Lars Valerian Ahlfors: First Fields medalist
The mathematician Lars Valerian Ahlfors was born in Helsinki (Finland) on April 18, 1907. Son of a mechanical engineering professor, he grew up as an orphan, since his mother died during his delivery.
Fascinated by mathematics as a child, he came to understand what it really meant by secretly accessing the books in his father’s library. In 1924, Ahlfors went on to study mathematics at the University of Helsinki. He earned his PhD in 1930 and spent two years visiting important centers in Europe.
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In 1935, he took the position of researcher at Harvard University (USA). The following year he became the first mathematician, alongside American Jesse Douglas, to receive the Fields Medal during the International Congress of Mathematicians, in Oslo, for his work on the Riemann Surfaces.
He went to the University of Helsinki in 1938, but with World War II things got difficult in Finland, and many universities were closed. As he was not eligible for military service, he continued to work on his research during the war, even without access to libraries.
As his family was persecuted by the Nazi regime, he accepted the invitation to a post at the University of Zurich in 1944. When the conflict ended, he returned to Harvard in 1946, where he remained until 1977, when he retired. Mathematics fascinated him until his death, in 1996.
