Raoul Bott

Raoul Bott (born September 24 1923) is a mathematician known for numerous basic contributions to geometry in its broad sense.

Related Topics:
September 24 - 1923 - Mathematician - Geometry

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He was born in Budapest, but has spent his working life in the USA. He was Professor at Harvard University 1959-1999, and received the Wolf Prize in 2000. In 2005, he was elected an Overseas Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

Related Topics:
Budapest - Harvard University - Wolf Prize - 2005 - Royal Society of London

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Initially he worked on the theory of electrical circuits (Bott-Duffin theorem from 1949), then switched to pure mathematics.

Related Topics:
Electrical circuit - Bott-Duffin theorem - 1949

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He studied the homotopy theory of Lie groups, using methods from Morse theory, leading to the Bott periodicity theorem (1956).

Related Topics:
Homotopy theory - Lie groups - Morse theory - Bott periodicity theorem

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This led to his role as collaborator over many years with Michael Atiyah, initially via the part played by periodicity in K-theory; he made important contributions towards the index theorem, especially in formulating related fixed-point theorems (in particular the so-called 'Woods Hole fixed-point theorem').

Related Topics:
Michael Atiyah - K-theory - Index theorem - Fixed-point theorem - Woods Hole fixed-point theorem

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He is also known in connection with the Borel-Bott-Weil theorem on representation theory of Lie groups via holomorphic sheaves and their cohomology groups; and for work on foliations.

Related Topics:
Borel-Bott-Weil theorem - Sheaves - Foliation

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