Thomas Storer

Thomas Frederick Storer (1938 – November 9, 2006) was a Navajo American mathematician who studied combinatorics and cyclotomy. He was a professor at the University of Michigan, and was one of the first Native Americans to become a PhD mathematician. In addition to his mathematical research, teaching, and mentoring, Storer also did notable work on string figures.

Education and career Storer, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, was born in 1938. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles for his bachelors degree, with the help of a football scholarship. His thesis was titled A Family of Generalized Difference Sets, and was advised by Albert Whiteman.

In 1965, after a short period in residence in Princeton, New Jersey at the Institute for Advanced Study, Storer went to the University of Michigan, where he remained for the rest of his career. He was promoted to full professor in 1979, and retired to emeritus status in 2001.

At the University of Michigan, Storer was known as a teacher and mentor. In 1985, he received the Amoco Foundation Good Teaching Award.

For example, Storer's monograph encodes the sequence of steps for making the Osage 2-Diamonds string figure (pictured) as follows:

Here, the fingers are encoded with the numerals 1 through 5, with 1 representing the thumb and 5 representing the little finger. The notation describes a sequence of movements of a loop held by one finger (a "functor", written before a set of parentheses), relative to a loop held by another finger (an "object", written inside parentheses). The symbol denotes releasing a loop of string, while the vertical line denotes moving hands apart so that the string is not slack.

Personal life Storer was married to Karen Storer for a period of over 30 years. They had two daughters. Storer died on November 9, 2006.

Selected publications

Earlier editions: 1st ed. (1985), Bulletin of SFA, vol. 12; 2nd ed. (1996), ISFA Press.