James Johnston Stoker (March 2, 1905 – October 19, 1992) was an American applied mathematician and engineer.
Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stoker started his career as a mining engineer.
Stoker was so impressed by the subject, and the teacher, that he switched his doctoral programme to differential geometry[2] He received his Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Hopf and George Pólya.
[1] With Stoker's engineering background and Friedrichs' mastery in mathematics, the two were effectively collaborated on many applied problems such as plate theory.
It was during Stoker's period as director, the Institute acquired greater autonomy within the University framework.