Richard Hamilton Receives 2009 AMS Steele Prize for a Seminal Contribution to Research

January 6, 2009

Providence, RI---Richard Hamilton of Columbia University is receiving the 2009 AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for a Seminal Contribution to Research. 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.

Hamilton is honored for his paper "Three-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature," J. Differential Geom. 17 (1982), 255-306. "The cited paper of Richard Hamilton introduced a profoundly original approach to the construction of natural metrics on manifolds," the prize citation states. "This approach is the Ricci flow, which is an evolution equation in the space of Riemannian metrics on a manifold." Hamilton's paper laid the basis for his further work on understanding the Ricci flow and how it could be used to solve two of the outstanding problems in mathematics in the twentieth century, the Poincare Conjecture and Thurston's Geometrization Conjecture. Hamilton's work paved the way for Grigory Perelman's brilliant solution to these two conjectures, which brought worldwide acclaim to both mathematicians. The prize citation also notes that Hamilton's work has had a wide range of applications beyond these two conjectures. The citation concludes, "The cited paper truly fits the definition of a seminal contribution; that is, `containing or contributing the seeds of later development.'"

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.

Contact:
AMS Public Awareness Office
American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street
Providence, RI 02904
Email: paoffice at ams dot org
Telephone: 401-455-4000
Fax: 401-331-3842

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the American Mathematical Society has more than 32,000 members. The 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.