Lindenstrauss wins Fields Medal, math world's top honor

Mathematics professor Elon Lindenstrauss received a Fields Medal — one of the most prestigious awards in the field of mathematics — at the International Congress of Mathematicians, which concluded today in Hyderabad, India. The medal is awarded at the quadrennial conference to between two and four mathematicians under 40 years old.

Ergodic theory, which focuses on the properties and statistical behavior of mathematical models in which points move over time, is Lindenstrauss’s primary field of research. The scholar was honored for applying insights from this field to other branches of mathematics, such as number theory.

“[Lindenstrauss] has made foundational contributions in ergodic theory,” mathematics professor Peter Sarnak said. “He has demonstrated the power of his theory by applying it to [other specific systems], leading him to major advances on long-standing problems in number theory and the theory of modular forms.”

Also at the conference, mathematics professor Ingrid Daubechies was elected president of the International Mathematical Union and will serve in that position from 2011 – 2014. She is the first woman elected to this office.

Zhiren Wang GS, who is working toward his Ph.D. under Lindenstrauss's guidance, said in an e-mail that his adviser succeeds in identifying what lies at the core of mathematical problems. “He is often able to combine tools from several subfields of mathematics that are usually not considered to be quite related to each other, to approach the same problem from different directions and finally crack it,” Wang added.

Lindenstrauss arrived at Princeton in 2004 after holding positions at the Institute for Advanced Study, Stanford University and New York University. In September, he will join the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and will work concurrently as a visiting research collaborator at Princeton.

In addition to his mathematical insight, Lindenstrauss is also a helpful teacher, Wang said. “As an advisor, Prof. Lindenstrauss is great, always ready to offer guidance and help. He is very nice and friendly and truly cares about his students,” he explained.

The Fields was a recognition by the broader mathematical community of the professor’s research prowess.

“[Lindenstrauss] is a very deep thinker who seeks to get to the bottom of central problems by working on them for long periods — often years — and developing powerful and novel techniques as needed,” Sarnak said. “This approach, coupled with his immense mathematical talent, has led him to a number of spectacular breakthroughs.”

This year’s three other winners — Ngô Bao Châu, Cédric Villani and Stanislav Smirnov — have also been members of the Institute for Advanced Study, the famed research center located two miles west of Fine Hall, where the University's math department resides.

Lindenstrauss could not be immediately reached for comment.

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“It is quite remarkable to be chosen to get the Fields Prize from this extraordinary pool of talent,” Lindenstrauss said in a University statement. “I have spent many years in Princeton at various stages of my career, and think that the combination of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University and the School of Mathematics at the IAS (Institute for Advanced Study) in close proximity makes it a wonderful place to do mathematics -- possibly the best place there is.”