https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00799-7
Two mathematicians who used randomness to cast new light on the certainties of mathematics will share the 2020 Abel Prize — one of the field’s most prestigious awards.
Israeli Hillel Furstenberg and Russian-American Gregory Margulis won “for pioneering the use of methods from probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics”, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced on 18 March. Each of them bridged gaps between diverse areas of maths, solving problems that had seemed beyond reach.
Furstenberg said that he reacted with "total disbelief" when he learnt he had won. "I had known about the prestige of the Abel Prize and knew the list of former laureates,” he told an interviewer during the announcement. “I simply felt that these are people of a certain league, and I was not in that league.” He added that, early on, he did not foresee the impact that his ideas were going to have. “Like any mathematician, I follow my nose and look for what seems to be very interesting."
The Abel Prize is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–29) and was established in 2003. The two winners will share 7.5 million Norwegian kroner, or about US$ 625,000.
Congrats to them! I always love it when people can find creative links between two branches of mathematics which at first sight seem unrelated to one another. This is especially true when they're taking methods from an "applied" branch of mathematics (like probability), and using them to solve problems in "pure" fields (like number theory or abstract algebra), which is exactly what they've done here .
As for the prize, 7.5 million sounded like rather an impressive figure... until I noticed it was in Norwegian kroner . Still, $625,000 is a considerable sum, and I hope they enjoy it!
Two mathematicians who used randomness to cast new light on the certainties of mathematics will share the 2020 Abel Prize — one of the field’s most prestigious awards.
Israeli Hillel Furstenberg and Russian-American Gregory Margulis won “for pioneering the use of methods from probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics”, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced on 18 March. Each of them bridged gaps between diverse areas of maths, solving problems that had seemed beyond reach.
Furstenberg said that he reacted with "total disbelief" when he learnt he had won. "I had known about the prestige of the Abel Prize and knew the list of former laureates,” he told an interviewer during the announcement. “I simply felt that these are people of a certain league, and I was not in that league.” He added that, early on, he did not foresee the impact that his ideas were going to have. “Like any mathematician, I follow my nose and look for what seems to be very interesting."
The Abel Prize is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–29) and was established in 2003. The two winners will share 7.5 million Norwegian kroner, or about US$ 625,000.
Congrats to them! I always love it when people can find creative links between two branches of mathematics which at first sight seem unrelated to one another. This is especially true when they're taking methods from an "applied" branch of mathematics (like probability), and using them to solve problems in "pure" fields (like number theory or abstract algebra), which is exactly what they've done here .
As for the prize, 7.5 million sounded like rather an impressive figure... until I noticed it was in Norwegian kroner . Still, $625,000 is a considerable sum, and I hope they enjoy it!
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