The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the Abel Prize for 2007 to Springer author S.R.Srinivasa Varadhan of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. Varadhan has been honored "for his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviations." The prize amount is around USD 920,000 or EUR 755,000 and will be presented to S.R.Srinivasa Varadhan by HM King Harald on May 22, 2007 in Oslo.
Varadhan's work has great conceptual strength and his ideas have been hugely influential. His theory of large deviations provides a unifying and efficient method for clarifying a rich variety of phenomena arising in complex stochastic systems in fields as diverse as quantum field theory, statistical physics, population dynamics, econometrics and finance, and traffic engineering. It has also greatly expanded our ability to use computers to simulate and analyze the occurrence of rare events.
1n 1979, Varadhan published his seminal book Multidimensional Diffusion Processes, written jointly with MIT mathematician Dan W. Stroock, at Springer. This is Volume 233 of the series Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften, Springer's oldest mathematics series, and has since been reissued in the Classics in Mathematics series. Varadhan has also been a managing editor of the Grundlehren series for over 25 years.
Joachim Heinze, Vice President Publishing, Mathematics & Computer Science, said, "The entire mathematics team at Springer is delighted that Professor Varadhan has received this prestigious prize. We have had the pleasure of working with him for many years, and are honored to be able to collaborate with him."
S.R.Srinivasa Varadhan was born January 2, 1940 in Madras (Chennai), India. He received his B.Sc. honors degree in 1959 and his M.A. the following year, both from Madras University. In 1963 he received his Ph.D. from the Indian Statistical Institute. He is currently Professor of Mathematics and Frank J. Gould Professor of Science at the Courant Institute.
All previous Abel Prize laureates are Springer authors. Last year Lennart Carleson won the prestigious prize, in 2005 Peter D. Lax was singled out, and in 2004 Michael Francis Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer were the winners. Jean-Pierre Serre was the first to receive the honor in 2003. Springer is the world market leader in the field of mathematics with journals such as Inventiones Mathematicae, Mathematische Annalen, Acta Mathematica, Probability Theory and Related Fields, Japanese Journal of Mathematics, Publications mathématiques de l’IHES and many more.
The Abel Prize, awarded annually by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, was founded in 2003. It recognizes contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the mathematical sciences. The award is in memory of the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, who died at the young age of 27. Springer has published a biography of this great mathematical genius in English, German and French versions.