Mathematics People
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Mathematics People symmetric spaces, L²-cohomology, arithmetic groups, and MacPherson Awarded Hopf the Langlands program. The list is by far not complete, and Prize we try only to give a representative selection of his contri- bution to mathematics. He influenced a whole generation Robert MacPherson of the Institute for Advanced Study of mathematicians by giving them new tools to attack has been chosen the first winner of the Heinz Hopf Prize difficult problems and teaching them novel geometric, given by ETH Zurich for outstanding scientific work in the topological, and algebraic ways of thinking.” field of pure mathematics. MacPherson, a leading expert Robert MacPherson was born in 1944 in Lakewood, in singularities, delivered the Heinz Hopf Lectures, titled Ohio. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College in “How Nature Tiles Space”, in October 2009. The prize also 1966 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1970. He carries a cash award of 30,000 Swiss francs, approximately taught at Brown University from 1970 to 1987 and at equal to US$30,000. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1987 to The following quotation was taken from a tribute to 1994. He has been at the Institute for Advanced Study in MacPherson by Gisbert Wüstholz of ETH Zurich: “Singu- Princeton since 1994. His work has introduced radically larities can be studied in different ways using analysis, new approaches to the topology of singular spaces and or you can regard them as geometric phenomena. For the promoted investigations across a great spectrum of math- latter, their study demands a deep geometric intuition ematics. MacPherson works in several fields of geometry- and profound geometric insight; this is what MacPherson masters in a most striking and extremely artful way. He topology, algebraic geometry, differential geometry, combines geometric visions with algebraic rigidity. If you and singularity theory, and he is especially interested study his work you see that it is glowing with elegance in aspects of geometry that interact with other areas of and profound in its depth. mathematics. In 1992 he received the National Academy of “He consistently was ahead of his time, developing new Sciences Award in Mathematics, and in 2002 he received ideas and new approaches—ones often not shaped by the the Leroy P. Steele Prize of the AMS. main streams of mathematical thought of the day, but The Heinz Hopf Prize at ETH Zurich was established rather characterized by great vision. Repeatedly the math- through a donation made by Dorothee and Alfred Aep- ematical community came to embrace, extend, and apply pli and will be awarded every two years for outstanding his ideas and results as they caught up with that vision. scientific work in the field of pure mathematics. “MacPherson’s connections with the Swiss mathemati- cal community date back to 1983, when he participated —From an ETH announcement in and significantly contributed to the famous Borel semi- nar, a joint seminar organized by several Swiss universi- ties, including ETH Zurich, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, and Lindenstrauss and Villani Basel. The seminar was initiated by Armand Borel, one of the most distinguished Swiss mathematicians of the Awarded Fermat Prize last century. The topic of the seminar was the Goresky- MacPherson intersection homology and its use for the co- Elon Lindenstrauss of Princeton University and Cédric homology of arithmetic groups, one of the main research Villani of École Normale Supérieure de Lyon have been areas of Armand Borel. awarded the 2009 Fermat Prize by the Institut de Mathé- “This illustrates only a small part of the work of MacPher- matiques de Toulouse. Lindenstrauss was honored for his son, for it spans a wide spectrum of contributions in many contributions to ergodic theory and their applications in very different areas: algebraic geometry and topology; number theory. Villani was selected for his contributions algebraic groups, group actions, and representation to the theory of optimal transport and his studies of non- theory; enumerative geometry and combinatorics; locally linear evolution equations. 260 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 57, NUMBER 2 Mathematics People The Fermat Prize, given every two years, recognizes out- mathematicians, and engineers who are committed to the standing research in the fields in which Pierre de Fermat integration of research and education. The grants provide made significant contributions: statements of variational funding of at least US$400,000 over a five-year period. principles, foundations of probability and analytical The 2009 CAREER grant awardees and the titles of their geometry, and number theory. The prize is intended to grant projects follow. reward research that is accessible to the greatest number Miklos Abert, University of Chicago, Asymptotic In- of professional mathematicians within these fields. variants of Residually Finite Groups; Rafail Abramov, The prize carries a cash award of €20,000 (approxi- University of Illinois, Chicago, Predicting Global Climate mately US$29,700). Change through Fluctuation-Dissipation: A Practical Com- putational Strategy for Complex Multiscale Dynamics; —Elaine Kehoe Orly Alter, University of Texas, Austin, Integrative and Comparative Tensor Algebra Models of DNA Microarray Data from Different Studies of the Cell Cycle; Benjamin Pujals Awarded TWAS Prize in Brubaker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mul- tiple Dirichlet Series, Automorphic Forms, and Combi- Mathematics natorial Representation Theory; Francesco Calegari, Northwestern University, Arithmetic of Cohomological Enrique Pujals of the Institute of Pure and Applied Automorphic Forms; Gautam Chinta, City College, City Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been University of New York, Multiple Dirichlet Series and Meta- named the winner of the 2009 TWAS Prize in mathemat- plectic Groups; Tommaso de Fernex, University of Utah, ics, awarded by the Academy of Sciences for the Develop- Singularities in the Minimal Model Program and Birational ing World (TWAS). He was honored for his contributions Geometry; Ioana Dumitriu, University of Washington, toward developing “a theory about robust dynamics and Synergistic Interactions between Numerical Linear Algebra about the role of homoclinic bifurcation as a universal and Stochastic Eigenanalysis (Random Matrix Theory); mechanism to describe the way to produce very rich Noureddine El Karoui, University of California Berke- and complex dynamics.” Pujals will receive a cash prize ley, Random Matrices and High-Dimensional Statistics; of US$15,000 and will deliver a lecture at the academy’s Yongtao Guan, Yale University, New Statistical Methods general meeting in 2010. for Massive Spatial, Temporal, and Spatial-Temporal Pro- cesses; Jeffrey Humpherys, Brigham Young University, —From a TWAS announcement Interdisciplinary Mentoring Program in Analysis, Compu- tation, and Theory (IMPACT); Marta Lewicka, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Thin Shells: Problems in Non- Dereich Receives 2009 linear Elasticity and Fluid Dynamics; Fengyan Li, Rensse- Information-Based Complexity laer Polytechnic Institute, Development and Applications of Discontinuous Galerkin Methods; Di Liu, Michigan Young Researcher Award State University, Modeling, Analysis, and Computation of Stochastic Intracellular Reactions; Gregory Lyng, Uni- Steffen Dereich of the Technische Universität Berlin, versity of Wyoming, Behavior of Solutions of Nonlinear Germany, has been awarded the Information-Based Com- Partial Differential Equations; Mauro Maggioni, Duke plexity Award for 2009. The award is given every year for University, Multiscale Methods for High-Dimensional Data, significant contributions to information-based complex- Graphs, and Dynamical Systems; Dionisios Margetis, ity by a young researcher who has not reached his or her University of Maryland, College Park, Thermodynamic thirty-fifth birthday by September 30 of the year of the and Kinetic Approaches for Epitaxial Material Systems; award. The prize consists of US$1,000 and a plaque. Lenhard Ng, Duke University, Symplectic Field Theory The award committee this year consisted of Dirk Nuy- and Low-Dimensional Topology; Jiawang Nie, University ens, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven; Andreas Neuenkirch, of California San Diego, Linear Matrix Inequality Repre- University of Frankfurt; Jan Vybiral, University of Jena; sentations in Optimization; Duane Nykamp, University of Joseph F. Traub, Columbia University; and Henryk Woz- Minnesota, Twin Cities, Toward a Second-Order Descrip- niakowski, Columbia University and University of Warsaw. tion of Neuronal Networks; Jeffrey Schenker, Michigan State University, Analysis of Disordered Systems; Jian —Joseph Traub, Columbia University Song, Rutgers University, Canonical Metrics, Complex Monge-Ampère Equations, and Geometric Flows; Jason Starr, State University of New York, Stony Brook, Higher NSF CAREER Awards Made Rational Connectedness, Higher Fano Manifolds, and Ap- plications; Katrin Wehrheim, Massachusetts Institute of The Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) of the Technology, The Symplectic Category, Floer Field Theory, National Science Foundation (NSF) has honored twenty- and Relations to Gauge Theory and Topology; Anna nine mathematicians in fiscal year 2009 with Faculty Wienhard, Princeton University, Higher Teichmüller Early Career Development (CAREER) awards. The NSF Theory; Lexing Ying, University of Texas, Austin, Fast established the awards to support promising scientists, Algorithms for