I. G. Macdonald Receives 2009 AMS Steele Prize for Exposition

January 6, 2009

Providence, RI---I. G. Macdonald, retired from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, is receiving the 2009 AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition. Presented annually by the American Mathematical Society, the Steele Prize is one of the highest distinctions in mathematics. The prize will be awarded on Tuesday, January 6, 2009, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC.

Macdonald is receiving the prize for his book Symmetric Functions and Hall Polynomials (second edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1995). According to the prize citation, this book "gathers a wealth of material related to symmetric functions into a beautifully organized exposition... Until the first edition of Macdonald's book appeared in 1979, the theory of symmetric functions was scattered throughout the literature and very difficult to learn." The book's first edition collected, unified, and expanded a great deal of material that had not previously received an adequate exposition. The second edition of 1995 added a huge amount of new material. "The importance and popularity of Macdonald's book is evidenced by the more than 3600 citations on Google Scholar," the citation states. "Macdonald's book has been and continues to be an invaluable resource to researchers throughout mathematics."

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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