19/03/2019

Karen Uhlenbeck is the first woman to receive the Abel Prize.

The Abel Prize, one of the most coveted honors in mathematics, has been awarded to a woman for the first time. The laureate is Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck, 76, an American professor emerita at the University of Texas at Austin and a senior visiting researcher at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS).

Uhlenbeck was recognized "for her pioneering achievements in partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrative systems, and for the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics," according to the award announcement.

Chosen by a committee of five internationally renowned mathematicians, Uhlenbeck has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of minimal surfaces, such as the complex shapes of soap bubbles.

“Karen Uhlenbeck receives the 2019 Abel Prize in recognition of her fundamental work in geometric analysis and gauge theory, which has dramatically changed the landscape of mathematics. The theories she has developed have revolutionized our understanding of minimal surfaces, such as those formed by soap bubbles, and other minimization problems in higher dimensions,” declared Hans Munthe-Kaas, head of the judging committee.

Furthermore, Uhlenbeck helped lay a mathematical foundation for techniques used by physicists in quantum field theory to describe interactions between particles and forces. The American scientist's work enabled the creation of a new field of research: geometric analysis.

Established in 2002 to mark the birth anniversary of the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829), the Abel Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research to mathematicians who have made contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the field. The $700,000 prize will be presented by King Harald V at a ceremony on May 21 in Oslo.

Advocating for gender equality in mathematics.

In addition to highlighting the researcher's work, the Norwegian Academy of Sciences emphasized that she is a role model in the fight for gender equality in science and mathematics. Indeed, to win the Abel Prize, Uhlenbeck needed, besides the excellent research she has developed over the last 40 years, a great deal of persistence to face a predominantly male environment. She grew tired of hearing that she should go home and abandon mathematics.

In 1990, the director-general of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, attended Uhlenbeck's plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Kyoto, Japan. On that occasion, she repeated a feat achieved by Emmy Noether, who, 60 years earlier, had received such an honor for the first time.

“This is fantastic news. I attended Karen Uhlenbeck’s plenary lecture at the 1990 ICM, the first given by a woman since 1932. This award does justice to her spectacular scientific career and also serves as a reminder that Mathematics cannot do without the female half of humanity,” declared Viana, who, a year ago, quoted Uhlenbeck in his column in “Folha de S.Paulo” , dedicated on that March 10, 2018, to the importance of the female presence in Mathematics.

Uhlenbeck is one of the founders of The Women and Mathematics Program, created in the 1990s to recruit and empower women in mathematical research at all stages of their careers. She also helped found the Park City Mathematics Institute at the same institution, which trains young researchers and promotes mutual understanding of the interests and challenges in the field.

Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1985), member of the National Academy of Sciences (1986), National Medal of Science (2000), Steele Prize (2007) and member of the American Mathematical Society (2012), Uhlenbeck received the MacArthur Fellowship in 1983.