WF
Science & Medicine

Walter Feit

Who

Walter Feit · Science & Medicine

What

Group theory; the Feit-Thompson odd-order theorem

When

1930, Vienna, Austria — 2004, Branford, Connecticut, USA

Where

Austria · United States

Biography

Walter Feit is recognized among Jewish contributors to Science & Medicine — Group theory; the Feit-Thompson odd-order theorem

How & why

Walter Feit was an Austrian-born American mathematician and Yale professor whose 1963 Feit-Thompson theorem, proving that every finite group of odd order is solvable, was a landmark that helped launch the classification of finite simple groups. Born into a Jewish family in Vienna, he escaped Nazi Austria on the Kindertransport in 1939 and lost family members in the Holocaust before becoming a leading figure in group theory. His Jewish background and wartime escape are documented.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Mathematics

Contributions & Sources

Group theory; the Feit-Thompson odd-order theorem

1930

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Mathematics