Jerry Lawrence Kazdan is a mathematician noted for his work in differential geometry and the study of partial differential equations. His contributions include the Berger–Kazdan comparison theorem, which was a key step in the proof of the Blaschke conjecture and the classification of Wiedersehen manifolds. He obtained his PhD in 1963 from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University; his thesis was entitled A Boundary Value Problem Arising in the Theory of Univalent Functions and was supervised by Paul Garabedian. He then took a position as a Benjamin Peirce Instructor at Harvard University. Since 1966, he has worked at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently Professor of Mathematics and the Chair of the Mathematics Department.