Skip Garibaldi is an American mathematician doing research on

algebraic group In mathematics, an algebraic group is an algebraic variety endowed with a group structure which is compatible with its structure as an algebraic variety. Thus the study of algebraic groups belongs both to algebraic geometry and group theory. Man ...

s and especially exceptional groups.

Biography

Garibaldi dropped out of high school to attend

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, where he earned

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 ...

degrees in mathematics and in computer science. (article from 2010, reprinted on MAA website in 2011 due to award) He then obtained a

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 ...

in mathematics from the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

in 1998. His doctoral thesis was on

triality In mathematics, triality is a relationship among three vector spaces, analogous to the duality relation between dual vector spaces. Most commonly, it describes those special features of the Dynkin diagram D4 and the associated Lie group Spin(8) ...

and algebraic groups. After holding positions at

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

and 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 St ...

, (with Jared Hersh serving as his long-time Reader and typist) he joined the faculty at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

in 2002, and was eventually promoted to Winship Distinguished Research Professor. In 2013 he became associate director of IPAM at

UCLA 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 St ...

Scientific contributions

Garibaldi's most-cited work is the book "Cohomological invariants in Galois cohomology" written with

Alexander Merkurjev Aleksandr Sergeyevich Merkurjev (russian: Алекса́ндр Сергее́вич Мерку́рьев, born September 25, 1955) is a Russian-American mathematician, who has made major contributions to the field of algebra. Currently Merkurjev ...

and

Jean-Pierre Serre Jean-Pierre Serre (; born 15 September 1926) is a French mathematician who has made contributions to algebraic topology, algebraic geometry, and algebraic number theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954, the Wolf Prize in 2000 and the ina ...

, which gives the foundations of the theory of cohomological invariants of algebraic groups. His long work "Cohomological invariants: exceptional groups and Spin groups" built on this theme. He received press coverage for his paper "There is no Theory of Everything inside E₈" with

Jacques Distler Jacques Distler (born January 1, 1961) is a Canadian-born American physicist working in string theory. He has been a professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin since 1994. Early life and education Distler was born to a Jewish family ...

proposing a disproof of

Garrett Lisi Antony Garrett Lisi (born January 24, 1968), known as Garrett Lisi, is an American theoretical physicist. Lisi works as an independent researcher without an academic position. Lisi is known for "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything," a ...

's "

An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" is a physics preprint proposing a basis for a unified field theory, often referred to as "E8 Theory", which attempts to describe all known fundamental interactions in physics and to stand as a possibl ...

". He is also known for his less-technical articles on the lottery which led to TV appearances and policy changes in Florida and Georgia. He contributed to a story in

Slate magazine ''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 20 ...

by Chris Wilson about arranging stars on the

US flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

that was reported on

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...

Recognition

In 2011 he received the

Lester R. Ford Award Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisc ...

from the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

. He was included in the 2019 class of fellows of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

"for contributions to group theory and service to the mathematical community, particularly in support of promoting mathematics to a wide audience".

References

External links

*
Personal Webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garibaldi, Skip Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Group theorists Emory University faculty Algebraists Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Purdue University alumni University of California, San Diego alumni