Just a few days after much discussed about Woman’s day, here comes good news. For the very first time, an American woman professor, Karen Uhlenbeck, was awarded the Abel Prize for her outstanding contribution for the field of Geometric Analysis and Guage Theory. “Her fundamental work in these areas has drastically changed the mathematical landscape,” quoted Abel Committee Chairman Hans Munthe-Kaas. “Her theories have transformed our understanding of minimal surfaces, such as those formed by the soap bubbles,” he explained.
Owing to these contributions, Karen was prized with a cheque of $7,03,000.
About Abel Prize
Abel prize is a Norwegian prize awarded annually by King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. It is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829). 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.
About Karen Uhlenbeck
Karan is currently a visiting associate at the Institute for Advanced Study and a visiting senior research scholar at Princeton University
Uhlenbeck is one of the founders of the field of geometric analysis, a discipline that uses differential geometry to study the solutions to differential equations and vice versa. She has also contributed to topological quantum field theory and integrable systems.