Peter J. Freyd | |
|---|---|
Freyd in 2008 | |
| Born | February 5, 1936 (age 90) Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Brown University (BA) Princeton University (PhD) |
| Known for | Allegory Freyd cover Freyd's adjoint functor theorem Freyd–Mitchell theorem HOMFLY polynomial |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Category theory |
| Workplaces | University of Pennsylvania |
| Norman Steenrod David Buchsbaum | |
Doctoral students | Marta Bunge Murray Adelman Orville Kean Preston Kohn Douglas Howe David E. Joyce David N. Yetter Stacey Finkelstein |
Peter John Freyd (/fraɪd/; born February 5, 1936) is an American mathematician, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, known for work in category theory and for founding the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
Freyd obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1960; his dissertation, on Functor Theory, was written under the supervision of Norman Steenrod and David Buchsbaum.
Freyd is best known for his adjoint functor theorem. He was the author of the foundational book Abelian Categories: An Introduction to the Theory of Functors (1964). This work culminates in a proof of the Freyd–Mitchell embedding theorem.
In addition, Freyd's name is associated with the HOMFLYPT polynomial of knot theory, and he and Andre Scedrov originated the concept of (mathematical) allegories.
In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.