Abel Prize

The Abel Prize

This prize was awarded for the first time in 2003 but it was first suggested over 100 years earlier. 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 awarded every five years. He contacted mathematicians world-wide and gathered wide support. However he had not set up any machinery to carry the idea forward and when he died soon after this, in 1899, nothing further happened. The year 1902 was one in which the centenary of Abel's death was celebrated. A decision was again taken to establish an international Abel Prize but again the plan did not come to fruition. With the bicentenary of Abel's birth approaching, Arild Stubhaug, who had written a major new biography of Abel, made another attempt to set up an Abel Prize. A committee was set up which gathered support both within Norway and also international support. They put their proposals before the Norwegian government in May 2001 and in a speech on the campus of the University of Oslo in August 2001, the Norwegian Prime Minister announced that the Government would establish an Abel Fund.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announces the winners of the Abel prize, the first being awarded in 2003. Below we list the winners and the citation for their prizes:

2003 Jean-Pierre Serre, Collège de France, Paris, France:-

... for playing a key role in shaping the modern form of many parts of mathematics, including topology, algebraic geometry and number theory.

2004 Sir Michael Francis Atiyah, University of Edinburgh and Isadore M Singer, 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.

2005 Peter D Lax, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University:-

... for his groundbreaking contributions to the theory and application of partial differential equations and to the computation of their solutions.

2006 Lennart Carleson, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden:-

... for his profound and seminal contributions to harmonic analysis and the theory of smooth dynamical systems.

Other Web site:

Norwegian Academy Web site

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JOC/EFR March 2008

The URL of this page is:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Societies/AbelPrize.html