Herbert Clemens

Charles Herbert Clemens Jr., known professionally as Herbert Clemens, is a distinguished mathematician whose career includes a significant tenure in the Mathematics department at the University of Utah. He earned an A.B. from Holy Cross College in 1961 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966, advised by Phillip A. Griffiths, with a thesis on the Picard-Lefschetz Theorem for families of algebraic varieties acquiring certain singularities. Prior to joining Utah as associate professor in 1975-1976, Clemens held positions such as instructor at Universidad Técnica del Estado in Santiago, Chile (1966-1968), member of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (1968-1970), and assistant and associate professor at Columbia University (1970-1975). He was promoted to full professor at Utah in 1976 and served until 2002, during which he was named Distinguished Professor in 2001. Later appointments include professor at Ohio State University (2002-2019, now emeritus) and visiting research professor at Utah (2013-2017). Clemens' research specializes in algebraic geometry, with key focuses on Hodge theory, deformation theory of algebraic varieties, intermediate Jacobians, and the geometry of hypersurfaces and threefolds. His work has applications to questions in unified field theories and includes seminal results such as the proof with Phillip Griffiths that a general cubic threefold is unirational but not rational.

Among his major publications are 'The Intermediate Jacobian of the Cubic Threefold' (Annals of Mathematics, 1972, with P. Griffiths), 'Scrapbook of Complex Curve Theory' (Plenum Press, 1980), 'Double Solids' (Advances in Mathematics, 1983), 'Homological Equivalence, Modulo Algebraic Equivalence, is Not Finitely Generated' (Publications Mathématiques de l'IHÉS, 1983), and 'Two-Dimensional Geometries: A Problem-Solving Approach' (AMS, 2019, with M. Clemens). Clemens has been recognized with the Sloan Fellowship (1973-1975), University of Utah Distinguished Research Award (1983), Silver Medal of the Italian Mathematical Union (2000), American Mathematical Society Distinguished Service Award (2008), and Americas Prize from the Mathematical Congress of the Americas (2013). He delivered invited lectures at the International Congress of Mathematicians (1974, 1986) and served as editor of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics (1985-1994). Clemens has held influential committee roles, including chair of the Developing Countries Strategy Group of the International Mathematical Union (2004-2010), secretary/treasurer of the IMU Commission for Developing Countries (1999-2006), and chair of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (2012-2014). He directed the Utah site of the Park City Mathematics Institute (1995-1997), coordinated mathematics programs for Navajo high schools, and advised 17 Ph.D. students, significantly impacting mathematical research, education, and international development.