Robert Connelly
{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Robert Connelly
| workplaces = Cornell University (current),
| alma_mater = University of Michigan
| website = {{URL|http://pi.math.cornell.edu/~connelly/}}
| doctoral_advisor = James Milton Kister
| thesis_title = Unknotting Close Embeddings of Polyhedra in Codimension Greater Than Three
| thesis_year = 1969
}}
Robert Connelly (born July 15, 1942) is a mathematician specializing in discrete geometry and rigidity theory. Connelly received his Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 1969. He is currently a professor at Cornell University.
Connelly is best known for discovering embedded flexible polyhedra. One such polyhedron is in the National Museum of American History. His recent interests include tensegrities and the carpenter's rule problem. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Asteroid 4816 Connelly, discovered by Edward Bowell at Lowell Observatory 1981, was named after Robert Connelly. The official {{MoMP|4816|naming citation}} was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 February 1992 ({{small|M.P.C. 19698}}).
Author
Connelly has authored or co-authored several articles on mathematics, including Conjectures and open questions in rigidity; A flexible sphere; and A counterexample to the rigidity conjecture for polyhedra.{{Cite book|title=Handbook of Geometric Constraint Systems Principles|last=Sidman|first=Jessica|publisher=CRC Press|year=2018|isbn=978-1498738927|pages=297}}
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
|title = Robert Connelly at Cornell University
|publisher = Cornell University – Department of Mathematics
|url = https://math.cornell.edu/robert-connelly
|access-date = 28 June 2019}}
|title = 4816 Connelly (1981 PK)
|work = Minor Planet Center
|url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=4816
|access-date = 28 June 2019}}
|title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive
|work = Minor Planet Center
|url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html
|access-date = 28 June 2019}}
|title = List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
|publisher = American Mathematical Society
|url = https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list#c
|access-date = 28 June 2019}}
}}
External links
- [http://www.math.cornell.edu/~connelly/ Personal home page]
- {{MathGenealogy |id=5381}}
- [http://www.math.cornell.edu/People/Faculty/connelly.html Cornell Mathematics Department web page] (with a picture)
- [http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/tensegrity.php Why Things Don't Fall Down] – A Lecture About Tensegrity by Robert Connelly
- [https://www.ams.org/notices/199905/fea-smithsonian.pdf Mathematical Treasures of the Smithsonian Institution] – Allyn Jackson, AMS Notices, vol. 46, no. 5 (May 1999), 528–534.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Robert}}
Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:21st-century American mathematicians
Category:Differential geometers
Category:Researchers in geometric algorithms
Category:University of Michigan alumni
Category:Cornell University faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
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