PROVO, UT, October 11, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to name James Welden Cannon a Lifetime Achiever. An accomplished listee, Dr. Cannon celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Cannon is an American mathematician working in the areas of low-dimensional topology and geometric group theory. He taught for many years as the Orson Pratt Professor of Mathematics at Brigham Young University, and alongside Robert D. Edwards was celebrated for giving a complete solution to the "double suspension" problem posed by the famous American mathematician John Milnor. Recently, Dr. Cannon's work into non-euclidean or "negatively curved" growth patterns has been used to explain some of the ways larger biological organisms develop into patterns such as trees, or brain and lung tissue.
Born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania to Orson Silver and Dorothy Cannon, Dr. Cannon fell in love with mathematics because of his inspiring older brother, Lawrence O. Cannon. The pair found the subject fun and romantic, and Dr. Cannon attended the University of Utah in pursuit of mathematics. He earned a PhD in 1969 under the direction of Professor C. Edmund Burgess. Dr. Cannon's early work concerned the mathematic topological aspects of embedded surfaces in R3 and understanding the difference between "tame" and "wild" surfaces, as well as a proof that a double suspension of a homology sphere is a topological sphere. For his work in the field of topology, Dr. Cannon was awarded a 1971 National Science Foundation grant and a 1971 to 1973 Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship. He joined the University of Wisconsin as an assistant professor in 1969, and was appointed a professor of mathematics in 1977.
Dr. Cannon earned a Romnes Research Fellowship from 1979 to 1984, and in 1986, he joined Brigham Young University in Provo as Orson Pratt Professor of Mathematics. Additionally, he has served as a member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and has visited the Utah State University, the University of Texas, and Princeton University as a visiting professor and research mathematician. Dr. Cannon is a noted committee member of the advisory committee in the division of math sciences for the National Science Foundation. He is further affiliated with the Mathematics Association of America, which named him 1982 Hedrick Lecturer, as well as the American Mathematical Society, where he served as the editor of geometry and topology for their journal, Transactions, and which named him a fellow in 2012.
For his innovations in mathematics and his dedication to teaching, Dr. Cannon was selected for inclusion in the 1992 to 1993 volume of Who's Who in the West. He is the proud parent of Adria, Candice, Michael, Lauren, Jonathan, and Andrew, alongside his wife, Ardyth Gunnell. Dr. Cannon enjoys playing the piano and the organ, as well as singing, composing, and hiking.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dr. Cannon has been featured on the Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievers website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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