ArticleslgStudy

mathematics

James Dugundji

James Dugundji is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James Dugundji rather than just read about it. In short: James Dugundji (August 30, 1919 – January 8, 1985) was an American mathematician, a professor of mathematics at the University of Southern California. Life Dugundji's parents emigrated from Greece to New York City, where Dugundji was born in 1919.

Key takeaways

  • James Dugundji belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect James Dugundji to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of James Dugundji from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James Dugundji (August 30, 1919 – January 8, 1985) was an American mathematician, a professor of mathematics at the University of Southern California.

Life Dugundji's parents emigrated from Greece to New York City, where Dugundji was born in 1919. He studied at New York University, graduating with a B.A. in 1940, and went on to graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying there under the supervision of Witold Hurewicz. After two years of study at UNC, Dugundji joined the United States Air Force for the duration of World War II, and then completed his doctorate from 1946 to 1948 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to which his advisor had moved. He then took a faculty position at the University of Southern California, where he remained for the rest of his career. He was also a long-time member of the editorial boards of two mathematics journals, the Pacific Journal of Mathematics and Topology and its Applications. Dugundji is the author of the textbook Topology (Allyn and Bacon, 1966), on general topology. Reviewer M. Edelstein wrote that this was "one of the best among the numerous books on the subject", and it went through numerous reprintings. With Andrzej Granas he also wrote the research monograph Fixed Point Theory; originally planned as a two-volume series, the first volume was published by Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe in 1982, and the complete text was published as a single volume in 2003 by Springer-Verlag. Reviewer A. G. Kartsatos called the completed volume "the most comprehensive, well-written and complete book on fixed point theory to date". In his own research, as well as producing highly cited works on problems of pure mathematics such as the Tietze extension theorem, Dugundji did important early work in cheminformatics. With co-authors I. Ugi, R. Kopp and D. Marquarding, he wrote a book on this subject as well, Perspectives in Theoretical Stereochemistry (Springer, 1984). In 2005, an international conference on fixed point theorems was held in Dugundji's memory in Będlewo, Poland.

Selected publications Dugundji, J. (1950). "A topologized fundamental group". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 36 (2): 141–143. Bibcode:1950PNAS...36..141D. doi:10.1073/pnas.36.2.141. PMC 1063149. PMID 16588960. Dugundji, James (1966). Topology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 978-0-697-06889-7. OCLC 395340485. Dugundji, James; Michael, Ernest (1956). "On local and uniformly local topological properties". Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 7 (2): 304–307. doi:10.1090/s0002-9939-1956-0077108-x. MR 0077108. Dugundji, J. (1957). "Continuous maps into nonsimple spaces". Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 86 (1): 256–268. doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1957-0090050-9. MR 0090050. Dugundji, J. (1957). "Products in homotopy and homology groups". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 43 (11): 987–988. Bibcode:1957PNAS...43..987D. doi:10.1073/pnas.43.11.987. PMC 528569. PMID 16590127. Dugundji, J. (1958). "Cohomology of equivariant maps". Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 89 (2): 408–420. doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1958-0100837-2. MR 0100837. Curtis, M. L.; Dugundji, J. (1969). "Groups which are cogroups". Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 22 (1): 235–237. doi:10.1090/s0002-9939-1969-0251722-x. MR 0251722. Bauer, F.-W.; Dugundji, J. (1969). "Categorical homotopy and fibrations". Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 140: 239–256. doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1969-0243518-4. MR 0243518.

See also Dugundji extension theorem

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Dugundji

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Dugundji claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James Dugundji before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James Dugundji ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James Dugundji

In research
James Dugundji appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses James Dugundji in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
James Dugundji is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1919 births, 1985 deaths, 20th-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for James Dugundji outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “James Dugundji” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study James Dugundji in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what James Dugundji means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain James Dugundji out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Dugundji in simple terms?

James Dugundji (August 30, 1919 – January 8, 1985) was an American mathematician, a professor of mathematics at the University of Southern California. Life Dugundji's parents emigrated from Greece to New York City, where Dugundji was born in 1919.

Why does James Dugundji matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James Dugundji?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James Dugundji.

Tags

  • 1919 births
  • 1985 deaths
  • 20th-century American mathematicians
  • American people of Greek descent
  • American topologists
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
  • Mathematicians from New York (state)
  • Mathematicians from New York City
  • New York University alumni
  • University of Southern California faculty

Keep exploring