Jean Bourgain

Jean Bourgain, IBM von Neumann Professor in the School of Mathematics, joined the Institute Faculty in 1994. Bourgain was awarded a Fields Medal for work that touches on several central topics of mathematical analysis—the geometry of Banach Spaces, convexity in high dimensions, harmonic analysis, ergodic theory, and nonlinear partial differential equations from mathematical physics. His work has solved longstanding problems, such as Mahler’s conjecture and the lambda-p set problem, and has had important consequences in theoretical computer science, group expansion, spectral gaps, and the theory of exponential sums.

Mathematics

Randomness and Pseudorandomness

Avi Wigderson

The Institute Letter Summer 2009

Computational Intractability and Pseudorandomness

The areas of computational intractability and pseudorandomness have been among the most exciting scientific disciplines in the past decades, with remarkable achievements, challenges, and deep...

Mathematics

Searching for Randomness

Jean Bourgain

Although the concept of randomness is ubiquitous, it turns out to be difficult to generate a truly random sequence of events. The need for "pseudorandomness" in various parts of modern science, ranging from numerical simulation to cryptography, has...

Mathematics

Hot Topic: Arithmetic Combinatorics

The Institute Letter Summer 2008

During the first term of 2007–08, School of Mathematics Professor Jean Bourgain and Member Van Vu of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, ran a program on arithmetic combinatorics. The Members in residence for the program ranged from Endre...