Editing Stephen Smale (section)

==Education and career==
Smale was born in [[Flint, Michigan]] and entered the [[University of Michigan]] in 1948.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcmcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA225|title=The Britannica Guide to Geometry|date=2010|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|isbn=9781615302178|editor=William L. Hosch|page=225}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1cLnAm7gcwC&pg=PA11|title=Steven Smale: The Mathematician Who Broke the Dimension Barrier|last=Batterson|first=Steve|date=2000|publisher=American Mathematical Soc.|isbn=9780821826966|page=11}}</ref> Initially, he was a good student, placing into an honors [[calculus]] sequence taught by [[Robert M. Thrall|Bob Thrall]] and earning himself A's.  However, his [[Sophomore year|sophomore]] and junior years were marred with mediocre grades, mostly Bs, Cs and even an F in [[nuclear physics]]. Smale obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1952. Despite his grades, with some luck, Smale was accepted as a graduate student at the University of Michigan's mathematics department.  Yet again, Smale performed poorly in his first years, earning a C average as a graduate student.  When the department chair, [[Theophil Henry Hildebrandt|Hildebrandt]], threatened to kick Smale out, he began to take his studies more seriously.<ref>{{YouTube|LmpPUjOeMGI}}</ref> Smale finally earned his [[PhD]] in 1957, under [[Raoul Bott]], beginning his career as an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]].

Early in his career, Smale was involved in controversy over remarks he made regarding his work habits while proving the higher-dimensional Poincaré conjecture. He said that his best work had been done "on the beaches of Rio."<ref>He discovered the famous [[Smale horseshoe map]] on a beach in [[Leme (Rio de Janeiro)|Leme]], [[Rio de Janeiro]].  See: S.&nbsp;Smale (1996), [http://math.berkeley.edu/~smale/biblio/chaos.ps Chaos: Finding a Horseshoe on the Beaches of Rio].</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author= CS Aravinda |year= 2018 |title= ICM 2018: On the beaches of Rio de Janeiro |url= https://bhavana.org.in/icm-2018-beaches-rio-de-janeiro |journal= Bhāvanā |volume= 2 |issue= 3 |access-date= 8 October 2022 }}</ref> He has been politically active in various movements in the past, such as the [[Free Speech movement]] and member of the [[Fair Play for Cuba Committee]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schrecker |first1=Ellen |title=The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s |date=2021 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=121}}</ref> In 1966, having travelled to Moscow under an [[National Science Foundation|NSF]] grant to accept the Fields Medal, he held a press conference there to denounce the [[Vietnam War|American position in Vietnam]], [[Hungary–Soviet Union relations|Soviet intervention in Hungary]] and Soviet maltreatment of intellectuals. After his return to the US, he was unable to renew the grant.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper = The Harvard Crimson | url = https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/10/5/math-professors-question-denial-of-smale/ | title = Math Professors Question Denial Of Smale Grant | date = 5 October 1967 | author = Andrew Jamison | access-date = 13 February 2022}}</ref> At one time he was [[subpoena]]ed<ref name="Greenberg pp. 130–133">{{cite journal | last=Greenberg | first=D. S. | title=The Smale Case: NSF and Berkeley Pass Through a Case of Jitters | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | volume=154 | issue=3745 | date=1966-10-07 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.154.3745.130 | pages=130–133| pmid=17740098 | bibcode=1966Sci...154..130G }}</ref> by the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].

In 1960, Smale received a [[Sloan Research Fellowship]] and was appointed to the [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] mathematics faculty, moving to a professorship at [[Columbia University|Columbia]] the following year. In 1964 he returned to a professorship at Berkeley, where he has spent the main part of his career. He became a professor emeritus at Berkeley in 1995 and took up a post as professor at the [[City University of Hong Kong]]. He also amassed over the years one of the finest private mineral collections in existence. Many of Smale's mineral specimens can be seen in the book ''The Smale Collection: Beauty in Natural Crystals''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lithographie.org/bookshop/the_smale_collection.htm|title=Lithographie LTD|website=www.lithographie.org}}</ref>

From 2003 to 2012, Smale was a professor at the [[Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ttic.edu/faculty-alumni/|title=Faculty Alumni|website=ttic.edu}}</ref> starting August 1, 2009, he became a Distinguished University Professor at the [[City University of Hong Kong]].<ref>[http://ttic.uchicago.edu/~smale/vita.html Stephen Smale Vita.]  Accessed November 18, 2009.</ref>

In 1988, Smale was the recipient of the [[Chauvenet Prize]]<ref name="ChauvenetSmale1988"/> of the [[Mathematical Association of America|MAA]]. In 2007, Smale was awarded the [[Wolf Prize]] in mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huji.ac.il/cgi-bin/dovrut/dovrut_search_eng_dev.pl?mesge116895485932688760|title=The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Division of Marketing & Communication|website=www.huji.ac.il|access-date=2007-02-04|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194235/http://www.huji.ac.il/cgi-bin/dovrut/dovrut_search_eng_dev.pl?mesge116895485932688760|url-status=dead}}</ref>