Richard Lashof

{{short description|American mathematician}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Richard Lashof

| image = Richard Lashof.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|11|09}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|02|04|1922|11|09}}

| death_place = Alameda, California

| fields = Mathematics

| workplaces = University of Chicago

| alma_mater = Columbia (Ph.D. 1954)
Pennsylvania (B.Sc. 1943)

| doctoral_advisor = Richard Kadison

| doctoral_students = John Smillie
Robert Stong

| known_for = Chern-Lashof theory

| awards =

}}

Richard K. Lashof (November 9, 1922 – February 4, 2010) was an American mathematician. He contributed to the field of geometric and differential topology, working with Shiing-Shen Chern, Stephen Smale, among others. Lashof was regarded as "the key figure in sustaining the Chicago Mathematics Department as an international center for research and the training of topologists" by Melvin Rothenberg.{{Citation |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=1882 |title=Obituary: Richard Lashof, mathematician, 1922–2010 |date=February 18, 2010 |work=University of Chicago }}.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lashof earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943 and was a communications officer in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. He earned his doctoral degree in mathematics from Columbia University in 1954 under the supervision of Richard Vincent Kadison. In 1971 he was an invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Nice.{{cite book|author=Lashof, R.|chapter=The immersion approach to triangulation and smoothing|title=Actes du Congrès international des mathématiciens, 1–10 Septembre 1970, Nice|year=1971|volume=Tome 2|pages=91–93}}