Mathematics People infinitely many positive integers n. This result was refined 2013–2014 AMS Centennial by Bombieri and Davenport, Huxley, Maier, and others. Fellowship Awarded In particular, Maier proved that the preceding equation holds with c =.248… in 1988. Next Goldston, Pintz, and The AMS has awarded its Yıldırım established, in a pair of papers which appeared in Centennial Fellowship 2009 and 2010, that a much stronger result is true. They for 2014–2015 to Kate proved that there is a positive number C such that pn+1−pn< 1/2 2 Juschenko of Northwest- C(log pn) (log log pn) for infinitely many positive integers ern University. The fellow- n. Building on the work of Goldston, Pintz, and Yıldırım, 7 ship carries a stipend of Zhang proved in 2013 that pn+1−pn< 7·10 for infinitely US$85,000, an expense al- many positive integers n. This represents a stunning step lowance of US$8,500, and a forward and brings the twin prime conjecture into view. complimentary Society Zhang’s proof employs many powerful ideas from analytic membership for one year. number theory including the sieve of Goldston, Pintz, and Kate Juschenko was born Yıldırım; the Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem; Weil’s bound in Kiev, Ukraine. She at- for Kloosterman sums; Deligne’s proof of the Riemann tended Kiev National Uni- hypothesis for varieties over finite fields; and the work Photo courtesy of Kate Juschenko. versity for her bachelor’s of Bombieri, Friedlander, and Iwaniec on the distribution Kate Juschenko degree and completed her of primes in arithmetical progressions. It is a landmark Ph.D. at Texas A&M Univer- achievement.” sity in 2011 under the direction of Gilles Pisier. She has Yitang Zhang was born in China in 1955 and studied been an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, mathematics at the University of Beijing. He moved to the Nashville, and a postdoctoral fellow at EPFL, Lausanne. In United States in 1985 and defended his doctoral thesis 2013 she was appointed an assistant professor at North- at Purdue University in 1992. He joined the University western University. of New Hampshire in 1999 and is currently professor Juschenko’s research began in the field of operator of mathematics. He was awarded the 2014 Cole Prize in spaces and operator algebras. In later research she has Number Theory by the AMS and the Rolf Schock Prize in primarily concentrated on amenability of groups and mathematics for 2014. analytic aspects of group theory. Please note: Information about the competition for the About the Prize 2015–2016 AMS Centennial Fellowships will be published The Ostrowski Foundation was created by Alexander in the “Mathematics Opportunities” section of an upcom- Ostrowski, for many years a professor at the University ing issue of the Notices. of Basel. He left his entire estate to the foundation and stipulated that the income should provide a prize for —Allyn Jackson outstanding recent achievements in pure mathematics and the foundations of numerical mathematics. The prize is awarded every other year. Zhang Awarded Ostrowski Prize —From an Ostrowski Foundation announcement Yitang Zhang of the University of New Hampshire has been awarded the 2013 Ostrowski Prize for outstanding Hughes-Oliver to Receive 2014 mathematical achievement. The prize carries a monetary Blackwell-Tapia Prize award of 75,000 Swiss francs (approximately US$85,000). Zhang was honored “for his breakthrough work on Jacqueline M. Hughes-Oliver of North Carolina State small gaps between prime numbers.” The prize citation University has been awarded the 2014 Blackwell-Tapia reads in part: “Let p1,p2,… denote the increasing sequence Prize. She has made important contributions in a number of prime numbers. It follows from the prime number of statistical research areas, including methodological theorem that the average gap between consecutive prime research on prediction and classification, variable and numbers pn+1 and pn is roughly log pn in size. What can be model selection with dimension reduction, design of ex- said about small gaps between consecutive primes? Erd˝os, periments, and spatial modeling. Application areas of her in 1940, was the first to prove that there is a positive num- research include drug discovery, environmental modeling, ber c which is smaller than 1 such that pn+1−pn<c log pn for transportation modeling, engineering manufacturing, JUNE/JULY 2014 NOTICES OF THE AMS 635 Mathematics People genomics, and metabolomics. She has worked passion- and the theory of dynamical systems. His works on scat- ately on the cause of increasing diversity of individuals tering processes in quantum field theory, on the properties working in the statistical and mathematical sciences. of thermal equilibrium and phase transitions, as well as The Blackwell-Tapia Prize is awarded every other year the onset and nature of turbulence in liquids, are classics in honor of the legacy of David H. Blackwell and Richard of modern mathematical physics. Among other things, A. Tapia, two distinguished mathematical scientists who Ruelle is the author of seven books, including Statistical have been inspirations to more than a generation of Mechanics: Rigorous Results (1969). African American, Latino/Latina, and Native American Ruelle received his Ph.D. in 1959 from the Université students and professionals in the mathematical sciences. Libre de Bruxelles. The basis of his Ph.D. thesis was work The prize will be presented at the eighth Blackwell-Tapia done at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Conference, to be held at the Institute for Pure and Applied Zurich under the guidance of Res Jost. After postdoctoral Mathematics (IPAM) in November 2014. stays at the ETH Zurich and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Ruelle was appointed a professor at the —From an IPAM announcement IHES, where he has been working since 1964. Ruelle has received many honors for his research and is a member of five academies. He is also a Fellow of the AMS. Moore Awarded Heineman Prize —From a DPG announcement Gregory W. Moore of Rutgers University has been awarded the 2014 Dannie Heineman Prize in Mathematical Physics for his “eminent contributions to mathematical Levin Awarded Tyler physics with a wide influence in many fields, ranging from Environmental Prize string theory to supersymmetric gauge theory, conformal field theory, condensed matter physics and four-manifold Simon A. Levin of Princeton University has been named theory.” the recipient of the 2014 Tyler Prize “for his research The Heineman Prize is awarded annually in recognition revealing the complexity of and relationships between of outstanding publications in the field of mathematical species and ecosystems.” His work has been fundamental physics. The prize consists of US$10,000 and a certifi- in the crafting of environmental policies and advancing the cate. It was established by the Heineman Foundation for study of complex ecosystems—the myriad relationships Research, Educational, Charitable, and Scientific Purposes, and interactions in nature.” The prize citation reads in Inc., and is administered jointly by the American Physical part: “Levin’s research has led the way to a deeper under- Society and the American Institute of Physics. standing of the interactions among groups of plants and animals living together, to their impact on the environ- —From a Heineman Foundation announcement ment, to the interplay of different ecosystems—forests, oceans, and tidal zones, for example. This research has revealed insights into evolution and the origins of bio- Ruelle Receives Max Planck diversity, leading to improved management of natural Medal resources, like forests and fisheries, as well as broader environmental policies. Fundamentally, Levin’s work David Ruelle of the Institut des Hautes Études Scien- on theoretical ecology—ecology based on mathematical tifiques (IHES) in Bures-sur-Yvette, France, has received modeling—has helped to put environmental research into the 2014 Max Planck Medal of the Deutsche Physika- context and provide a big picture for understanding our lische Gesellschaft (DPG, German Physical Society), the environment.” highest honor of the DPG in Levin received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Uni- theoretical physics. Ruelle was versity of Maryland in 1964. His research interests include honored “for his fundamental modeling of ecological systems; dynamics of populations contributions to relativistic and communities; spatial heterogeneity and problem of quantum field theory, statisti- scale; evolutionary, mathematical, and theoretical ecol- cal mechanics, and the theory ogy; evolution of cooperation; and maintenance of social of dynamical systems with ap- norms. plications to the problem of the onset of turbulence.” The prize is awarded by the international Tyler Prize Ruelle has made fundamen- Executive Committee, with the administrative support of tal and groundbreaking contri- the University of Southern California, to honor exceptional butions to three central areas foresight and dedication in the environmental sciences. of modern theoretical phys- It carries a cash award of US$200,000 and a gold medal. Photo courtesy of IHES. ics: axiomatic quantum field David Ruelle theory, statistical mechanics, —From a Tyler Prize Committee press release 636 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 61, NUMBER 6 Mathematics People broad, and continued contributions to mathematics.” Ac- Balinski Awarded cording to the prize citation, he “has published well over von Neumann Prize 100 refereed publications in the areas of operator theory, nonselfadjoint operator algebras, and C *-algebras, and his Michel L. Balinski of CNRS and École Polytechnique has research in these areas has garnered attention worldwide. been awarded the 2013 John von Neumann Theory Prize, He is also the author of two research monographs and a the highest prize given in the field of operations research real analysis textbook.” He has helped to build a research and management science. The prize citation recognizes his group at Toronto “that is acclaimed for being one of the contributions in linear and nonlinear optimization, integer strongest functional and harmonic analysis groups” in programming, convex polyhedra and combinatorics, and Canada.