Henry P. McKean Receives 2007 AMS Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement

January 8, 2007

Providence, RI:

Henry P. McKean of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, has received the 2007 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 was awarded on Saturday, January 6, 2007, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The prize citation honors McKean for "his rich and magnificent mathematical career" and for his work in analysis, which has a strong orientation towards probability theory. McKean is especially well known for his long collaboration with the Japanese probabilist Kiyoshi Ito, in which they made fundamental advances in the subject. After several years during which McKean delved into a variety of topics with probabilistic origins, including the first mathematically sound treatment of American stock options, he became interested in a problem in geometry and wrote a paper that represents a milestone in the development of index theory, a branch of mathematics quite far from McKean's original interests. He also played a central role in the creation of the analytic ideas underpinning understanding of the Korteweg-de Vries equations and related nonlinear evolution equations.

"McKean has had profound influence on his own and succeeding generations of mathematicians," the prize citation states. In addition to the important publications resulting from his collaboration with Ito, McKean has written several books that are "simultaneously erudite and gems of mathematical exposition". The citation continues: "As his long list of students attests, he has also had enormous impact on the careers of people who have been fortunate enough to study under his direction."

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

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

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.