René Frédéric ThomBorn 2 Sep 1923. French mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1958 for his work in topology, in particular on characteristic classes, cobordism theory and the Thom transversality theorem. Thom is also known for his later work developing the catastrophe theory (1972), a mathematical treatment of continuous action producing a discontinuous result. Thom's theory is an attempt to describe, in a way that is impossible using differential calculus, those situations in which gradually changing forces lead to so-called catastrophes, or abrupt changes. The theory has widespread application in the physical and biological sciences and in the social sciences, but eventually fell from favour. |
