people.qxp 5/8/98 3:47 PM Page 886 Mathematics People anybody in need; where others might slough it off, he is Franklin Institute Awards right there.” In May, the Franklin Institute presented medals to seven Chen Ning Yang of the State University of New York at individuals whose pioneering work in science, engineering, Stony Brook received the Bower Award and Prize for and education made significant contributions to under- Achievement in Science. This is the first year that this standing of the world. In addition to an awards dinner, a $250,000 award was given. The citation for the award to series of lectures and symposia highlighted the work of the Yang reads: “For the formulation of a general field theory honorees. Among those receiving awards were three who which synthesizes the physical laws of nature and provides have made important mathematical contributions. us with an understanding of the fundamental forces of the Joel L. Lebowitz of Rutgers University received the universe. As one of the conceptual masterpieces of the twen- Delmer S. Fahrney Medal “for his dynamic leadership which tieth century explaining the interaction of subatomic par- has advanced the field of statistical mechanics, and for his ticles, his theory has profoundly reshaped the development inspiring humanitarian efforts on behalf of oppressed sci- of physics and modern geometry during the last forty entists throughout the world.” Lebowitz, the George William years. This theoretical model, already ranked alongside the Hill Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Rutgers, is not works of Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein, will surely have only a renowned mathematician and physicist but also a a comparable influence on future generations. These sci- tireless organizer and editor in statistical mechanics. For entific contributions combined with his championing of un- over thirty-five years, his famous Informal Conferences on derstanding between China and the Western world and his Statistical Mechanics, known as the “Lebowitz Meetings”, promotion of science education among the youth in all cor- have attracted top international experts and have been in- ners of the globe reflect the scientific and humanitarian valuable to young people. Lebowitz is the editor-in-chief genius of Franklin himself.” Yang is the Albert Einstein Pro- of the Journal of Statistical Physics. A prolific researcher fessor and director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics in equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, at Stony Brook. He is the codeveloper of the celebrated Lebowitz, together with Elliott Lieb, proved in 1970 the ex- Yang-Mills theory that has had such a profound effect on istence of the thermodynamic limit for Coulomb systems. mathematics and physics. In recent years, he has contributed to our understanding Gerard t’Hooft of the Institute for Theoretical Physics of nonequilibrium systems. Known for his humanitarian at Utrecht University received the Franklin Medal “for his efforts, he has been co-chair of the Committee of Concerned pivotal role in laying the foundation for a unified field the- Scientists (CCS) since 1981. The CCS is an independent or- ory of the fundamental forces in nature.” It is now gener- ganization of over 4,000 American scientists founded in ally believed that there are four fundamental forces in na- 1972 that works on behalf of the human rights of scien- ture: the electromagnetic force, the gravitational force, tists all over the world. The CCS was especially well known and the weak and strong forces in particle physics. t’Hooft for its work with refusenik and dissident scientists in the has proven that gauge theories satisfy a crucial constraint Soviet Union before the fall of Communism. Lebowitz has required for mathematical consistency and that they pro- been a “stalwart” and a “spark plug” for the organization, vide the proper framework for a unified theory of elec- says Dorothy Hirsch, executive director of the CCS. “He tromagnetic and weak forces. works for the downtrodden wherever they may be,” she re- The Bower Award for Business Leadership went to Joan marks. “He is a remarkable person and very sensitive to Ganz Cooney, chairman of the Executive Committee and 886 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 42, NUMBER 8 people.qxp 5/8/98 3:47 PM Page 887 Mathematics People past president of the Children’s Television Workshop, Michael V. Berry, Bristol University, United Kingdom, which produced the series “Square One”, a program about theory of quantum chaos concerning semiclassical limits mathematics for children. This not-for-profit corporation, and statistical behavior of eigenvalues; Ennio de Giorgi, which she founded in 1968, not only has produced the best Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy, nonlinear partial dif- educational television seen by children around the world, ferential equations, functions of bounded variation, and but through licensing agreements for its beloved charac- area minimizing surfaces; and Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan, ters has maintained a steady source of funding for new chil- Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, probability dren’s programming. theory, partial differential equations, and statistical me- The Philadelphia-based Franklin Institute, named in chanics. honor of Benjamin Franklin, was founded in 1824 to pro- mote scientific inquiry and to recognize scientific achieve- —Allyn Jackson ment. The Institute’s Committee on Science and Arts was founded in 1834 and serves as the Institute’s science awards selection committee. Today it considers candidates for nineteen separate medal awards. Academy of Arts and Science —from Franklin Institute news release Election The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced the election of 162 new fellows and 21 foreign honorary National Academy of Science members. Among these were eight individuals who work in the mathematical sciences. Following are their names, Election affiliations, and research areas. David Buchsbaum, Bran- deis University, foundations and applications to commu- On April 25 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) an- tative ring theory of homological algebra; Wendell H. Flem- nounced the election of sixty new members and fifteen for- ing, Brown University, stochastic control, calculus of eign associations in recognition of their distinguished and variations, stochastic differential equations, population continuing achievements in research. This election brings genetics theory; Hillel Furstenberg, Hebrew University of the number of current NAS members to 1,733. Foreign as- Jerusalem, ergodic theory and topological dynamics; Ulf sociates, who number 301, are nonvoting members of the Grenander, Brown University, probability, statistics, op- Academy. erations research and insurance mathematics, pattern the- Among the new members are seven in the mathemati- ory; Henryk Iwaniec, Rutgers University, number theory, cal sciences. Their names, affiliations, and areas of re- especially sieve theory, automorphic forms, and spectral search are: theory; Dusa McDuff, State University of New York at Persi Diaconis, Harvard University, probabilistic num- Stony Brook, groups of diffeomorphisms especially those ber theory, data analysis and the foundations of inference; preserving symplectic or volume forms, global symplectic H. Blaine Lawson, State University of New York at Stony geometry, foliations; John Nash, Princeton University, dif- Brook, minimal surfaces, Riemannian geometry, foliations, ferential geometry, partial differential equations, equilib- several complex variables, mathematical physics, and al- rium analysis in game theory; and Michael S. Waterman, gebraic geometry; Charles S. Peskin, Courant Institute of University of Southern California, ergodic theory, proba- Mathematical Sciences, fluid dynamics, partial differential equations, and applications of mathematics to medicine; bilistic and computational number theory, mathematical Calyampudi R. Rao, Pennsylvania State University, math- biology, combinatorics and finite mathematics, biological ematical statistics, estimation theory, differential geo- science. metric techniques in statistical inference, and asymptotic tests of hypotheses; Richard P. Stanley, Massachusetts —Allyn Jackson Institute of Technology, algebraic combinatorics, devel- opment of unified foundation for combinatorial theory, and interactions between algebra and combinatorics; Daniel W. ONR Young Investigator Stroock, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, proba- bility theory and analysis with emphasis on partial differ- Awards ential equations and statistical mechanics; and David J. Thouless, University of Washington, statistical mechanics, Each year the Young Investigator Program of the Office of especially the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition for the two- Naval Research (ONR) makes awards to promising tenure- dimensional X-Y model, scaling theory for electrons in ran- track faculty who have had their Ph.D.s for five years or dom and quasiperiodic potentials and the quantum Hall less. A Young Investigator Award provides a three-year re- effect. search grant of $75,000 per year, plus equipment start-up Among the foreign associates are three in the math- expenses as appropriate. In most cases, the proposer’s in- ematical sciences; following are their names, affiliations, stitution also pledges to contribute substantial cost-shar- and areas of research. ing. AUGUST 1995 NOTICES OF THE AMS 887 people.qxp 5/8/98 3:47 PM Page 888 Mathematics People Last year ONR received 409 proposals to the program, chusetts Institute of