David Gay

David Gay, professor in the Franklin College Department of Mathematics, is a renowned mathematician whose research has transformed understanding of the structure of complicated geometric spaces. His work addresses fundamental questions about how multidimensional spaces can be broken down into simpler, more manageable pieces—questions that lie at the heart of modern topology and theoretical physics. Gay is best known for introducing “trisections,” a powerful new framework that provides a systematic way to decompose four-dimensional spaces into three interacting components. Developed in a landmark 2016 paper, this approach resolved long-standing obstacles in the field and has become a foundational tool used by mathematicians worldwide. It sparked extensive new research and enabled progress on problems that resisted solution for decades. Supported by sustained funding from NSF and the Simons Foundation, Gay’s work has also led to major international leadership roles, including at the Max Planck Institute and the Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques, reflecting the broad influence of his contributions.