[1] Thomas received his Ph.D., supervised by Frederick Wahn Beal, from the University of Pennsylvania with thesis Congruences of Circles, Studied with reference to the Surface of Centers.
[2] He was a mathematics professor at Duke University for many years.
His graduate students include Mabel Griffin (later married to L. B. Reavis) and Ruth W.
For the academic year 1936–1937, he was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study.
[4] Based upon earlier work by Charles Riquier and Maurice Janet, Thomas's research was important for the introduction of involutive bases.