Dennis P. Sullivan Receives 2006 AMS Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement

January 13, 2006

Providence, RI:

Dennis P. Sullivan of the City University of New York and Stony Brook University 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.

Dennis Sullivan has made fundamental contributions to many branches of mathematics, including homotopy theory, dynamical systems, Kleinian groups, and low dimensional topology. The scope of his ideas and influence have been truly remarkable. "Beyond the specific theories he has developed and the problems he has solved ... his uniform vision of mathematics permeates his work and has inspired those around him," the citation states.

Born in 1941 in Port Huron, Michigan, Sullivan received his doctorate from Princeton University in 1966. He was a professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in Paris for many years. Currently he holds joint appointments as a professor of mathematics at Stony Brook University and as the Einstein Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Among his many honors are the AMS Veblen Prize (1971), the Prix Elie Cartan of the French Academy of Sciences (1981), the King Faisal Prize (1994), and the U.S. National Medal of Science (2004).

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.