1931-

American Mathematician

In 1962 mathematician John Willard Milnor was awarded a Fields Medal for his work in differential topology, including his proof that a seven dimensional sphere could have 28 differential structures. In addition to the prestigious Fields Medal, Milnor has received many other honors, including the National Medal of Science in 1967.

In 1989 Milnor received the Wolf prize, an international prize intended to promote science and art for the benefit of mankind. The Wolf Foundation praised Milnor "for ingenious and highly original discoveries in geometry, which have opened important new vistas in topology from the algebraic, combinatorial, and differentiable viewpoint."

Milnor was born in New Jersey and undertook his undergraduate and graduate studies at Princeton, completing his doctoral thesis on the "Isotopy of Links" in 1954. Milnor displayed such exceptional brilliance as a student that he was offered an appointment to the Princeton faculty prior to...