Israel M. Gelfand Receives 2005 AMS Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement

Contact: Mike Breen or Annette Emerson
AMS Public Awareness Officers
paoffice@ams.org
Phone: 401-455-4000 or
404-460-6922 (Joint Math Meetings Press Room)

January 6, 2005

Providence, RI:

Israel M. Gelfand of Rutgers University is receiving the 2005 AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Presented annually by the American Mathematical Society, the Steele Prize is one of the highest distinctions in mathematics. The prize will be awarded today at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta, Georgia.

Born in Ukraine in 1913, Professor Gelfand has been a major figure in mathematics for decades and is one of the outstanding mathematicians of our time. He has had a profound influence on many fields of research through his own work and through his interactions with other mathematicians and students. Starting with his development of the theory of normed rings in his thesis in the late 1930s, his work has had a decisive impact across several areas of mathematics, including harmonic analysis, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and partial differential equations. In a 1960 paper he made a crucial observation that led to the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem, a landmark result in mathematics that had many profound and widespread implications and applications. Gelfand has also worked on applied problems in fields ranging from computing to biology.

Gelfand's seminar, which began in Moscow and continues in Piscataway, New Jersey, has long been a training ground for participants and speakers. His educational activities extend to younger mathematicians as well, including a correspondence school in both Russia and the United States as well as many books on elementary mathematics.

Find out more about AMS prizes at http://www.ams.org/prizes-awards.

# # # # #

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the 29,000-member American Mathematical 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. 5