For the first time, a woman won the "Nobel" in mathematics – 19/03/2019

American Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck, specialist in partial differential equations, became Tuesday the first woman to win the Abel Award, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters. This award, which had been given to 19 men up to now, is considered the "Nobel" of mathematics.

Karen Uhlenbeck receives the 2019 Abel Award for her fundamental work on geometric badysis and tonnage theory, which has radically transformed the mathematical landscape, "said Hans Munthe-Kaas, chairman of the Abel committee, in a statement.

"His theories have revolutionized our understanding of minimal surfaces, like that formed by soap bubbles, and the general problems of minimization in the higher dimensions, "he added in a statement.

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Your work has been described as one of the most important in mathematics of the 20th century. "I'm a mathematician, mathematicians do exotic research, so it's hard to describe what I'm doing in simple terms, I'm working with derived partial differential equations that are the origin of the need to describe things like Electromagnetism, but who have suffered for a century, changes in which they are used in a much more technical way to observe the forms of space, "she explained in her autobiography.

Their peers not only emphasize their ability, but define it as a source of inspiration. "She was an inspiring teacher and a mentor dedicated to thousands of UT studentsmotivating them to reach great heights in their academic and professional lives. The Abel Prize is the highest honor in mathematicsand that Professor Uhlenbeck deserves, said the president of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Gregory L. Fenves.

For Paul Goldbart, dean of the faculty of natural sciences and professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin, the "revolution" brought about by Uhlenbeck's progress was: "at the intersection of mathematics and physics". "Their pioneering ideas find applications in a variety of fascinating topics, ranging from string theory, which can help explain the nature of reality, to the geometry of space-time"

Uhlenbeck, 76, is a Visiting Research Professor at Princeton University and Associate Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in the United States.

Born in Cleveland, "Techniques and Methods of Global Analysis Developed Currently in the toolbox of each surveyor and badyst"said the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, she earned her PhD from Brandeis, but it was in Chicago in the 1980s, where he became an international reference. In 1983, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. In 1986 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and in 2000 she was awarded the National Medal of Science. In 2007, he received the Steele Award for Fundamental Research Contribution from the American Mathematical Society.

"She has transformed the fabric of the department with her broad vision of mathematics and beyond," said Thomas Chen, chair of the mathematics department at the University of Texas at Austin. "His insatiable curiosity feeds so much his profound mathematical vision as his wisdom in the human sphereThis is evident in his legendary generosity and his attention to mentoring young mathematicians. "

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This is also an activist for gender equality in science and mathematics. She herself recounted the difficulties she had had in her youth to progress in the world of mathematics. "When I was looking for work, they said that people did not hire women. That I should go home and have babies. Thus, the places interested by my husband – the biophysicist Olke C. Uhlenbeck, whom he later separated – did not want to hire me. I remember that they told me that there were nepotism rules and that they could not hire me for that reason. "

Decades later, Karen Uhlenbeck becomes the first woman to receive the Abel Award, created in 2003 by the Norwegian government with the aim of: compensate for the absence of a math Nobel. It takes its name from the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829).

With six million crowns (about $ 700,000), it is one of the most prestigious honors in the world in mathematics next to the Fields Medal, awarded every four years. Unlike the latter, which is only granted to children under 40 years of age, the Abel Award does not have an age limit. The King of Norway, Harald V, will deliver on May 21, at a ceremony held in Oslo.

Source: AFP, EFE and DPA

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