William Hamilton Meeks, III (born 8 August 1947) is an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, specializing in

differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...

and

minimal surface In mathematics, a minimal surface is a surface that locally minimizes its area. This is equivalent to having zero mean curvature (see definitions below). The term "minimal surface" is used because these surfaces originally arose as surfaces that ...

Biography

Meeks studied at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1971, a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1974, and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1975 with supervisor H. Blaine Lawson and thesis ''The Conformal Structure and Geometry of Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces in

\mathbb R ^ 3

''. He was an assistant professor in 1975–1977 at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA), in 1977–1978 at the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA), and in 1978–1979 at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. From 1979 to 1983 he was a professor at IMPA. He was from 1983 to 1984 a visiting member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

and from 1984 to 1986 a professor at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

with the academic year 1985–1986 spent as a visiting professor at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. From 1986 to 2018 he has been the George David Birkhoff Professor of Mathematics at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

. He currently is at the

after assuming professor emeritus status at UMass Amherst. He is known as an expert on minimal surfaces and their computer graphics visualization; on the latter subject he has collaborated with

David Allen Hoffman David Allen Hoffman is an American mathematician whose research concerns differential geometry. He is an adjunct professor at Stanford University. In 1985, together with William Meeks, he proved that Costa's surface was embedded. He is a fello ...

. For the academic year 2006/07 Meeks was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

. In 1986 at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

in Berkeley, he was Invited Speaker with talk ''Recent progress on the geometry of surfaces in

R ^ 3

and on the use of computer graphics as a research tool''.

Selected publications

* with

Shing-Tung Yau Shing-Tung Yau (; ; born April 4, 1949) is a Chinese-American mathematician. He is the director of the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University and professor emeritus at Harvard University. Until 2022, Yau was the William Caspar ...

: * * with

Leon Simon Leon Melvyn Simon , born in 1945, is a Leroy P. Steele PrizeSee announcemen retrieved 15 September 2017. and Bôcher Memorial Prize, Bôcher Prize-winningSee . mathematician, known for deep contributions to the fields of geometric analysis, ...

and S.-T. Yau: * with S.-T. Yau: * with L. P. Jorge: * with G. Peter Scott: * with David Allen Hoffman: * with D. Hoffman: * * * with

Harold Rosenberg Harold Rosenberg (February 2, 1906 – July 11, 1978) was an American writer, educator, philosopher and art critic. He coined the term Action Painting in 1952 for what was later to be known as abstract expressionism. Rosenberg is best known for h ...

: * with Joaquín Pérez: * with J. Pérez and Giuseppe Tinaglia:

References

External links

Homepage

IAS Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeks, William Hamilton 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Differential geometers University of California, Berkeley alumni Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada researchers Rice University faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty 1947 births Living people