TITLE: cohomology of BG, G compact Lie group
QUESTION [20 upvotes]: It has been stated in several papers that $H^{odd}(BG,\mathbb{R})=0$ for compact Lie group 
$G$. However, I've still not found a proof of this. I believe that the proof is as follows:
--> $G$ compact $\Rightarrow$ it has a maximal toral subgroup, say $T$
--> the inclusion $T\hookrightarrow G$ induces inclusion $H^k(BG,\mathbb{R})\hookrightarrow 
H^k(BT,\mathbb{R})$
--> $H^*(BT,\mathbb{R})\cong \mathbb{R}[c_1,...,c_n]$ where the $c_i$'s are Chern classes of degree $\deg(c_k)=2k$ 
--> Thus, any polys in $\mathbb{R}[c_1,...,c_n]$ are necessarily of even degree. Hence, 
$H^{odd}(BG,\mathbb{R})=0$
Is this the correct reasoning? Could someone fill in the gaps; i.e., give a formal proof of this statement?

REPLY [8 votes]: Just for completeness, here's another argument without spectral sequences via rational homotopy theory.
Recall a theorem of Hopf, which states that the rational cohomology of a path-connected H-space of finite rational cohomology type (finite dimensional rational cohomology in each degree) is a free graded commutative graded algebra (cga) $(\wedge V,0)$ (The reason is, that the cohomology has a Hopf algebra structure.) This applies to a compact lie group $G$ and implies immediately, that the rational cohomology serves as a minimal model of $G$ and since the cohomology of a compact Lie group is finite dimensional, $V$ has to be concentrated in odd degrees.
The long exact sequence of the universal fibration $G\rightarrow EG\rightarrow BG$ shows, that $\pi_i(BG)\cong\pi_{i-1}(G)$ since $EG$ is contractible. Recall that the minimal model of a space $X$ is a cdga whose underlying cga is the free cga generated by $\pi_*(X)\otimes\mathbb{Q}$ with a differential $d$, i.e. has the shape $(\wedge(\pi_*(X)\otimes\mathbb{Q}),d)$, so the minimal model of $BG$ has the shape $(\wedge(\pi_{*+1}(G)\otimes\mathbb{Q}),d)$. Since the minimal model of $G$ is concentrated in odd degrees, the one of $BG$ is concentrated in even degrees, so the differential must vanish for degree reasons and the minimal model of $BG$ is just $(\wedge(\pi_{*+1}(G)\otimes\mathbb{Q}),0)$. Since the cohomology of the minimal model of a space is the cohomology of the space, we get the claim.