Friedrich Hirzebruch

Friedrich Hirzebruch
Friedrich Hirzebruch
	Hirzebruch in 1980 (picture courtesy MFO)
Born	Friedrich Ernst Peter Hirzebruch; 17 October 1927; Hamm, Province of Westphalia, Germany
Died	27 May 2012 (aged 84); Bonn, Germany
Alma mater	University of Münster; ETH Zürich; Institute for Advanced Study; Princeton University;
Known for	Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem; Atiyah–Hirzebruch spectral sequence; Hirzebruch signature theorem; Hirzebruch surface; Topological K-theory; Characteristic classes; Complex manifolds;
Awards	Wolf Prize (1988); Lobachevsky Medal (1989); Lomonosov Gold Medal (1996); Albert Einstein Medal (1999); Cantor medal (2004); ForMemRS (1994);
	Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	University of Bonn; Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik;
Doctoral advisor	Heinrich Behnke; Heinz Hopf;
Doctoral students	Egbert Brieskorn; Detlef Gromoll; Matthias Kreck; Winfried Scharlau; Friedhelm Waldhausen; Don Bernard Zagier; Lothar Göttsche;

Friedrich Ernst Peter Hirzebruch ForMemRS (17 October 1927 – 27 May 2012) was a German mathematician, working in the fields of topology, complex manifolds and algebraic geometry, and a leading figure in his generation. He has been described as "the most important mathematician in Germany of the postwar period."