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22:14, 19-Mar-2019
Abel Prize for maths awarded to woman for first time
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The Abel Prize in mathematics was on Tuesday awarded to Karen Uhlenbeck of the United States for her work on partial differential equations, the first woman to win the award, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said.
"Karen Uhlenbeck receives the Abel Prize 2019 for her fundamental work in geometric analysis and gauge theory, which has dramatically changed the mathematical landscape," said Abel Committee chairman Hans Munthe-Kaas in a statement.
"Her theories have revolutionized our understanding of minimal surfaces, such as those formed by soap bubbles, and more general minimization problems in higher dimensions," he said.
Uhlenbeck, 76, is a visiting senior research scholar at Princeton University, as well as a visiting associate at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), both in the US.
A screenshot shows the announcement of the Abel Prize Laureate 2019 on the Abel Prize's official website Abelprize.no.
A screenshot shows the announcement of the Abel Prize Laureate 2019 on the Abel Prize's official website Abelprize.no.
The Cleveland native "developed tools and methods in global analysis, which are now in the toolbox of every geometer and analyst," the Academy said.
She is also a role model and a strong advocate for gender equality in science and mathematics.
She is the first woman to win the prize, which comes with a check for 6 million kroner (620,000 euros, 703,000 U.S. dollars).
Named after the 19th-century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, the prize was established by the Oslo government in 2002 and first awarded a year later to honor outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics, a discipline not included among the Nobel awards.
Along with the Fields Medal, which is awarded every four years at the Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), it is one of the world's most prestigious maths prizes.
(Cover: A handout photo taken on March 18, 2019, in Princeton, New Jersey, and released on March 19, 2019, by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters / Institute for Advanced Study shows scientist Karen Uhlenbeck. /VCG Photo)
Source(s): AFP