Abel Prize - MacTutor History of Mathematics

Sophus Lie, when he saw that Nobel's plans for annual prizes did not include one for mathematics, proposed the setting up of an Abel Prize which would be ... Home Biographies HistoryTopics Map Curves Search TheAbelPrize Thisprizewasawardedforthefirsttimein2003butitwasfirstsuggestedover100yearsearlier.SophusLie,whenhesawthatNobel'splansforannualprizesdidnotincludeoneformathematics,proposedthesettingupofanAbelPrizewhichwouldbeawardedeveryfiveyears.Hecontactedmathematiciansworld-wideandgatheredwidesupport.Howeverhehadnotsetupanymachinerytocarrytheideaforwardandwhenhediedsoonafterthis,in1899,nothingfurtherhappened. Theyear1902wasoneinwhichthecentenaryofAbel'sdeathwascelebrated.AdecisionwasagaintakentoestablishaninternationalAbelPrizebutagaintheplandidnotcometofruition.WiththebicentenaryofAbel'sbirthapproaching,ArildStubhaug,whohadwrittenamajornewbiographyofAbel,madeanotherattempttosetupanAbelPrize. AcommitteewassetupwhichgatheredsupportbothwithinNorwayandalsointernationalsupport.TheyputtheirproposalsbeforetheNorwegiangovernmentinMay2001andinaspeechonthecampusoftheUniversityofOsloinAugust2001,theNorwegianPrimeMinisterannouncedthattheGovernmentwouldestablishanAbelFund. TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersannouncesthewinnersoftheAbelprize,thefirstbeingawardedin2003.Belowwelistthewinnersandthecitationfortheirprizes: 2003Jean-PierreSerre ...forplayingakeyroleinshapingthemodernformofmanypartsofmathematics,includingtopology,algebraicgeometryandnumbertheory. 2004SirMichaelFrancisAtiyahandIsadoreMSinger ...fortheirdiscoveryandproofoftheindextheorem,bringingtogethertopology,geometryandanalysis,andtheiroutstandingroleinbuildingnewbridgesbetweenmathematicsandtheoreticalphysics. 2005PeterDLax ...forhisgroundbreakingcontributionstothetheoryandapplicationofpartialdifferentialequationsandtothecomputationoftheirsolutions. 2006LennartCarleson ...forhisprofoundandseminalcontributionstoharmonicanalysisandthetheoryofsmoothdynamicalsystems. 2007SrinivasaSRVaradhan ...forhisfundamentalcontributionstoprobabilitytheoryandinparticularforcreatingaunifiedtheoryoflargedeviations. 2008JohnThompson ...fortheiroutstandingachievementsinalgebraandespeciallyfortheirshapingofmoderngrouptheory. 2009MikhailLeonidovichGromov ...forhisrevolutionarycontributionstogeometry. 2010JohnTate ...forhisvastandlastingimpactonthetheoryofnumbers. 2011JohnMilnor ...forpioneeringdiscoveriesintopology,geometryandalgebra. 2012EndreSzemerédi forhisfundamentalcontributionstodiscretemathematicsandtheoreticalcomputerscience,andinrecognitionoftheprofoundandlastingimpactofthesecontributionsonadditivenumbertheoryandergodictheory 2013PierreDeligne forseminalcontributionstoalgebraicgeometryandfortheirtransformativeimpactonnumbertheory,representationtheory,andrelatedfields 2014YakovGSinai ...forhisfundamentalcontributionstodynamicalsystems,ergodictheory,andmathematicalphysics. 2015JohnForbesNashandLouisNirenberg ...forstrikingandseminalcontributionstothetheoryofnonlinearpartialdifferentialequationsanditsapplicationstogeometricanalysis. 2016AndrewJWiles ...forhisstunningproofofFermat'sLastTheorembywayofthemodularityconjectureforsemistableellipticcurves,openinganewerainnumbertheory. 2017YvesMeyer ...forhispivotalroleinthedevelopmentofthemathematicaltheoryofwavelets. 2018RobertPLanglands ...forhisvisionaryprogramconnectingrepresentationtheorytonumbertheory. 2019KarenUhlenbeck ...forherpioneeringachievementsingeometricpartialdifferentialequations,gaugetheoryandintegrablesystems,andforthefundamentalimpactofherworkonanalysis,geometryandmathematicalphysics. 2020HillelFurstenberg​andGregoryMargulis ...forpioneeringtheuseofmethodsfromprobabilityanddynamicsingrouptheory,numbertheoryandcombinatorics. 2021LászlóLovász​andAviWigderson ...fortheirfoundationalcontributionstotheoreticalcomputerscienceanddiscretemathematics,andtheirleadingroleinshapingthemintocentralfieldsofmodernmathematics. OtherWebsite: AbelPrizeWebsite