Sylvain Cappell

Sylvain Edward Cappell (born 1946), a Belgian American mathematician and former student of William Browder at Princeton University, is a topologist who has spent most of his career at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU, where he is now the Silver Professor of Mathematics.

Sylvain Cappell
Sylvain Cappell (right) in 2013
Born	1946 (age 78–79) Brussels, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian, American
Alma mater	Princeton University Columbia University
Awards	AMS Distinguished Public Service Award (2018) Guggenheim Fellowship (1989–90) Sloan Fellowship (1971–72)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	New York University
Doctoral advisor	William Browder
Doctoral students	Shmuel Weinberger

He was born in Brussels, Belgium and immigrated with his parents to New York City in 1950 and grew up largely in this city.^[1] In 1963, as a senior at the Bronx High School of Science, he won first place in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search for his work on "The Theory of Semi-cyclical Groups with Special Reference to Non-Aristotelian Logic." He then graduated from Columbia University in 1966, winning the Van Amringe Mathematical Prize.^[2]

In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.^[3] Cappell was elected and served as a vice president of the AMS for the term of February 2010 through January 2013.^[4][5] In 2018 he was elected to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[6]