Jean Bourgain and Terence Tao Named 2012 Crafoord Laureates in Mathematics
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that it has awarded the 2012 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics to Jean Bourgain, IBM von Neumann Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute, and Terence Tao, former visitor (2005) in the School and currently Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles. In announcing the prize, the Academy cited their brilliant and groundbreaking work in harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, ergodic theory, number theory, combinatorics, functional analysis and theoretical computer science.
“Their deep mathematical erudition and exceptional problem-solving ability have enabled them to discover many new and fruitful connections and to make fundamental contributions to current research in several branches of mathematics,” the citation reads. “On their own and jointly with others, Jean Bourgain and Terence Tao have made important contributions to many fields of mathematics— from number theory to the theory of non-linear waves. The majority of their most fundamental results are in the field of mathematical analysis. They have developed and used the toolbox of analysis in groundbreaking and surprising ways. Their ability to change perspective and view problems from new angles has led to many remarkable insights, attracting a great deal of attention among researchers worldwide.”
Bourgain, who joined the Faculty of the Institute in 1994, is the winner of the 2010 Shaw Prize in Mathematics. Among his many other honors are the Fields Medal (1994), the Empain Prize (1983), the A. De Leeuw Damry–Bourlart Prize (1985), the Langevin Prize (1985), the Élie Cartan Prize (1990), the Ostrowski Prize (1991) and the Vernadsky Golden Medal (2010). Bourgain is a Foreign Member of the Académie des Sciences in France, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Academia Europaea.
The Crafoord Prize promotes international basic research in disciplines that complement those for which the Nobel Prizes are awarded. These include astronomy and mathematics, geosciences and biosciences. There is also an occasional prize awarded in polyarthritis (also know as rheumatoid arthritis, the disease from which the prize founder suffered) when a special committee recognizes major advances in the field. The Crafoord Prize will be presented in Stockholm in the spring, in the presence of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Previous winners of the Crafoord Prize in Mathematics on the Institute Faculty are Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences (2008) and Pierre Deligne, Professor Emeritus in the School of Mathematics (1988).
About the Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.
The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.