21/05/2019

Karen Uhlenbeck receives the Abel Prize at a ceremony in Oslo.

The Abel Prize, one of the most important honors in Mathematics, was awarded, for the first time, to a woman. American Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck, 76, professor emerita at the University of Texas at Austin and senior visiting researcher at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), received the award from the King of Norway, Harald V, this Tuesday (21).

"Pure Mathematics is a magnificent discipline, and I feel very privileged not only to be a mathematical researcher, but to appreciate the experience and now to be awarded for it," said Uhlenbeck during her acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, which took place at University Aula in Oslo.

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 text. She received US$700,000 in prize money.

Chosen by five internationally renowned mathematicians, Uhlenbeck 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.

Uhlenbeck also 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 made possible the creation of a new field of research: geometric analysis.

Established in 2002, on the birthday of the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829), the Abel Prize is an award given 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.

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. 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 excel in a predominantly male environment.

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 the distinction for the first time.

Uhlenbeck is one of the founders of The Women and Mathematics Program, created in the 1990s to recruit women in mathematical research at all stages of their careers. She also helped found the Park City Mathematics Institute, 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.