Is Karen Uhlenbeck the First Woman to Win the Abel Prize?

[gleem]

Professor Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin is the first women to receive the Abel prize, the mathematics equivalent to the Nobel prize. You would think it was about time.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/kare...ometry-and-analysis-wins-abel-prize-20190319/

 

[berkeman]

Fun article, thanks!

 

[robphy]

She retired from UT Austin in 2014.

2000


She's now a visitor at IAS Princeton https://www.ias.edu/scholars/karen-uhlenbeck

2016


2018

 

[StatGuy2000]

Professor Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin is the first women to receive the Abel prize, the mathematics equivalent to the Nobel prize. You would think it was about time.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/kare...ometry-and-analysis-wins-abel-prize-20190319/

I've always thought of the Fields medal as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel prize, but I digress.

At any rate, a well deserved award for Professor Uhlenbeck, an outstanding mathematician.

 

[robphy]

I've always thought of the Fields medal as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel prize, but I digress.

Maybe that characterization of the Abel Prize is based on its history and geography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Prize
The Abel Prize is a Norwegian prize awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians...

The Abel Prize's history dates back to 1899, when its establishment was proposed by the Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie when he learned that Alfred Nobel's plans for annual prizes would not include a prize in mathematics. In 1902 King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway indicated his willingness to finance a mathematics prize to complement the Nobel Prizes, but the establishment of the prize was prevented by the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. It took almost a century before the prize was finally established by the Government of Norway in 2001, and it was specifically intended "to give the mathematicians their own equivalent of a Nobel Prize."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years.
...
The Fields Medal has for a long time been regarded as the most prestigious award in the field of mathematics and is often described as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics. Unlike the Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal is only awarded every four years. The Fields Medal also has an age limit: a recipient must be under age 40 on 1 January of the year in which the medal is awarded.

But, yes, regardless of its comparison to the Nobel Prize, the Abel Prize is outstanding.