Prof. Pierre Deligne has won the 2013 Abel Prize “for seminal contributions to algebraic geometry and for their transformative impact on number theory, representation theory, and related fields.” The Abel Prize, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, recognizes contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the mathematical sciences and has been awarded annually since 2003. It carries a cash award of 6 million NOK (about 800,000 Euro or about US$1 million). (Photo by Cliff Moore)

Prof. Pierre Deligne was born in Belgium in 1944. He is professor emeritus in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Prof. Pierre Deligne came to Princeton in 1984 from the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS), where he was appointed its youngest ever permanent member in 1970. He is a research mathematician who has excelled in finding connections between various fields of mathematics, and whose research has led to several important discoveries. One of his most famous contributions was his proof of the last of the Weil conjectures in 1973. This earned him both the Fields Medal (1978) and the Crafoord Prize (1988), the latter jointly with Alexander Grothendieck. Deligne has also been awarded the Henri Poincaré Prize (1974), the Balzan Prize (2004), and the Wolf Prize (jointly with Prof. Phillip Griffiths and Prof. David Mumford in 2008).

Prof. Pierre Deligne will receive the 2013 Abel Prize from Norway’s King Harald in a ceremony in Oslo on May 21.