Frank Morgan

Herbert Federer, one of the founders of geometric measure theory, was a good friend to me. I met him at my first conference, at Park City, Utah, as a graduate student in 1977. My advisor at Princeton, Fred Almgren, was one of his graduate students and had shared fond memories with us students.
The first talk was completely incomprehensible to me, and I was afraid I would be exposed as a mathematical ignoramus. I hoped somehow to sneak quietly out of the lecture room. As we filed out in twos from opposite sides of the room, I was alarmed to find myself paired with the famous Federer. As he turned to me I prepared for the inevitable humiliation. His words: “I didn’t understand a word of that talk. Let’s go for a walk and you can tell me about your thesis.” From that day I found him a good friend. Continue reading ‘Herbert Federer’ »