The 2020 Prize in
Mathematical Sciences
Alexander Beilinson
David Kazhdan
for their huge influence on and profound contributions to representation theory, as well as many other areas of mathematics .
The Contribution
The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences 2020 is awarded in equal shares to Alexander Beilinson, David and Mary Winton Green University Professor at the University of Chicago, USA and David Kazhdan, Professor of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, for their huge influence on and profound contributions to representation theory, as well as many other areas of mathematics.
Alexander Beilinson and David Kazhdan are two mathematicians who have made profound contributions to the branch of mathematics known as representation theory, but who are also famous for the fundamental influence they have had on many other areas, such as arithmetic geometry, K-theory, conformal field theory, number theory, algebraic and complex geometry, group theory, and algebra more generally. As well as proving remarkable theorems themselves, they have created conceptual tools that have been essential to many breakthroughs of other mathematicians. Thanks to their work and its exceptionally broad reach, large areas of mathematics are significantly more advanced than they would otherwise have been.
An Essay on the Prize
Alexander Beilinson and David Kazhdan have made profound contributions to the branch of mathematics known as representation theory, and are also famous for the fundamental influence they have had on many other areas, such as arithmetic geometry, K-theory, conformal field theory, number theory, algebraic and complex geometry, group theory, and algebra more generally. As well as proving remarkable theorems themselves, they have created conceptual tools that have been essential to many breakthroughs of other mathematicians. Thanks to their work and its exceptionally broad reach, large areas of mathematics are significantly more advanced than would otherwise have been possible.
About the Laureate
Alexander Beilinson
Alexander Beilinson was born in 1957 in Moscow, Russia and is currently the David and Mary Winton Green University Professor at the University of Chicago, USA. He obtained his PhD in 1988 from the Landau Institute of Theoretical Physics, Russia. He was a Researcher at the Landau Institute (1987–1993) and a Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (1988–1998) before moving to his present position.
21 May 2020 Hong Kong
David Kazhdan
David Kazhdan was born in 1946 in Moscow, Russia and is currently Professor of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He received a diploma in 1967 and earned his PhD under Alexandre Kirillov in 1969 from Moscow State University, Russia. After working at Moscow State University as a Researcher (1969–1975), he emigrated to USA to take up a position at Harvard University, where he was successively Visiting Professor (1975–1977), Professor (1977–2002) and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics (2002–). He then emigrated to Israel and has been Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 2002. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
21 May 2020 Hong Kong
Feature Story
"Zeta values and motivic periods" by Professor Alexander Beilinson and "Symmetry through the Representation Theory" by Professor David Kazhdan