The Abel Prize for 2013

This year marks the eleventh time the Abel Prize has been awarded. In keeping with tradition, the award ceremony was held at the Aula (the Hall) of the University of Oslo. The prize of NOK 6 million is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Pierre Deligne received the prize “for seminal contributions to algebraic geometry and for their transformative impact on number theory, representation theory, and related fields.”

The Abel Committee stated that “Deligne’s powerful concepts, ideas, results and methods continue to influence the development of algebraic geometry, as well as mathematics as a whole.”

Prior to the ceremony, the King granted the Abel Laureate an audience at the Royal Palace.

The Abel Banquet

After the ceremony, in the evening, the traditional banquet honouring the Abel Laureate was held at Akershus Fortress. The banquet was hosted by Minister of Education and Research Kristin Halvorsen, and King Harald was in attendance.

On 22 May Pierre Deligne gave his prize lecture at the University of Oslo. He was also the guest of honour when Anne-Mari Jensen received the Bernt Michael Holmboe Memorial Prize at the Oslo Cathedral School.

The Abel Prize

The prize is named in honour of the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, who, during his short life, developed several theories instrumental to the development of mathematics as a field.

Abel died of tuberculosis in 1829, a few months shy of his 27th birthday.