William Kantor
{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{About|the American mathematician|the Austro-Hungarian mathematician and namesake of the Möbius-Kantor configuration|Seligmann Kantor}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name = William Kantor
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| caption = William Kantor in Oberwolfach 2011
| birth_name = William M. Kantor
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|9|19}}
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| other_names = Bill Kantor
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| fields = Mathematics
| workplaces = University of Oregon, University of Illinois at Chicago
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| thesis_title = 2-transitive symmetric designs
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| thesis_year = 1968
| doctoral_advisors = Peter Dembowski, Richard Hubert Bruck
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| notable_students = Mark Ronan
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| website = https://pages.uoregon.edu/kantor/
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William M. Kantor (born September 19, 1944) is an American mathematician who works in finite group theory and finite geometries, particularly in computational aspects of these subjects.
Education and career
Kantor graduated with a bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1964.{{LinkedIn URL|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-kantor-001b0199|name=William Kantor}} He went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, receiving his PhD in 1968 under the supervision of Peter Dembowski and R. H. Bruck.{{MathGenealogy|id=9059|name=William M. Kantor}} He then worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1968 to 1971 before moving in 1971 to the University of Oregon, where he remained for the rest of his career.
Kantor's research mostly involves finite groups, often in relation to finite geometries and computation. Algorithms developed by him have found use, for example, in the GAP computer algebra system.{{cite web|url=https://www.gap-system.org|title=GAP source code|website=Official GAP system website|access-date=September 27, 2019}}
Kantor has written over 170 papers,{{cite web|url=https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet/search/author.html?mrauthid=97975 |title=William Kantor author profile|website=MathSciNet|publisher=American Mathematical Society|url-access=subscription}} and has advised 7 PhD students.
Significant publications
=Books and monographs=
- {{cite book|title=Classical groups from a nonclassical viewpoint|last=Kantor|first=W. M.|publisher=Oxford University, Mathematical Institute, Oxford|year=1979|mr=0578539}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Kantor|first1=William M.|last2=Seress|first2=Ákos|date=2001|title=Black box classical groups|journal=Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society|language=en|volume=149|issue=708|pages=0|doi=10.1090/memo/0708|citeseerx=10.1.1.294.1011|issn=0065-9266|mr=1804385}}
=Journal articles=
- {{cite journal|last1=Calderbank|first1=R.|last2=Kantor|first2=W. M.|title=The Geometry of Two-Weight Codes|journal=Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society|volume=18|issue=2|year=1986|pages=97–122|issn=0024-6093|doi=10.1112/blms/18.2.97|mr=0818812}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Kantor|first1=William M.|last2=Lubotzky|first2=Alexander|title=The probability of generating a finite classical group|journal=Geometriae Dedicata|volume=36|issue=1|year=1990|issn=0046-5755|doi=10.1007/BF00181465|mr=1065213|s2cid=6771}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Kantor|first1=William M.|title=Homogeneous designs and geometric lattices|journal=Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A|volume=38|issue=1|year=1985|pages=66–74|issn=0097-3165|doi=10.1016/0097-3165(85)90022-6|mr=0773556|doi-access=free}}
Awards and honors
- In 2013, Kantor was named a fellow of the American Mathematical Society as a member of the inaugural class of fellows.{{cite journal |author= |date= May 2013 |title=Fellows of the AMS: Inaugural Class |url=http://www.ams.org/profession/ams-fellows/rnoti-p631.pdf |journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |volume=60 |issue=5 |pages=631–637 |access-date=September 24, 2019}}
- In 2004, a conference "Finite geometries, groups, and computation" was held in honor of Kantor's 60th birthday.{{cite book | editor1-last=Hulpke | editor1-first=Alexander | editor2-last=Liebler | editor2-first=Robert | editor3-last=Penttila | editor3-first=Tim | editor4-last=Seress | editor4-first=Ákos | title=Finite geometries, groups, and computation | publisher=Walter de Gruyter | location=Berlin New York | year=2006 | isbn=978-3-11-019974-1 | oclc=181078514 | mr=2256928}}
- In 1998, Kantor gave an invited talk at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin.{{cite web|url=https://www.emis.de/mirror/ICM98/B/3/2/|title=Invited Lectures in Algebra at the Berlin ICM|access-date=September 24, 2019}}{{cite book|author=Kantor, William M.|chapter=Simple groups in computational group theory|title=Doc. Math. (Bielefeld) Extra Vol. ICM Berlin, 1998, vol. II|year=1998|pages=77–86|chapter-url=https://www.elibm.org/ft/10011643000}}
References
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Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:21st-century American mathematicians
Category:Brooklyn College alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Category:University of Oregon faculty
Category:University of Illinois Chicago faculty