John Stillwell Explained

John Colin Stillwell (born 1942) is an Australian mathematician on the faculties of the University of San Francisco and Monash University.^[1]

Biography

He was born in Melbourne, Australia and lived there until he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his doctorate.^[1] He received his PhD from MIT in 1970, working under Hartley Rogers, Jr,^[2] who had himself worked under Alonzo Church.^[3] From 1970 until 2001, he taught at Monash University back in Australia and in 2002 began teaching in San Francisco.^[1]

Honors

In 2005, Stillwell was the recipient of the Mathematical Association of America's prestigious Chauvenet Prize for his article "The Story of the 120-Cell,"^[4] Notices of the AMS, January 2001, pp. 17 - 24.^[5] In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.^[6]

Works

Books

Stillwell is the author of many textbooks and other books on mathematics including:

• Classical Topology and Combinatorial Group Theory, 1980,
  • 2012 pbk reprint of 1993 2nd edition
• Mathematics and Its History, 1989, pbk reprint of 2nd edition 2002; 3rd edition 2010, ^[7]
• Geometry of Surfaces, 1992, ; ^[8] 2012 pbk reprint of 1st edition
• Elements of Algebra: Geometry, Numbers, Equations, 1994,^[9]
• Numbers and Geometry, 1998,
• Elements of Number Theory, 2003,
• The Four Pillars of Geometry, 2005,^[10]
• Yearning for the Impossible: The Surprising Truths of Mathematics, 2006, ^[11]
• Naive Lie Theory, 2008, ^[12]
• Roads to Infinity, 2010,
• The Real Numbers: An Introduction to Set Theory and Analysis, 2013, ^[13]
• Elements of Mathematics: From Euclid to Gödel, 2016, ^[14]
• , 2018,
• A Concise History of Mathematics for Philosophers, 2019,
• The Story of Proof: Logic and the History of Mathematics, 2022,

Selected articles

• John. Stillwell. The word problem and the isomorphism problem for groups. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. (N.S.). 1982. 6. 1. 33–56. 634433. 10.1090/s0273-0979-1982-14963-1. free.
• John. Stillwell. Efficient computations in groups and simplicial complexes. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. 1983. 276. 2. 715–727. 688973. 10.1090/s0002-9947-1983-0688973-8. free.
• Andrew. Lenard. John. Stillwell. An algorithmically unsolvable problem in analysis. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society. 1983. 88. 1. 129–130. 691292. 10.1090/s0002-9939-1983-0691292-2. free.
• John. Stillwell. The occurrence problem for mapping class groups. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society. 1987. 101. 3. 411–416. 908639. 10.1090/s0002-9939-1987-0908639-5. free.
• Stillwell. John. January 2001. The Story of the 120-Cell. Notices of the AMS. 48. 1. 17–25.
• John. Stillwell. Poincaré and the early history of 3-manifolds. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. (N.S.). 2012. 49. 4. 555–576. 10.1090/s0273-0979-2012-01385-x. free.

Notes and References

1. Web site: John Stillwell | University of San Francisco. https://web.archive.org/web/20100929112357/http://www.usfca.edu/facultydetails.aspx?id=4294969536. dead. 29 September 2010. www.usfca.edu.
2. Web site: John Stillwell - The Mathematics Genealogy Project. www.mathgenealogy.org.
3. Web site: Hartley Rogers, Jr. - The Mathematics Genealogy Project. www.mathgenealogy.org.
4. Web site: Story of the 120-Cell.
5. Web site: MAA awards page. 5 January 2008. 31 May 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20000531094216/http://www.maa.org/awards/chauvent.html. dead.
6. https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
7. Web site: Wilders, Richard J.. August 16, 2010. Review of Mathematics and Its History by John Stillwell. MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America.
8. Web site: Geometry of Surfaces by John Stillwell (Review by Choice Review, J. McCleary). Library Catalog, University of Chicago.
9. Freudenburg. Gene. 1 January 1996. Review of Elements of Algebra. 2975124. The American Mathematical Monthly. 103. 2. 186–189. 10.2307/2975124.
10. Hunacek. Mark. 1 January 2007. Review of The Four Pillars of Geometry. 40378384. The Mathematical Gazette. 91. 521. 375–378. 10.1017/S0025557200181951. 164895282 .
11. Biss, Daniel. Daniel Biss. Review: Yearning for the Impossible, by John Stillwell. Notices of the AMS. June–July 2007. 54. 6. 722–723.
12. Web site: Stenger, Allen. October 6, 2008. Review of Naive Lie Theory by John Stillwell. MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America.
13. Web site: Stenger, Allen. February 5, 2014. Review of The Real Numbers: An Introduction to Set Theory and Analysis by John Stillwell. MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America.
14. Web site: Hunacek, Mark. May 12, 2016. Review of Elements of Mathematics: From Euclid to Gödel by John Stillwell. MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America.