56. Hyman Bass

President 2001–2002

Ph.D. University of Chicago, Illinois, 1959

Bass is Roger Lyndon Collegiate Professor of Mathematics and of Mathematics Education at the University of Michigan. Prior to 1999 he was at Columbia University (1959-1998), where for a time he served as chair of the mathematics department.

His fields of interest in mathematics are algebraic K-theory, number theory, group theory (geometric methods), and algebraic geometry. He was awarded the AMS Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Algebra in 1975. Bass is also keenly interested in mathematics education: mathematical knowledge for teaching, the education and development of mathematics teachers, and mathematical reasoning in elementary classrooms. His honors include membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Third World Academy of Sciences. He was president of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction from 2000 to 2006. Bass is a Fellow of the AMS.

Additional information

• MR Author Profile
• Mathematics Genealogy Project
• "Nomination for Hyman Bass," (for AMS President Elect), by Irving Kaplansky, Notices of the AMS, September 1999, p. 931.
• "Presidental Views: Interview with Hyman Bass," by Allyn Jackson (just after Bass's term began), Notices of the AMS, March 2001, p.312.
• "Presidential Views: Interview with Hyman Bass," by Allyn Jackson (just after Bass's term ended), Notices of the AMS, February 2003, p.232.
• Fellow of the AMS
• Who's That Mathematician? Images from the Paul R. Halmos Photograph Collection