On June 1, 2003, French mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre was awarded the first Abel Prize “for having played a key role in shaping the modern form of many areas of mathematics, including topology, algebraic geometry and number theory”. Serre, who also received the Fields Medal in 1954, is considered one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century. xx. The Abel Prize is awarded each year to outstanding mathematicians, mostly in the later stages of their careers. So far, 26 researchers have received the award, in 2019 only one of them was a woman – Karen Uhlenbeck.
Both the Fields Medal and the Abel Prize were born in the face of a deficiency: that of the Nobel Prize, which excluded mathematics from the category of disciplines. There has been much speculation as to the reasons for this omission. A common and unfounded rumor has it that Alfred Nobel’s grudge against “mathematicians” stemmed from a spiteful love – or infidelity, depending on the story – involving a mathematician – in most cases Gösta Mittag-Leffler. stories –
More information
The truth is that there is no evidence as to why Nobel excluded mathematics, but in any case mathematicians were quick to close the gap. In 1932, Canadian mathematician John C. Fields created the medal that bears his name. Although, unlike Nobel and Abel, this award aims to boost the careers of researchers early in their careers: it is given not only for “outstanding mathematical achievements” but also for “the promise of future achievements”. Although, paradoxically, some people say that the exact opposite is true.
The Abel took much longer to get going. Since the prize was first proposed by the famous Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie, various political issues delayed the actual creation of the prize by 100 years. Before his death in 1899, after learning of Nobel’s plans to establish an annual prize in 1887, Lie received international support for the establishment of a fund to support the future Abel Prize in mathematics. However, many of these engagements were based on Lie’s personal relationships and disappeared with his death. Years later, Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway, took up the idea, but with the separation of these two countries it faded again.
In 1932, mathematician John C. Fields created the medal that bears his name. Contrary to Nobel and Abel, it is about promoting the careers of researchers in their early stages, although some paradoxically say that the opposite is true
Abel Price.Calle Huth/Studio/Abel Price
Until the year 2000, which was proclaimed the International Year of Mathematics – and which was illustrated in Norway with a logo of Niels Abel, the mathematician for whom the prize is named, who made crucial contributions in many areas of mathematics before he was Died aged 26 – the award was never discussed again. So Abel’s biographer Arild Stubhaug, together with Norwegian academics, business people and politicians, started the project again.
In 2002, coinciding with Abel’s 200th birthday, the prize began its journey and was awarded for the first time in 2003. The Abel Prize is currently funded by the Norwegian government and is worth NOK 7.5 million (EUR 676,500). Anyone can nominate anyone they want for the award – except themselves. The selection of the winning candidate is based on the recommendation of the Abel Prize Committee, which is made up of five internationally renowned mathematicians who rotate every year – although the president is always a Norwegian is. Since 2003, two Spaniards have participated in this committee: María J. Esteban (Paris-Dauphine University, France) and Marta Sanz Sole (Barcelona University).
That year he won the Luis Caffarelli Prize, becoming the first Hispanic to receive the award, despite being from a US institution like 17 of the winners. Four of them are linked to centers in France, two from the UK, two more from Hungary and one in Sweden, one in Russia and one in Israel. So far no individual has been awarded who belongs to institutions in Asia – where there are numerically strong countries like Japan, China or India – nor in Africa or Oceania.
Ágata A. Timón García-Longoria is the coordinator of the ICMAT Mathematical Culture Unit
coffee and theorems is a field dedicated to mathematics and the environment in which it is created, coordinated by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT). In which researchers and members of the center describe the latest advances in this discipline and share points of contact between mathematics and other fields, social and cultural expressions and remember those who shaped its development and knew how to turn coffee into theorems. The name recalls the definition of the Hungarian mathematician Alfred Rényi: “A mathematician is a machine that converts coffee into theorems.”
Edition and coordination: Ágata A. Timón G Longoria (ICMAT).
you can follow THEME on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.