44. R. H. Bing

President 1977–1978

Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin, 1945

After receiving his B.S. from Southwest State Teachers College, Bing started out as high school mathematics teacher in Texas (also coaching the football and track teams and teaching other classes) while working towards his M.Ed. at the University of Texas at Austin, where he ultimately earned his Ph.D. His principal academic appointments were at the University of Wisconsin (1943-1973) and at the University of Texas (1973 until his retirement in 1985). He was president of the Mathematical Association of America from 1963 to 1964. Bing's research was on the geometric topology of 3-manifolds, but ranged across many different areas of topology. He was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Additional information

• MR Author Profile
• History of the Second Fifty Years: American Mathematical Society, 1939-1988, by Everett Pitcher (AMS, 1988), which includes AMS Presidents from 1939-1988 (and reports on all aspects of the Society during the period).
• The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
• Mathematics Genealogy Project
• R. H. Bing Papers, 1934-1986, the Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
• Who's That Mathematician? Images from the Paul R. Halmos Photograph Collection