Royal Dutch Mathematical Society Awards Tri-annual Brouwer Prize to Phillip A. Griffiths
The Royal Dutch Mathematical Society has announced that Phillip A. Griffiths, Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, has been selected to receive the 2008 Brouwer Prize. According to the award citation, Professor Griffiths was chosen for "his work in complex algebraic geometry and (complex) differential geometry. He combines, in a modern incarnation, the style and tradition of Henri Poincaré and Elie Cartan. His research of algebraic cycles and variation of Hodge structures has opened new roads, which were followed by many after him. Griffiths is senior author of several books which have raised generations of geometers of the last thirty years."
Every three years, the society chooses an important field in mathematics and an expert committee then selects a lecturer from that field. This year, the field was geometry, and the committee selected Griffiths, who will present the Brouwer Lecture on July 14 in Amsterdam. The lecture is part of the 5th European Congress of Mathematics (5ECM). The Brouwer Lecture will be preceded by a laudatio by prominent Dutch mathematician Eduard Looijenga, and followed by the presentation of the golden Brouwer Medal.
Griffiths and his collaborators initiated the theory of variation of Hodge structure, which has come to play a central role in many aspects of algebraic geometry and the uses of that subject in modern theoretical physics. A former Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (1991-2003), Griffiths leads the Science Initiative Group (SIG) whose primary goal is to create and nurture world-class science and scientific talent in the developing world.
Founded in 1778, the Royal Dutch Mathematical Society, or Wiskundig Genootschap, is the oldest of all present-day national mathematical societies. L.E.J. Brouwer was perhaps the Netherlands' most distinguished mathematician. Following his death in 1966, the Royal Dutch Mathematical Society and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences established the Brouwer Prize. The Brouwer Lecture is delivered during the annual Dutch Mathematical Congress, which, this year, is being held as part of the 5th European Congress of Mathematics. The meeting will take place in Amsterdam from July 14 to 18.
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.