Two Faculty Members Named 2007 Shaw Prize Laureates

Two Faculty Members Named 2007 Shaw Prize Laureates

Robert P. Langlands Shares Mathematics Prize and Peter Goldreich Receives Astronomy Prize

Two Faculty members at the Institute for Advanced Study have been awarded the 2007 Shaw Prize. Robert P. Langlands, Hermann Weyl Professor in the School of Mathematics, and Peter Goldreich, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, have been recognized for their achievements in Mathematical Sciences and Astronomy, respectively.

In announcing the Prizes yesterday in Hong Kong, The Shaw Prize Foundation noted that Professor Langlands will share the mathematics prize with Richard Taylor, the Herchel Smith Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University, for their work initiating and developing a grand unifying vision of mathematics that connects prime numbers with symmetry. The Foundation selected Professor Goldreich in recognition of his lifetime achievements in theoretical astrophysics and planetary sciences.

Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute, commented, "We were delighted to hear that the outstanding achievements of Peter Goldreich and Robert Langlands have been recognized by the award of Shaw Prizes this year. Bob's visionary work in mathematics has had a profound and broad influence across many areas of mathematics, extending into theoretical physics, while Peter has made contributions to astrophysics and planetary science that have changed our fundamental understanding of many phenomena, from the rotation of planets to the spiral arms of galaxies. Their work is of lasting value and its influence will be felt for many generations."

The Shaw Prize, which consists of three annual awards of $1 million each in Astronomy, in Life Science and Medicine, and in Mathematical Sciences, was established in 2002 by Sir Run Run Shaw, a Hong Kong film and television producer. The international award, administered and managed through The Shaw Foundation, was created to honor individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or application, and whose work has resulted in a positive and meaningful impact on mankind. The prizes will be presented at ceremonies in Hong Kong on September 11, 2007.

Robert Langlands' profound insights in number theory and representation theory include the formulation of general principles relating automorphic forms and algebraic number theory; the introduction of a general class of L-functions; the construction of a general theory of Eisenstein series; the introduction of techniques for dealing with particular cases of the Artin conjecture (that proved to be of use in the proof of Fermat's theorem); the introduction of endoscopy; and the development of techniques for relating the zeta functions of Shimura varieties to automorphic L-functions. Mathematicians have been working on his conjectures, the Langlands Program, for the last three decades. He has spent some of his time in recent years studying lattice models of statistical physics and the attendant conformal invariance.

A graduate of the University of British Columbia, Professor Langlands received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He taught at both Princeton and Yale Universities before joining the Faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study in 1972. His previous honors include the American Mathematical Society's Cole Prize (1982); the Common Wealth Award (1984); the inaugural National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics (1988); the Wolf Prize in Mathematics (jointly with Andrew Wiles, 1996); the Grande Médaille d'Or (Gold Medal) of the French Academy of Sciences (2000); and the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics (2006).

Among his significant contributions to the field of astrophysics, Peter Goldreich is perhaps best known for providing fundamental theoretical insights for understanding the rotation of planets, the dynamics of planetary rings, pulsars, astrophysical masers, and the spiral arms of galaxies. He has also clarified our understanding of the oscillations of the sun and white dwarfs, as well as turbulence in magnetized fluids. Many of his greatest contributions have been to our understanding of how planets form, migrate and evolve.

Professor Goldreich received his B.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University before joining the faculty of UCLA. He went on to teach at California Institute of Technology, where he was named Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics in 1981. He joined the Faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study in 2003. A recipient of the National Medal of Science (1995), he has also received additional honors, including: Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal (1985) and Gold Medal (1993); American Astronomical Society Dirk Brouwer Award (1986); Kuiper Prize (1992); and Grande Médaille d'Or (Gold Medal) of the French Academy of Sciences (2006).

Previous Shaw Prize Recipients Affiliated with the Institute

Since the inauguration of the Shaw Prize in 2004, one or more of the recipients each year have been affiliated with the Institute. In 2004, the late geometer Shiing-Shen Chern, Member in the Institute's School of Mathematics (1943-46, 1954-55, 1964-65) was recognized for his lifetime of achievement. Also in 2004, P. James Peebles, Member in the School of Natural Sciences (1977-78), received the award in Astrophysics. The 2005 winner, Andrew J. Wiles, is an Institute Trustee and serves as the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, and was a Member (1981-82, 1991-92, 1995-2004) in the School of Mathematics. Last year's prize was awarded to David Mumford of Brown University (jointly with Wu Wentsun), Member in the School of Mathematics (1981-82).

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.