The Abel Prize is an analogue of the Nobel Prize, but only with the difference that mathematicians cannot get the latter. Especially for them in 2002 in Norway, and this award was established. Since 2003, the best mathematicians of our time have been awarded it. This award is named after the famous scientist Niels Abel.
Why was the award created?
N.Kh. Abel made a very serious contribution to the development of mathematical knowledge. He became the founder of the so-called theory of elliptic functions and made a huge contribution to the theory of series. The scientist lived only 26 years. In honor of the bicentenary of his birth, the Norwegian government decided to allocate a decent amount (NOK 200 million) in order to establish the Abel Prize. It was created not only in order to be awarded the merits of outstanding mathematicians. Another of its goals was to popularize mathematics among the younger generation.
Pierre Deligne - 2013 Laureate
Who was awarded this award? In 2013, the Abel Prize was received by the Belgian mathematician Pierre Deligne for his contribution to algebraic geometry, the transformation of number theory, representations and related fields.
Deligne was born in Brussels and graduated from the Brussels Free University. After the researcher defended his doctoral dissertation, he began working at the Institute of Higher Folk Studies.
The most famous of Pierre Deligne's achievements is the proof of Weil’s third hypothesis, for which he is considered one of the strongest mathematicians on the entire planet. In the period from 1970 to 1984, the scientist worked at Princeton University in the United States. In 2006, the King of Belgium granted Deligne Viscount status, making him a nobleman. Now Pierre Deligne has a membership of the French Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of America, as well as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In Russia, Pierre Deligne is treated with special warmth. After all, the scientist instituted the Deligne Prize, which in 2005-2009 could receive young gifted mathematicians. After that, the Dynasty Foundation took up the support of young talents.
2014 Abel Prize: Jacob Sinai
In 2014, a prestigious award was received by the Russian mathematician Jacob Sinai, who is an employee of Princeton University, as well as the Institute of Theoretical Physics named after Landau. The prize committee indicates that Jacob Sinai has achieved significant results in areas such as dynamical systems, mathematical physics, and probability theory. The scientist was born in 1935 in Moscow in a family of biologists. In 1957, he graduated from Moscow State University. Lomonosov. Since 1971 he is a professor at Moscow State University, and also works at the Institute of Theoretical Physics. Landau Jacob Sinai. The Abel Prize was awarded to a scientist at the age of 78. Sinai has published over 250 scientific articles, and has also written several books. Jacob Grigorievich Sinai is now considered one of the leading mathematicians in the world. Many of his works are at the intersection of mathematics and physics.
2015 Laureate - John Forbes Nash
On May 19, 2015, the Abel Prize was awarded to a mathematician named John Forbes Nash. The scientist received the award with Louis Nirenberg. On May 23 of the same year, the scientist died with his wife in a car accident. At that time he was 86 years old. In 1994, John Nash was also awarded the Nobel Prize in the economic field for his work on the so-called non-cooperative games. The Norwegian prize was awarded to the scientist for his contribution to the study of nonlinear differential equations. One of Nash's major accomplishments was a game theory that explored the most optimal strategies. And also one of his greatest discoveries was the theory of equilibrium.
The scientist became widely known among the masses after he became the hero of the film called "Mind Games". His biography attracted screenwriters, as John Nash, as a brilliant mathematician, suffered from schizophrenia. The film shows the scientist’s struggle with the disease.
Unlike John Nash, who liked to work alone, Louis Nirenberg made almost 90% of his achievements together with his colleagues. He achieved great results in the theory of differential equations. Many of the derivatives are named after Nirenberg and his colleagues. Although the Abel Prize in Mathematics was received by Nash and Nirenberg, they never worked together. However, their achievements had a great influence both on each other and on mathematics as a whole.
Andrew Wiles: proof of Fermat's theorem
In 2016, the Abel Prize was received by the English mathematician Andrew Wiles for a successful proof of Fermat's theorem. Now the scientist is already 63 years old. He received his education in Cambridge and Oxford. Wiles was born into the family of an English priest who also worked as a professor of theology at Cambridge University. The mathematician himself worked for 30 years in America, teaching mathematics at Princeton. Wiles now works at Oxford University. Currently, he has about 15 awards for achievements in the field of mathematics. Andrew Wiles was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.