Robert Langlands, Mathematical Visionary, Wins the Abel Prize

Professor Emeritus Robert P. Langlands, named the winner of the 2018 Abel Prize at a ceremony in Norway this morning, is the progenitor of the “Langlands program,” which explores a deep connection between two pillars of modern mathematics: number theory, which studies arithmetic relationships between numbers, and analysis, which is an advanced form of calculus. The link has far-reaching consequences that mathematicians have used to answer centuries-old questions about the properties of prime numbers.