Frederick Gehring Receives 2006 AMS Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement

January 13, 2006

Providence, RI:

Frederick Gehring of the University of Michigan is receiving the 2006 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 is being awarded today at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Antonio, Texas.

"For over fifty years F. W. Gehring has been a leading figure in the theory of quasiconformal mappings," the prize citation states. "Largely because of Gehring's work, the theory of quasiconformal mappings has influenced many other parts of mathematics, including complex dynamics, function theory, partial differential equations, and topology... Gehring's mathematics is characterized by its elegance and simplicity and by its emphasis on deceptively elementary questions which later become surprisingly significant."

A person of incredible energy and enthusiasm, Gehring has trained 29 Ph.D. students, many of whom are now faculty members at research universities, and he has mentored more than 40 postdoctoral fellows.

Frederick Gehring was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and his association with the University of Michigan goes back two generations to his grandfather, John Oren Reed, who was a member of the physics faculty and Dean of College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Gehring earned his doctorate at Cambridge University and taught for three years at Harvard before taking in 1962 a position at the University of Michigan, where he has remained ever since. He has received numerous honors and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1989.

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, the 30,000-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.