1930-

American Mathematician

The work of Stephen Smale has focused on a number of topics, including topology and dynamical systems. During the 1970s, he turned his attention to the application of mathematical theory to economics, and, in later years, he explored questions in computer science and their application to principles of mathematics. Recipient of the Fields Medal in 1966, Smale has also been honored with the Veblen and Chauvenet prizes.

Smale was born on July 15, 1930, in Flint, Michigan, to Lawrence and Helen Smale. He later described his father as an "armchair revolutionary," who had been expelled from Michigan's Albion University for publishing a radical newsletter. Following his expulsion, Lawrence Smale had gone to work as an assistant in the ceramics laboratory at the AC Spark Plug factory in Flint, the home of General Motors.

When Smale was five years old, his family moved to a small farm...