiomatic set theory, now called Morse–Kelley set theory, that builds on

Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory In the foundations of mathematics, von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory (NBG) is an axiomatic set theory that is a conservative extension of Zermelo–Fraenkel–choice set theory (ZFC). NBG introduces the notion of class, which is a colle ...

. He introduced the first definition of a

subnet A subnetwork or subnet is a logical subdivision of an IP network. Updated by RFC 6918. The practice of dividing a network into two or more networks is called subnetting. Computers that belong to the same subnet are addressed with an identical ...

. After earning B.A. (1936) and M.A. (1937) degrees from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

, he went to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1940. Gordon Whyburn, a student of

Robert Lee Moore Robert Lee Moore (November 14, 1882 – October 4, 1974) was an American mathematician who taught for many years at the University of Texas. He is known for his work in general topology, for the Moore method of teaching university mathematics, ...

, supervised his thesis, entitled ''A Study of Hyperspaces''. He taught at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

until the outbreak of

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 opposing ...

. From 1942 to 1945, he did mathematics (mainly exterior ballistics, including ballistics for the atomic bomb) for the war effort at the

Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...

, where his work unit included his future Berkeley colleagues

Anthony Morse Anthony Perry Morse (21 August 1911 – 6 March 1984) was an American mathematician who worked in both analysis, especially measure theory, and in the foundations of mathematics. He is best known as the co-creator, together with John L. Kelle ...

and Charles Morrey. After teaching at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, 1946–47, Kelley spent the rest of his career at Berkeley, from which he retired in 1985. He chaired the Mathematics Department at Berkeley 1957–60 and 1975–80. He held visiting appointments at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and the Indian Institute of Technology in

Kanpur, India Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

. An Indian mathematician,

Vashishtha Narayan Singh Vashishtha Narayan Singh (2 April 1946 – 14 November 2019) was an Indian academic. He was a child prodigy and completed his PhD in 1969. He taught mathematics at various institutes in the 1960s and 1970s. Singh was diagnosed with schizophreni ...

, was among those mentored by Kelley. In 1950, Kelley was one of 29 tenured Berkeley faculty (3 of whom were members of the Mathematics Department) dismissed for refusing to sign a McCarthy-era

loyalty oath A loyalty oath is a pledge of allegiance to an organization, institution, or state of which an individual is a member. In the United States, such an oath has often indicated that the affiant has not been a member of a particular organization or ...

mandated by the

UC Board of Regents The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sy ...

. He then taught at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

and the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

. He returned to Berkeley in 1953, after the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

declared the oath unconstitutional and directed UC Berkeley to rehire the dismissed academics. He was later an outspoken opponent of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. Kelley's interest in teaching extended well beyond the higher reaches of mathematics. In 1960, he took a leave of absence to serve as the National Teacher on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' Continental Classroom'' television program. He was an active member of the

School Mathematics Study Group The School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) was an American academic think tank focused on the subject of reform in mathematics education. Directed by Edward G. Begle and financed by the National Science Foundation, the group was created in the wa ...

(SMSG), which played an important role in designing and promulgating the "

new math New Mathematics or New Math was a dramatic but temporary change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries and elsewhere, during the 1950s1970s. Curriculum topics and teaching pract ...

" of that era. In 1964, he led his department to introduce a new major called Mathematics for Teachers, and later taught one of its core courses. These endeavors culminated in the text Kelley and Richert (1970). In 1977–78, he was a member of the U.S. Commission on Mathematical Instruction. His doctoral students include

, James Michael Gardner Fell,

Isaac Namioka Isaac Namioka (April 25, 1928 - September 25, 2019) was a Japanese-American mathematician who worked in general topology and functional analysis. He was a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Washington. He died at home in Seatt ...

, and

Reese Prosser Reese Trego Prosser (May 18, 1927 in Minneapolis – June 15, 1996) was an American mathematician. He studied at Harvard University (A.B., 1949) and University of California at Berkeley under John L. Kelley (Ph.D. on the thesis ''Structure o ...

Books by Kelley

* 1953 (with Edward J. McShane and Franklin V. Reno). ''Exterior ballistics''. The University of Denver Press. * 1955
''General Topology''

David Van Nostrand David Van Nostrand (December 5, 1811 – June 14, 1886) was a New York City publisher. Biography David Van Nostrand was born in New York City on December 5, 1811. He was educated at Union Hall, Jamaica, New York, and in 1826 entered the publish ...

Company, link from

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. Reprinted (1975) by Springer Verlag. * 1960 (with Roy Dubisch and Scott Taylor). ''Introduction to Modern Algebra''. Van Nostrand. * 1963 (with

et al.). ''Linear Topological Spaces''. Van Nostrand. * 1970 (with Donald Richert). ''Elementary Mathematics for Teachers''. * 1988 (with T. P. Srinivasan). ''Measure and Integral, Volume 1'', Springer-Verlag.

References

External links

Autobiographical article (''Once over lightly'') and other memorials

from

.
John L. Kelley
from Department of Mathematics, UC Berkeley. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, John 1916 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians Ballistics experts Topologists University of Notre Dame faculty University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Virginia alumni Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Mathematicians from Kansas Tulane University Law School faculty University of Kansas faculty