Name Henry Laufer | Education Princeton University | |
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Books Normal Two-dimensional Singularities, Discrete Mathematics and Applied Modern Algebra | ||
Henry B. Laufer (born c. 1945) is an American mathematician, investor and philanthropist. He served as the Vice President of Research at Renaissance Technologies.
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Early life
Henry B. Laufer was born circa 1945. He received his PhD from Princeton University in 1965, studying with Robert Gunning.
Career
Laufer joined the mathematics department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as a faculty member in 1971. His research focused on complex variables and algebraic topology. He left Stony Brook in 1992 to join Renaissance Technologies. In 2015, a conference was held for his 70th anniversary at Tsinghua University in China.
Laufer co-founded Medallion with billionaire James Harris Simons in 1988. Laufer served as chief scientist and vice president of research at Renaissance Technologies, its parent company. He now serves on its board of directors.
Laufer earned US$125 million in 2008, despite the financial crisis of 2007–08. The following year, in 2009, he was named one of "Wall Street's Highest Earners" by Forbes, with an income of US$390,000,000.
Philanthropy and political contributions
Laufer and his wife enabled the foundation of the Louis and Beatrice Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University with a donation in 2008.
Laufer donated US$500,000 to Correct the Record, a political action committee which supports Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, in February 2016. Meanwhile, in April 2016, Laufer and his wife organized a US$500-ticket fundraiser for Clinton in Florida. However, the fundraiser could only be attended by supports who donated US$10,000 or more to Clinton during the Democratic Party primary.
Personal life
Laufer is married to Dr. Marsha Zlatin Laufer, a speech-language pathologist, philanthropist and political activist. She served as the chairwoman of the Democratic Party for the town of Brookhaven, New York from 2005 to 2009. The couple resides in Setauket, New York, with an additional property in Manalapan, Florida.