Dr. Ian Putnam

Ian Fraser Putnam, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Victoria, has made outstanding contributions to the theory of dynamical systems. He has shown that the orbits of such systems can be completely determined by algebraic methods – methods which he was instrumental in the development of. Putnam's analysis of the structure of the C*-algebra associated with a minimal homeomorphism of the Cantor set led to an overarching scheme for the classification of all amenable C*-algebras – the so-called Elliott program. Putnam's application of the C*-algebra classification to determine the orbit structure of the Cantor set dynamical system, in terms of the quite simple C*-algebra invariant, was a striking innovation. It has changed the face of dynamical systems theory.