Peter John Freyd (born February 5, 1936) is an American mathematician, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, known for work in category theory and for founding the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.

Mathematics

Freyd obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1960; his dissertation, on Functor Theory, was written under the supervision of Norman Steenrod and David Buchsbaum. Freyd is best known for his adjoint functor theorem. He was the author of the foundational book Abelian Categories: An Introduction to the Theory of Functors (1964). This work culminates in a proof of the Freyd–Mitchell embedding theorem. In addition, Freyd's name is associated with the HOMFLYPT polynomial of knot theory, and he and Andre Scedrov originated the concept of (mathematical) allegories. In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

False Memory Syndrome Foundation

Freyd and his wife Pamela founded the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in 1992, after Freyd was accused of childhood sexual abuse by his daughter Jennifer. Peter Freyd denied the accusations. Three years after its founding, it had more than 7,500 members. As of December 2019, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation was dissolved.

Publications