INSTITUTE PROFESSOR HONORED BY PARIS ACADEMY

Robert Langlands, Herman Weyl Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, has received the Grande Médaille d’Or (Gold Medal) of the Paris Academy of Sciences. The medal is the highest honor presented by the Academy.

Langlands’ major contribution to mathematics has been in the field of automorphic forms, including a program that predicts hidden relations between algebraic geometry and the theory of representations of Lie groups.

The Grande Médaille d’Or is awarded for decisive contributions to a discipline in one of the academy’s two divisions: this year, from disciplines belonging to the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Their Applications. The originality of the work is considered, as well as its international influence and the impact it has had in creating a recognizable school of thought and research.

Langlands, a graduate of the University of British Columbia, received his M. Sc. from the same institution, and his Ph.D. from Yale University. He taught at Princeton University and at Yale before joining the Institute faculty in 1972.