Jean Bourgain

"Lillian Pierce vividly remembers a moment when she was 4 years old, waiting in her family’s station wagon for her older brother and sister to get out of school, magnolia trees forming pink and white arches overhead. Her mother was sitting in the driver’s seat, writing sequences of numbers in blue ink, balancing her checkbook. Pierce was mesmerized."

Jean Bourgain, IBM von Neumann Professor in the School of Mathematics, revered for the exceptional range, depth, and power of his mathematical work, passed away in Bonheiden, Belgium, on December 22, at the age of 64.

Bourgain joined the Institute's...