John H. Walter

John Harris Walter (14 December 1927 – 20 September 2021)[1] was an American mathematician known for proving the Walter theorem in the theory of finite groups.

Born in Los Angeles, Walter received from California Institute of Technology his bachelor's degree in 1951. He received from the University of Michigan his master's degree in 1953 and his Ph.D. in 1954 with thesis Automorphisms of the Projective Unitary Groups under the supervision of Leonard Tornheim.[2] Walter was a visiting professor in 1960/61 and 1965/66 at the University of Chicago, 1967/68 at Harvard University, and 1972/73 at the University of Cambridge, UK. He was a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,[3] where he became an associate professor in 1961 and a full professor in 1966. In 2012 he was elected a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.[4] He died at the age of 93 in 2021.[5]

  1. ^ biographical information from Pamela Kalte et al., American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ^ John H. Walter at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
  3. ^ Department of Mathematics, Directory, UIUC.
  4. ^ List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, retrieved 2013-09-01.
  5. ^ "In Memoriam: John H. Walter". UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN. Retrieved 6 October 2021.