Walter Feit

Philip Schuyler Beebe Professor of Mathematics 

Walter Feit, B.A., M.S The University of Chicago, Ph.D. the University of Michigan, faculty member at Yale since 1964: You were one of the founding fathers of finite group theory. Your 1963 paper with John G. Thompson “Solvability of Groups of Odd Order,’’ filling an entire issue of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics, is widely regarded as the most influential paper ever on finite group theory. It energized the field, providing both inspiration and the technical tools for the scholarly search finally culminating in the complete classification of the simple finite groups. This accomplishment was only one of several areas which have been given new life through your insights. Your paper with G. Higman on combinational structures has become fundamental to mathematical textbook learning, and has stimulated a large body of research on tight combinatorial designs. Your papers on Schur indices have renewed progress on that subject as well. 

At Yale you have served the mathematics department in several administrative roles, serving as DUS, DGS and Chair. Your standing in the mathematical community is marked by the American Mathematical Society Cole Prize in Algebra, your election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Vice-Presidency of the International Mathematical Union. Your forty-year tenure at Yale has helped preserve your department’s reputation as a center for Algebra. For this, and all of your contributions, Yale gratefully thanks you and wishes you a productive and happy retirement.