The American Mathematical Society has announced that University mathematician Elias Stein will receive the 2005 Stefan Bergman Prize for his work in complex analysis.
The Bergman Prize, which includes a cash award of $17,000, honors the memory of the late Stanford mathematician Stefan Bergman, known for his research in several complex variables.
Stein was recognized for his research in real, complex and harmonic analysis, which are advanced forms of calculus.
"Analysis is like the major leagues in calculus," said Mike Breen, a spokesman for the American Mathematical Association.
Fellow mathematicians praised Stein's ability as a writer and teacher to make complicated mathematical concepts understandable to non-experts.
"People are impressed by what are called his expository abilities," Breen said. "Math is no different from other sciences in that people specialize . . . A person [must] explain his specialty to other people who aren't specialists. He is very good at that."
Stein said the prize came as "a pleasant surprise," although he has won numerous awards in the past.
These include the Wolf Prize, one of the highest awards in mathematics, the National Medal of Science, the American Mathematical Society's Steele Prize for Exposition and the Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Two other Princeton mathematicians have won the Bergman Prize in the past, including one of Stein's former Ph.D. students.
"There are a number of other very strong people in the general field [of complex analysis]. It's one of the real great strengths of Princeton University," Stein said.
Stein said he enjoys teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in the mathematics department. He was awarded the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2001.
Although notified about the Bergman Prize in a letter two months ago, Stein says he is still not sure when he will officially receive the award.
"They're usually given at the meetings of the society, but the annual meetings are in January, so my assumption . . . was that I was going to get it at the next January meeting," he said.
Stein was born in Belgium and received his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago. He taught for two years at MIT and then became a professor at the University of Chicago, where whe taught before joining the University's mathematics department in 1963.
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