Cornell has created a tribute page to Bill Thurston with links to biographical information and remembrances. (Tim Riley posted this in the comments on Nathan’s post, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw it.) Thurston’s work is certainly fundamental to most of the mathematics that I think about (see, for example, this post) but just as important is what he contributed to mathematical culture and community. If you haven’t read On Proof and Progress in Mathematics, you should (and if you haven’t read it recently, you should read it again). I have always been proud to be part of a field where someone as kind, generous and selfless as Bill Thurston could become one of the leading and most prominent figures. He will be deeply missed.
