U.S. mathematician Karen Uhlenbeck becomes the first woman to win the Abel Prize

U.S mathematician Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck has been awarded the 2019 Abel Prize, considered one of the most prestigious prizes in the field of mathematics. Uhlenbeck’s contribution to geometry, mathematical physics, and topology led her to become the first woman to win the 6-million-kroner (US$702,500) prize. The Abel Prize, also referred by some as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, is awarded to mathematicians who have made extraordinary contributions in their field.

The Abel committee lauded Uhlenbeck for her “pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems.” She is widely known for her work with partial differential equations, but her decades-long career has stretched across multiple disciplines including physics, geometry, and quantum theory. Her most notable contributions include the discovery of the bubbling phenomenon, which was part of her influential study with mathematician Jonathan Sacks on ‘minimal surfaces.’ Among her many remarkable achievements are a Mac Arthur Fellowship (1983) and a National Medal of Science (2000). She has inspired “some of the most dramatic advances in mathematics in the last 40 years,” says Hans Munthe-Kaas, chairperson of the Abel committee.

Uhlenbeck is a professor emerita at the University of Texas and a visiting senior research scholar at Princeton University. She is a self-confessed “legitimate rebellion” since childhood and was amongst the few women who worked in her field despite facing discouragement from some of her colleagues. She is an advocate for women in mathematics, and founded the Women and Mathematics programme at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to encourage and empower female mathematicians.

In 1990, she became the second woman to give a plenary speech at the International Congress of Mathematicians, where for decades men have majorly been the speakers; the last time a woman spoke at the event was in 1932. Caroline Series, a mathematician at the University of Warwick has called Uhlenback “an enormous role model and mentor for many generations of women.”

Uhlenbeck will be presented with the Abel Prize by his Majesty King Harold V at an award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

Congratulations to Karen Uhlenbeck!

Related reading:

• Mathematicians John Nash and Louis Nirenberg win the 2015 Abel Prize
•  Questions Robert Langlands asked at age 30 win him Abel Prize at age 81
• Andrew Wiles solves 300-year-old math equation, wins the Abel Prize

Reference:

• Soap-bubble pioneer is first woman to win prestigious maths prize
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