Kenneth Chang in the New York Times:
A German mathematician, Gerd Faltings, is this year’s winner of the Abel Prize, an honor that is regarded as mathematics’ version of the Nobel Prize. Dr. Faltings, 71, is best known for solving a problem that had puzzled mathematicians for decades. He showed that a class of equations possessed a finite number of solutions.
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, which manages the Abel Prize, announced the honor on Thursday morning.
“He’s a towering figure in number theory,” said Helge Holden, chairman of the prize committee.
Number theory is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties and relationships of integers.
“His ideas and results have reshaped the field, settling major longstanding conjectures while also establishing new frameworks that have guided decades of subsequent work,” the prize citation said.
More here.
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