Roger C. Lyndon, Professor of Mathematics, will retire from active faculty status as of May 31, 1988, after a most productive career as a teacher, researcher, and author.

A native of Calais, Maine, Professor Lyndon received his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1939, 1941, and 1946, respectively. He was a scientific liaison officer in the Office of Naval Research from 1946 to 1948 and was on the Princeton University faculty from 1948 to 1953. Professor Lyndon joined The University of Michigan faculty in 1953 as assistant professor of mathematics; he was promoted to associate professor in 1956 and professor in 1959.

Professor Lyndon has had a very distinguished research career, which continues unabated. As an undergraduate, he discovered a serious flaw in the structure of Quine's foundations of mathematical logic. His thesis on spectral sequences formed a cornerstone upon which homological algebra was built. Its appeal was the universality of its application. Professor Lyndon's interests have centered on logic and combinatorial group theory; he established modem geometric group theory almost single-handedly. He has written more than seventy research papers, each of which provides incisive insight into the problem under examination. He is the author of three books: Notes in Logic, Groups and Geometry, and Combinatorial Group Theory. The latter, co-authored with former student PA. Schupp, has become the standard reference source in the field.

Professor Lyndon has directed thirteen doctoral theses and is presently directing two others. Over the years, he held a number of committee assignments within the Mathematics Department, as well as associate chairman for education from 1970 to 1972. He is frequently sought as a lecturer, and has held visiting professorships at universities in England, France, and the United States.

The Regents now salute this distinguished mathematician for his dedicated service as a researcher and teacher by naming Roger C. Lyndon Professor Emeritus of Mathematics.