Igor Frenkel

Igor Borisovich Frenkel (born April 22 1952) is a mathematician working in mathematical physics. In collaboration with James Lepowsky and Arne Meurman he constructed the monster vertex algebra.

Born in Leningrad, USSR (Now St. Petersburg, Russia), Frenkel emigrated to the United States in 1979. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1980 , and his dissertation was on the "Orbital Theory for Affine Lie Algebras". He has held numerous teaching positions, including tenured professor at Rutgers University, before taking his current job of tenured professor at Yale University. His student Mikhail Khovanov is famous for the Khovanov homology. He resides in New Haven, Connecticut with his wife and son.

References

* Igor Frenkel, James Lepowsky, Arne Meurman, "Vertex operator algebras and the Monster". "Pure and Applied Mathematics, 134." Academic Press, Inc., Boston, MA, 1988. liv+508 pp. ISBN 0-12-267065-5
* [http://www.math.yale.edu/public_html/People/frenkel.html home page]
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