George Csicsery Receives 2009 JPBM Communications Award

January 6, 2009

Providence, RI---George Csicsery, an independent filmmaker, is receiving the 2009 JPBM Communications Award. Presented annually by the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics, this award recognizes outstanding achievement in communicating about mathematics to nonmathematicians. The JPBM represents the American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The award will be presented on Tuesday, January 6, 2009, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC.

"George Csicsery is an artist who has employed his talents to communicate the beauty and fascination of mathematics and the passion of those who pursue it," the award citation states. "This began with the film N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdős (1993), which has been broadcast in Hungary, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. In 2008 he completed the biographical documentary Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem, and Hard Problems: The Road to the World's Toughest Math Contest, a documentary on the preparations and competition of the US International Mathematical Olympiad team in 2006. Other recent works include Invitation to Discover (2002), made for the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, and porridge pulleys and Pi (2003), a 30-minute piece on mathematicians Hendrik Lenstra and Vaughan Jones which premiered at Téléscience in Montreal, Canada, in November 2003. Through his films, George Csicsery expresses the excitement experienced by mathematically gifted individuals, and he has delighted mathematicians, students, and the public with his intriguing stories told through the media of film."

The full citation for this prize and additional information can be found in the Prize Booklet. Find out more about AMS prizes at http://www.ams.org/prizes-awards.

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Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the American Mathematical Society has more than 32,000 members. The Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.