Mac Lane, Saunders, 1909-2005

Mathematician Saunders Mac Lane (1909-) was a co-creator of category theory and also worked with homological algebra and the categorical foundations of mathematics. After earning his undergraduate degree from Yale in 1930, Mac Lane studied at the University of Chicago under E. H. Moore and then went to the University of Göttingen in Germany, earning his degree under I. Paul Bernays and Hermann Weyl in 1933, and returning to the United States. Mac Lane worked in the Applied Mathematics Groups at Columbia during World War II, held posts at Yale, Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Chicago, and advised 39 doctoral candidates. Mac Lane was the president of the American Mathematical Society from 1973-1974, among other prestigious posts. Professor Mac Lane is currently the Max Mason Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Chicago.

From the guide to the Saunders Mac Lane Papers, AAM 86-10., 1967-1979, (Archives of American Mathematics, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)