Bourgain Wins 2010 Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences

June 17, 2010 

Belgian mathematician Jean Bourgain has been named the 2010 winner of the $1 million Shaw Prize in the Mathematical Sciences. 

Bourgain is being honored for what is described as his "profound work in mathematical analysis and its application to partial differential equations, mathematical physics, combinatorics, number theory, ergodic theory and theoretical computer science." 

Born in 1954, Bourgain received his Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1977. A former faculty member at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Bourgain is now at the Institute for Advanced Study. In 1994 Bourgain won the Fields Medal. In 2000, he connected the Kakeya problem to arithmetic combinatorics. Last year he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Bourgain will receive the prize at a ceremony in Hong Kong in September 2010. The prize was established by Hong Kong film mogul Run Run Shaw in 2004. 

Source: The Shaw Prize Official Website; Science Insider (May 27, 2010)