The Abel Prize, its laureates and their achievements

The Abel Prize is an analogue of the Nobel Prize, but only with the only difference that the latter can not receive mathematics. Especially for them in 2002 in Norway, and this award was established. Since 2003, it has been awarded the best mathematicians of our time. This award is named in honor of the famous scientist Niels Abel.

Why was the prize created?

N.H. Abel made a very serious contribution to the development of mathematical knowledge. He became the founder of the so-called theory of elliptic functions and made a huge contribution to the theory of series. The scientist lived only 26 years. In honor of the bicentennial from the day of its birth, the Norwegian government decided to allocate a decent amount (NOK 200 million) for the establishment of the Abel Prize. It was created not only to reward the outstanding mathematicians. Another goal was to popularize mathematics among the younger generation.

Pierre Deligne - winner of 2013

Who was awarded this award? In 2013, the Abel Prize was awarded to the Belgian mathematician Pierre Deligne for his contribution to algebraic geometry, the transformation of number theory, representations and related fields.

Deligne was born in Brussels and graduated from the Free University of Brussels. After the researcher defended his doctoral thesis, he began working at the Institute of Higher People's Studies.

The most famous of the achievements of Pierre Deligne is the proof of Weyl's third hypothesis, for which he is considered one of the strongest mathematicians on the whole planet. Between 1970 and 1984, he worked at Princeton University in the United States. In 2006, the King of Belgium granted Deligne the status of Viscount, making him a nobleman. Now Pierre Deligne has a membership of the French Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of America, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In Russia, Pierre Deligne is treated with particular warmth. After all, scientists were awarded the Deligne Prize, which in 2005-2009 could receive young gifted mathematicians. After that, the Dynasty foundation took up the support of young talents.

The Abel Prize for 2014: Jacob Sinai

In 2014, a prestigious award was received by the Russian mathematician Yakov Sinai, who is an associate of Princeton University, as well as the Institute of Theoretical Physics. Landau. The Prize Committee indicates that Yakov Sinai has achieved significant results in such areas as dynamic systems, mathematical physics and probability theory. The scientist was born in 1935 in Moscow to a family of biologists. In 1957 he graduated from the Moscow State University. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Since 1971, he is a professor at Moscow State University, and also works at the Institute of Theoretical Physics. Landau Yakov Sinai. The Abel Prize was awarded to the scientist at the age of 78 years. Sinai has published more than 250 scientific articles, and also wrote several books. Yakov Grigorievich Sinai is now considered one of the leading mathematicians in the whole world. A lot of his works are at the intersection of mathematics and physics.

Laureate of 2015 - John Forbes Nash

May 19, 2015 the Abel Prize was awarded to a mathematician named John Forbes Nash. The scientist received the award along with Luis Nirenberg. On May 23, the same year, the scientist died with his wife in a car accident. At that time he was 86 years old. In 1994, John Nash was also awarded the Nobel Prize in the economic field for his work on so-called non-cooperative games. The Norwegian Prize was awarded to the scientist for his contribution to the study of nonlinear differential equations. One of Nash's main achievements was the theory of games, which studies the most optimal strategies. And also one of his greatest discoveries was the theory of equilibrium.

The scientist gained wide popularity among the masses after he became the hero of the film called "The Mind Games." His biography attracted writers, since John Nash, being a brilliant mathematician, suffered from schizophrenia. The film shows the struggle of the scientist with the disease.

Unlike John Nash, who loved to work alone, Luis Nirenberg made almost 90% of his achievements together with his colleagues. He achieved great results in the theory of differential equations. Many of the derivatives are named after Nirenberg and his colleagues. Despite the fact that the Abel Prize in Mathematics was received by Nash and Nirenberg, they never worked together. However, their achievements had a great influence both on each other, and on mathematics in general.

Andrew Wiles: proof of Fermat's theorem

In 2016, the Abel Prize was awarded to the English mathematician Andrew Wiles for a successful proof of Fermat's theorem. Now the scientist is already 63 years old. He received his education in Cambridge and Oxford. Wiles was born into the family of an English priest who also worked as a professor of theology at Cambridge University. The mathematician himself worked for 30 years in America, teaching mathematics in Princeton. Now Wiles works at Oxford University. At the present moment he has about 15 prizes for achievements in the field of mathematics. Andrew Wiles was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.