Franklin Paul Peterson (1930–2000) was an American mathematician specializing in algebraic topology.
[1][2] Peterson was born in Aurora, Illinois, on August 27, 1930, the older of two brothers.
[1] He also served for many years as treasurer of the AMS; in that role he played a key role in resolving tensions between the dual directors of the society as it was then structured, and worked to build up a large reserve fund for the society.
[1][2] Peterson's early research used cohomology to study homotopy equivalence.
[4] He advised over 20 doctoral students (different sources give different numbers, in part because Robert E. Mosher, whom Peterson considered his first student, had a different official advisor) and has over 100 academic descendants.