Emmy Murphy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Emmy Murphy
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![]() Murphy at the ICM 2018
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Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Stanford University |
Known for | symplectic topology, contact geometry and geometric topology |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Loose Legendrian Embeddings in High Dimensional Contact Manifolds (2012) |
Doctoral advisor | Yakov Eliashberg |
Emmy Murphy is an American mathematician. She is a professor at the University of Toronto in Canada. Professor Murphy studies special areas of mathematics called symplectic topology, contact geometry, and geometric topology. These fields explore the shapes and properties of spaces using advanced mathematical tools.
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Her Journey in Education
Emmy Murphy started her university studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. She graduated from there in 2007.
She then continued her education at Stanford University. In 2012, she earned her doctorate degree. Her main research for this degree was about "Loose Legendrian Embeddings." Her professor, Yakov Eliashberg, guided her work.
A Career in Mathematics
After finishing her studies, Emmy Murphy worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was an instructor and then an assistant professor there.
In 2016, she moved to Northwestern University. There, she became an associate professor of mathematics. Later, in 2021, she joined Princeton University as a full professor. Since 2023, she has been teaching at the University of Toronto.
Important Discoveries
Emmy Murphy is well-known for her important work in symplectic and contact geometry. These are branches of mathematics that study shapes and spaces in unique ways.
In 2020, she received the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize. This award recognized her new ideas about "loose Legendrian submanifolds." She also worked with Matthew Strom Borman and Yakov Eliashberg on "overtwisted contact structures in higher dimensions." These are complex mathematical concepts that help us understand different types of spaces.
Speaking and Research
In 2018, Emmy Murphy was invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians. This is a very important event for mathematicians worldwide. She talked about something called the "h-principle." This principle helps mathematicians understand how flexible certain geometric shapes can be.
Her work also involves using "cut-and-paste" methods from smooth topology. This is like taking parts of shapes and putting them together in new ways. She also explores how symplectic and contact topology connect with other mathematical ideas. These ideas include "pseudo-holomorphic curves" and "constructible sheaves."
From 2019 to 2022, Professor Murphy received grants from the National Science Foundation. These grants supported her research on "Flexible Stein Manifolds and Fukaya Categories." This shows how important her research is in the field of mathematics.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Emmy Murphy has received many honors for her contributions to mathematics:
- She was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2025. This is a high honor given to mathematicians.
- She was a Von Neumann Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study from 2019 to 2020.
- She won the New Horizons in Mathematics prize from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation in 2020.
- She was an invited speaker at the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians.
- She received the Joan & Joseph Birman Research Prize in 2017. This award is given by the Association for Women in Mathematics.
- She also received the AWM Birman Prize in 2016 from the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium.
- She was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship in 2015.
See also
In Spanish: Emmy Murphy para niños