Phillip Griffiths

Phillip Griffiths
Phillip Griffiths in 2008 (photo from MFO)
Born	October 18, 1938 Raleigh, North Carolina
Nationality	American
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	University of California, Berkeley Princeton University Harvard University Duke University Institute for Advanced Study
Alma mater	Wake Forest College (B.S.) (1959) Princeton University (Ph.D) (1962)
Doctoral advisor	Donald C. Spencer
Doctoral students	Herbert Clemens Howard Garland Joe Harris Wilfried Schmid
Notable awards	Chern Medal (2014) Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2014) Wolf Prize (2008) Brouwer Medal (2008) Leroy P. Steele Prize (1971)

Phillip Augustus Griffiths IV (born October 18, 1938) is an American mathematician, known for his work in the field of geometry, and in particular for the complex manifold approach to algebraic geometry. He was a major developer in particular of the theory of variation of Hodge structure in Hodge theory and moduli theory.

Professional career

He received his B.S. from Wake Forest College in 1959 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1962 working under Donald Spencer. Since then, he has held positions at Berkeley (1962–1967), Princeton (1967–1972), Harvard University (1972–1983), and Duke University (1983–1991). From 1991 to 2003 he was the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey. He has published on algebraic geometry, differential geometry, geometric function theory, and the geometry of partial differential equations.

Griffiths serves as the Chair of the Science Initiative Group.^[1] He is co-author, with Joe Harris, of Principles of Algebraic Geometry, a well-regarded textbook on complex algebraic geometry.^[2]

Awards and honors

In 2008 he was awarded the Wolf Prize (jointly with Deligne and Mumford)^[3] and the Brouwer Medal.^[4] In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.^[5] Moreover, in 2014 Griffiths was awarded the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement by the American Mathematical Society.^[6] Also in 2014, Griffiths was awarded the Chern Medal for lifetime devotion to mathematics and outstanding achievements.

Selected publications

Articles

• "On certain homogeneous complex manifolds". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 48 (5): 780–783. 1962. doi:10.1073/pnas.48.5.780. PMC 220851. PMID 16590943.
• "Some remarks on automorphisms, analytic bundles, and embeddings of complex algebraic varieties". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 49 (6): 817–820. 1963. doi:10.1073/pnas.49.6.817. PMC 300013. PMID 16591103.
• "On the differential geometry of homogeneous vector bundles". Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 109: 1–34. 1963. doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1963-0162248-5. MR 0162248.
• "The residue calculus and some transcendental results in algebraic geometry, I". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 55 (5): 1303–1309. 1966. doi:10.1073/pnas.55.5.1303. PMC 224316. PMID 16591357.
• "The residue calculus and some transcendental results in algebraic geometry, II". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 55 (6): 1392–1395. 1966. doi:10.1073/pnas.55.6.1392. PMC 224330. PMID 16578635.
• "Some results on locally homogeneous complex manifolds". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 56 (2): 413–416. 1966. doi:10.1073/pnas.56.2.413. PMC 224387. PMID 16591369.
• "A transcendental method in algebraic geometry". Actes, Congrès intern. math. 1970 (PDF). Tome 1. pp. 113–119.
• "Periods of integrals on algebraic manifolds". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 76 (2): 228–296. 1970. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1970-12444-2. MR 0258824.
• with Joe Harris: "A Poncelet theorem in space". Comment. Math. Helvetici 52: 145–160. 1977. doi:10.1007/bf02567361.
• with S. S. Chern: "Abel's Theorem and Webs" (PDF). Jber. d. Dt. Math.-Verein. 80: 13–110. 1978.
• "Complex analysis and algebraic geometry". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 1 (4): 595–626. 1979. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1979-14640-8. MR 532551.
• "Poincaré and algebraic geometry". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 6 (2): 147–159. 1982. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1982-14967-9. MR 640942.

Books

• Introduction to Algebraic Curves, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1989, ISBN 0821845306
• Differential Systems and Isometric Embeddings, with Gary R. Jensen, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1987, ISBN 0-691-08429-7^[7]
• Topics in Transcendental Algebraic Geometry, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1984, ISBN 0691083355
• Exterior Differential Systems and the Calculus of Variations, Birkhäuser, Boston, 1983, ISBN 3764331038
• Rational Homotopy Theory and Differential Forms, with John W Morgan, Birkhäuser, Boston, 1981, ISBN 3764330414^[8]
• Principles of Algebraic Geometry, with Joe Harris, Wiley, New York, 1978, ISBN 0471327921
• Entire Holomorphic Mappings in One and Several Complex Variables, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1976, ISBN 0691081719^[9]

References

1. Institute for Advanced Study: Phillip A. Griffiths Professor Emeritus
2. Review: Phillip Griffiths and Joseph Harris, Principles of algebraic geometry by Joseph Lipman
3. "The Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics".
4. Institute for Advanced Study: Royal Dutch Mathematical Society Awards Tri-annual Brouwer Prize to Phillip A. Griffiths
5. List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, retrieved 2013-01-19.
6. AMS Steel Prizes,
7. Jacobowitz, Howard (1988). "Review: Differential systems and isometric embeddings, by P. A. Griffiths and Gary R. Jensen" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 19 (2): 498–504. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1988-15717-5.
8. Chen, K. T. (1983). "Review: Rational homotopy theory and differential forms, by P. A. Griffiths and J. W. Morgan" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 8 (3): 496–498. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1983-15135-2.
9. Drasin, David (1977). "Review: Entire holomorphic mappings in one and several complex variables, by P. A. Griffiths" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 83 (5): 942–946. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1977-14330-9.

External links

• Phillip Griffiths at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Science Initiative Group page