News Release

AMS Prizes Presented at Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore

For More Information, Please Contact: Allyn Jackson, (401) 455-4109, (401) 331-3842 (fax), axj@ams.org

For immediate release

Providence, RI--- At a prize session held on January 8, 1998 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore, the American Mathematical Society presented a number of prizes and awards.

Citation for Public Service: Liang-Shin Hahn and Arnold E. Ross

Liang-Shin Hahn of the University of New Mexico and Arnold E. Ross of Ohio State University each received a 1998 Citation for Public Service from the American Mathematical Society. This citation is presented annually for notable contributions to the mathematics profession through public service.

Professor Hahn is being honored for carrying forward and developing the New Mexico High School Mathematics Contest and for exposition and popularization of mathematics attractive to and suitable for potential candidates for the contest and others with similar intellectual interests.

Professor Ross is being honored for inspiring generations of young people through the summer mathematics programs he created and has continued to run for nearly 40 years.

Distinguished Public Service Award: Kenneth C. Millett

Kenneth C. Millett of the University of California, Santa Barbara, received the 1998 Award for Public Service from the American Mathematical Society. This award is presented every two years to a research mathematician who has made a distinguished contribution to the mathematics profession through public service during the preceding five years.

Professor Millett is being honored for his work devoted to underrepresented minority students in the mathematical sciences. Professor Millett founded the UCSB Achievement Program and directed the mathematics component of the Summer Academic Research Internship and the Summer Institute in Mathematics and Science at UCSB.

Birkhoff Prize: Paul H. Rabinowitz

Paul H. Rabinowitz of the University of Wisconsin, Madison received the 1998 George David Birkhoff Prize in Applied Mathematics. Established in 1967, the Birkhoff Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to applied mathematics in the highest and broadest sense. It is presented jointly by the AMS and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Professor Rabinowitz is being honored for his deep influence on the field of nonlinear analysis. The prize citation states: "Rabinowitz is a powerful mathematician who combines abstract mathematics with concrete applications to problems arising in various fields."

Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement: Nathan Jacobson

Nathan Jacobson of Yale University received the 1998 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the American Mathematical Society. This prize recognizes the cumulative influence of total mathematical work, high level of research over a period of time, particular influence on the development of a field, and influence on mathematics through Ph.D. students.

Professor Jacobson is being honored for his many contributions to research, teaching, exposition, and the mathematical profession. Few mathematicians have been as productive over such a long career or have had as much influence on the profession as has Professor Jacobson. In research, he is primarily known for his contributions to ring theory and to the theory of Lie algebras and Jordan algebras. He served as President of the AMS in 1971-1972.

Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution: Herbert Wilf and Doron Zeilberger

Herbert Wilf of the University of Pennsylvania and Doron Zeilberger of Temple University received the 1998 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research from the American Mathematical Society. This prize recognizes a paper, whether recent or not, that has proved to be of fundamental or lasting importance in its field, or has served as a model of important research.

Professors Wilf and Zeilberger are being honored for their joint paper, "Rational functions certify combinatorial identities," Journal of the American Mathematical Society, 3 (1990) 147-158. "New mathematical ideas can have an impact on experts in a field, on people outside the field, and on how the field develops after the idea has been introduced," the prize citation says. "The remarkably simple idea of the work of Wilf and Zeilberger has already changed a part of mathematics for the experts, for the high-level users outside the area, and the area itself." Their work has been translated into computer packages that have greatly simplified certain kinds of calculations.

Steele Prize for Exposition: Joseph Silverman

Joseph Silverman of Brown University received the 1998 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition from the American Mathematical Society. This prize recognizes a book, substantial survey, or expository-research paper that has had an important influence in mathematics.

Professor Silverman is being honored for his books, The Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves, Graduate Texts in Mathematics 106, Springer-Verlag, New; York-Berlin, 1986; and Advanced Topics in the Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves, Graduate Texts in Mathematics 151, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1994. The prize citation states: "Silverman's volumes have become standard references on one of the most exciting areas of algebraic geometry and number theory."

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the 30,000-member AMS 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 everyday life.