A math professor from the University of Utah elected to the Royal Society of London

SALT LAKE CITY – Christopher Hacon, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of Utah, was elected to the Royal Society of London.

Born in London, Hacon is one of 50 prominent scientists elected a member of the Royal Society, with 10 foreign members, in 2019.

The Royal Society, founded in 1660, is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. The company has appointed some 1,600 international members and members, including some 80 Nobel laureates.

"Of course, it is a great honor to be elected to the Royal Society and I am very happy and excited about the positive spin-offs that result for my research and my department," Hacon said in a statement.

Hacon holds the McMinn Presidential Endowment Chair in the United States.

According to the biography page of the Royal Society, "Christopher Hacon is a mathematician specializing in the field of algebraic geometry, which is a branch of mathematics that studies the geometric properties of sets defined by polynomial equations. With his co-authors, Hacon has proven many fundamental results on the geometry of higher dimensional algebraic varieties, including the famous result on the finite generation of canonical rings. "

In a press release, Royal Society President Venkatraman Ramakrishnan said: "During the long history of the Royal Society, our community has remained a constant thread and substance from which our goal has been realized : use science for the benefit of humanity. "

Ramakrishnan added, "It is with great honor that I welcome them as members of the Royal Society."

More recently, Hacon has received the 2018 Breakthrough Prize, created in 2012 by the founders of Google, Facebook and the 23andMe personal genomics company.

The award also recognizes Hacon's work in algebraic geometry. The award, shared with James McKernan of the University of California at San Diego, included a prize of $ 3 million.

Hacon also is awarded the 2016 EH Moore Research Paper Award; 2015 Distinguished Scientific and Creative Research Award from U.; the 2011 Antonio Feltrinelli Prize in Mechanical Mathematics and their Applications, the 2009 Frank Nelson Cole Award in Algebra and the 2007 Clay Research Award.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Mathematical Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hacon and the other newly elected members will be officially admitted to the Society in July, when the Charter Book and the Obligation of the Members of the Royal Society are signed.

The University of Utah has other links with the Royal Society of London.

Ramakrishnan, its current president, is a 2009 Nobel laureate and has taught at the U. From 1995 to 1999. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 2003.

Simon Tavaré, who taught at the University from 1978 to 1981, and from 1984 to 1989, is director of the UK Cancer Research Institute, Cancer Research UK. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 2011.

Philip Maini, director of the Wolfson Center for Mathematical Biology at Oxford University, taught at the University from 1988 to 1990. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 2015.

John Knox was a leader in the field of gas chromatography and began working with liquid chromatography after a sabbatical fellowship at the U in 1964. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1984. He died in 2018.

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