Education
Of Czechoslovakian and Appalachian descent, he was raised in Texas" lower Rio Grande valley. An early interest in topology was strongly encouraged by his parents. He enrolled at in 1962 as a physics major, but (with the help of Jim Douglas) entered the graduate mathematics program in 1964.
His advisor Eldon Dyer arranged, with the support of Michael Atiyah, a one-year fellowship at the University of Oxford, followed by a year in Princeton at the Institute for Advanced Study.
