George Brinton Thomas Jr. (January 11, 1914 – October 31, 2006) was an American mathematician and professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The couple lived in Pullman, Washington for a year; Thomas worked at a local shoe store to save money for further graduate education.
In 1937, Thomas was accepted into the graduate mathematics program at Cornell University, where he worked as an instructor while pursuing his research in number theory.
Thomas finished his doctoral work in 1940 and was immediately hired by MIT for a one-year teaching appointment.
During the Second World War, Thomas was involved in early computation systems and programmed the differential analyzer to calculate firing tables for the Navy.
In 1952, George and Jane Thomas moved into the Conantum community in Concord, Massachusetts, where many younger Harvard and MIT faculty members lived.
Thomas became involved with math and science education in America's primary and secondary schools some years before the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.