Mathematics

Dennis Parnell Sullivan, past Visitor (1967–70, 1975) in the School of Mathematics, is this year’s winner of the prestigious Abel Prize. He is cited by the Abel Committee “for his groundbreaking contributions to topology in its broadest sense, and in particular its algebraic, geometric and dynamical aspects.” 

"Within mathematics, there is a vast and ever expanding web of conjectures, theorems and ideas called the Langlands program. That program links seemingly disconnected subfields. It is such a force that some mathematicians say it—or some aspect of it—belongs in the esteemed ranks of the Millennium Prize Problems, a list of the top open questions in math. Edward Frenkel, a mathematician at the University of California, Berkeley, has even dubbed the Langlands program 'a Grand Unified Theory of Mathematics.'"

"Just as there are von Neumann machines and von Neumann algebras, there are von Neumann anecdotes. Here’s a well-worn favorite. Late in the 1940s, years after he left Hungary for the United States and became a lionized mathematician, John von Neumann met a group of Rand Corporation scientists who wanted to use a computer he’d helped design."

Mimi Dai, von Neumann Fellow in the School of Mathematics and associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, has received the AMS Centennial Fellowship for the 2022–2023 academic year.

Eight past Members in the School of Mathematics and the School of Natural Sciences are among the recipients of the 2022 Sloan Research Fellowships, a landmark honor for early-career scholars. 

George Lusztig, past Distinguished Visiting Professor (1998–99) and past Member (1969–71, 1988, 2020) in the School of Mathematics, has won the 2022 Wolf Prize in Mathematics for his “groundbreaking contributions to representation theory and related areas.” 

Ronen Eldan, current von Neumann Fellow in the School of Mathematics, has received a 2022 Blavatnik Award for his profound contributions to statistics, machine learning, and theoretical computer science.

Camillo De Lellis, IBM von Neumann Professor in the School of Mathematics, has received the 2022 Maryam Mirzakhani Prize in Mathematics from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

"In a paper posted in September, Paul Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study has solved the subconvexity problem, a kind of lighter-weight version of Riemann’s question. The proof is a significant achievement on its own and teases the possibility that even greater discoveries related to prime numbers may be in store."