Abel Prize

Abel Prize
Portrait of Niels Henrik Abel
Awarded for Outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics
Country Norway
Presented by Government of Norway
First awarded 2003
Official website abelprize.no

The Abel Prize (pronounced [ɑːbɛl]) is an international prize awarded annually by the Government of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians.[1]

Named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–29), the award was established in 2001 by the Government of Norway and complements its sister prize in the humanities, the Holberg Prize.

The Abel Prize has often been described as the mathematician's "Nobel Prize".[2][3][4][5][6] It comes with a monetary award of 6 million Norwegian kroner (NOK) (approximately US$1 million).[7]

The prize board has also established an Abel symposium, administered by the Norwegian Mathematical Society.[8] The award ceremony takes place in the Atrium of the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, where the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded between 1947 and 1989.[9]

The establishment of the Abel Prize was first proposed by Sophus Lie (1842–1899) in 1899 when he learned that Alfred Nobel's plans for annual prizes would not include a prize in mathematics. Lie's death marked an interruption in the establishment of the award, and King Oscar II's attempt to establish the award in 1902 was unsuccessful, complicated by the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway three years later.

Selection criteria

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters declares the winner of the Abel Prize each March after selection by a committee of five international mathematicians. The committee is headed by Ragni Piene. The International Mathematical Union and the European Mathematical Society nominate members of the Abel Committee. The Norwegian Government gave the prize an initial funding of NOK 200 million (about US$23 million) in 2001. The funding is controlled by the Board, which consists of members elected by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.[10]

Anyone may submit a nomination, but self-nomination is not allowed. The nominee must be alive; however, if the awardee dies after being declared as the winner, the prize is awarded posthumously. The Abel Laureate is decided by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters based on the recommendation of the Abel Committee. Both Norwegians and non-Norwegians may serve on the Committee; they are elected by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and nominated by the International Mathematical Union and the European Mathematical Society.[10][11]

History

The prize is awarded in the atrium of the Domus Media building of the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, where the Nobel Peace Prize was formerly awarded

The prize was first proposed to be part of the 1902 celebration of 100th anniversary of Abel's birth.[11] Shortly before his death in 1899, mathematician Sophus Lie proposed establishing an Abel Prize when he learned that Alfred Nobel's plans for annual prizes would not include a prize in mathematics. King Oscar II was willing to finance a mathematics prize in 1902, and the mathematicians Ludwig Sylow and Carl Størmer drew up statutes and rules for the proposed prize. However, Lie's influence waned after his death, and the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway in 1905 ended the first attempt to create the Abel Prize.[11]

After interest in the concept of the prize had risen in 2001, a working group was formed to develop a proposal, which was presented to the Prime Minister of Norway in May. In August 2001, the Norwegian government announced that the prize would be awarded beginning in 2002, the two-hundredth anniversary of Abel's birth. The first prize was actually awarded in 2003.[11] A book series presenting Abel Prize laureates and their research was commenced in 2010. The first two volumes cover the years 2003–2007 and 2008–2012 respectively.[12][13]

Laureates


List of winners of each year, their citizenship, institutions they attended and the justified citation.
Year Laureate(s) Citizenship Institution Citation Ref
2003 Serre, Jean-PierreJean-Pierre Serre France French Collège de France "for playing a key role in shaping the modern form of many parts of mathematics, including topology, algebraic geometry and number theory" [14]
2004 Atiyah, MichaelMichael Atiyah;
Singer, IsadoreIsadore Singer		 United Kingdom British;
United States American		 University of Edinburgh;
Massachusetts Institute of Technology		 "for their discovery and proof of the index theorem, bringing together topology, geometry and analysis, and their outstanding role in building new bridges between mathematics and theoretical physics" [15]
2005 Lax, PeterPeter Lax United States American Courant Institute "for his groundbreaking contributions to the theory and application of partial differential equations and to the computation of their solutions" [16]
2006 Carleson, LennartLennart Carleson Sweden Swedish[17] Royal Institute of Technology "for his profound and seminal contributions to harmonic analysis and the theory of smooth dynamical systems" [18]
2007 Varadhan, S. R. SrinivasaS. R. Srinivasa Varadhan India Indian
United States American [19]		 Courant Institute "for his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviation" [20]
2008 Thompson, John G.John G. Thompson;
Tits, JacquesJacques Tits		 United States American;
Belgium Belgian
France French[21]		 University of Florida;
Collège de France		 "for their profound achievements in algebra and in particular for shaping modern group theory" [22]
2009 Gromov, MikhailMikhail Gromov Russia Russian
France French[23]		 Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques
Courant Institute		 "for his revolutionary contributions to geometry" [24]
2010 Tate, JohnJohn Tate United States American University of Texas at Austin "for his vast and lasting impact on the theory of numbers" [25]
2011 Milnor, JohnJohn Milnor United States American[26] Stony Brook University "for pioneering discoveries in topology, geometry, and algebra" [27]
2012 Szemerédi, EndreEndre Szemerédi Hungary Hungarian
United States American[28]		 Alfréd Rényi Institute
and Rutgers University		 "for his fundamental contributions to discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science, and in recognition of the profound and lasting impact of these contributions on additive number theory and ergodic theory" [29]
2013 Deligne, PierrePierre Deligne Belgium Belgian Institute for Advanced Study "for seminal contributions to algebraic geometry and for their transformative impact on number theory, representation theory, and related fields" [30]
2014 Sinai, YakovYakov Sinai Russia Russian
United States American		 Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics
and Princeton University		 "for his fundamental contributions to dynamical systems, ergodic theory, and mathematical physics" [31]
2015 Nash, Jr., John F.John F. Nash, Jr.;
Nirenberg, LouisLouis Nirenberg		 United States American;
Canada United States Canadian/American		 Princeton University
Courant Institute		 "for striking and seminal contributions to the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations and its applications to geometric analysis" [32]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abel Prize laureates.

References

  1. ↑ Statutter for Holbergprisen
  2. ↑ Dreifus, Claudia (29 March 2005). "From Budapest to Los Alamos, a Life in Mathematics". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Cipra, Barry (26 March 2009). "Russian Mathematician Wins Abel Prize". ScienceNOW. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "Geometer wins maths 'Nobel'". Nature Publishing Group. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Foderaro, Lisa W. (31 May 2009). "In N.Y.U.'s Tally of Abel Prizes for Mathematics, Gromov Makes Three". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Abel Prize Awarded: The Mathematicians' Nobel". The Mathematical Association of America. April 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "The Abel Prize". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "Main Page". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  9. ↑ "University of Oslo". Oslo Opera House. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Nomination Guidelines". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "The History of the Abel Prize". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  12. ↑ H. Holden; R. Piene, eds. (2010). The Abel Prize 2003–2007. Heidelberg: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-01373-7. ISBN 978-3-642-01372-0.
  13. ↑ H. Holden; R. Piene, eds. (2014). The Abel Prize 2008–2012. Heidelberg: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39449-2. ISBN 978-3-642-39449-2.
  14. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2003". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2004". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2005". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Swedish mathematician receives the Abel Prize". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  18. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2006". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Fields Institute – Thematic Program on Dynamic and Transport in Disordered Systems". Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  20. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2007". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  21. ↑ "Abel Prize Ceremony 2008". The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Seoul. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  22. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2008". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  23. ↑ "Russian-French mathematician receives the Abel Prize". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  24. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2009". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  25. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2010". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  26. ↑ "Dimension-Cruncher: Exotic Spheres Earn Mathematician John Milnor an Abel Prize". Scientific American. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  27. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2011". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  28. ↑ "Hungarian-American Endre Szemerédi named Abel Prize winner". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  29. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2012". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  30. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2013". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  31. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2014". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  32. ↑ "The Abel Prize Laureate 2015". The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

External links

Wikinews has related news: Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awards Belgian mathematician Pierre Deligne with Abel prize of 2013