Shing-Tung Yau and Dennis Sullivan Win Wolf Prize in Mathematics
Two long-time Academy members, professors at Harvard and Stony Brook, will share the prestigious award.
Published February 10, 2010
Harvard University's Shing-Tung Yau and Stony Brook University's Dennis Sullivan, both mathematics professors who have been Academy members for more than 25 years, have been awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize in Mathematics. Shing-Tung Yau was recognized for his "work in geometric analysis that has had a profound and dramatic impact on many areas of geometry and physics," and Dennis Sullivan, who also holds the Albert Einstein Chair in Science at the City University of New York Graduate Center, won for his "innovative contributions to algebraic topology and conformal dynamics."
The Wolf Prize, considered an equivalent of the Nobel Prize and worth $100,000, will be formally awarded in May at the Israeli Knesset by President Shimon Peres and Education Minister and Wolf Foundation Council Chairman Gideon Sa’ar. Wolf prizes are also awarded in agriculture, chemistry, medicine, physics, and the arts.
Since 1978 the Wolf Prize has been awarded 27 times to 253 scientists and artists from 23 countries, for “achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples, irrespective of nationality, race, color, religion, sex or political view,” according to the Wolf Foundation. The Foundation was established by the late German-born inventor, diplomat and philanthropist Dr. Ricardo Wolf, who served as Cuban ambassador to Israel.
See a Jerusalem Post article on all of the 2010 Wolf Prize winners, or read more about the Wolf Prize.