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I've been collecting some of the many unpublished manuscripts of Bill Thurston over the years. His recent passing inspired me to ask the following. I've seen a number of references (for instance, in his wikipedia biography here) to a senior thesis that he wrote when he was a student at New College in Florida which concerns intuitionist foundations for mathematics. Does anyone happen to have a copy of this that they could either post electronically or mail to me?

EDIT : This was originally a comment, but I thought I'd move it up here because it might be of wider interest. Thurston made an interesting blog comment about his early philosophical interests here. An excerpt : "BTW, I was very taken by Kleene’s book on Foundations of Mathematics when I was in college, and it motivated me to write a senior thesis on intuitionist topology. I thought I might become an intuitionist logician, but when I approached Tarski to advise me, he said that Berkeley wasn’t a good place for intuitionism, so I went into topology instead."

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    $\begingroup$ @Jim: Thurston's subsequent accomplishments have put him beyond any possible embarrassment. $\endgroup$
    – Igor Rivin
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 23:21
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    $\begingroup$ I think it is reasonable to put such a request to his family and close friends, as they can serve as a proxy of sorts for Bill Thurston. Their reply (especially if it is no) should be respected. Gerhard Paseman, 2012.08.22 $\endgroup$
    – Gerhard Paseman
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 23:31
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    $\begingroup$ Well, it is a certainty that Bill's collected works will be published (I would certainly like his very well thought out MO answers to be included there, btw) , and the senior thesis is a candidate to go into that. These days, "published" means "published electronically". $\endgroup$
    – Igor Rivin
    Commented Aug 23, 2012 at 0:57
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    $\begingroup$ It would be weird to track down things like this for Joe Schmo the mathematician, but Thurston is a historical figure and documents from his early years are important historical records. I think it is perfectly legitimate to track them down. However, it goes without saying that I would check with eg Dylan or Nathaniel before I created any kind of web repository of Thurston's unpublished writings (which I have thought about doing before, but have never gotten around to doing). $\endgroup$
    – Andy Putman
    Commented Aug 23, 2012 at 1:53
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    $\begingroup$ By the way, Thurston made an interesting blog comment about his early philosophical interests here : scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2010/05/09/…. An excerpt : "BTW, I was very taken by Kleene’s book on Foundations of Mathematics when I was in college, and it motivated me to write a senior thesis on intuitionist topology. I thought I migh become an intuitionist logician, but when I approached Tarski to advise me, he said that Berkeley wasn’t a good place for intuitionism, so I went into topology instead." $\endgroup$
    – Andy Putman
    Commented Aug 23, 2012 at 1:54

1 Answer 1

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I've emailed you a pdf copy of "A Constructive Foundation for Topology" by Bill Thurston (June 14, 1967; New College Senior Thesis; submitted to Roger Renne).

In consideration of the comments above, I'm hesitant to post the file in a publicly accessible location. Perhaps the mathoverflow community can figure out whether such a posting would be appropriate.

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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps ask Dylan Thurston... $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts ♦
    Commented Sep 14, 2012 at 7:18
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you very much for sending it to me. As far as whether it is appropriate to post it, my feeling is that for documents from important historical figures like Thurston, it is perfectly fine to post them (as long as you don't violate eg copyright law). $\endgroup$
    – Andy Putman
    Commented Sep 14, 2012 at 18:20
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    $\begingroup$ I've emailed Dylan and will act in accordance with his preference. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Dickman
    Commented Sep 14, 2012 at 18:28
  • $\begingroup$ @BenjaminDickman what was the result? $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts ♦
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 4:58
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    $\begingroup$ @DavidRoberts Not to post it publicly. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Dickman
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 5:43

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