Leonard Eisenbud Prize for Mathematics and Physics
Photo courtesy of David Eisenbud
About this Prize
This prize was established in 2006 in memory of the mathematical physicist, Leonard Eisenbud (1913-2004), by his son and daughter-in-law, David and Monika Eisenbud. An anonymous benefactor added to the endowment in 2018. Leonard Eisenbud (pictured) was a student of Eugene Wigner. He was particularly known for the book, Nuclear Structure (1958), which he co-authored with Wigner. A friend of Paul Erdos, he once threatened to write a dictionary of "English to Erdos and Erdos to English." He was one of the founders of the Physics Department at SUNY Stony Brook, where he taught from 1957 until his retirement in 1983. In later years he became interested in the foundations of quantum mechanics and in the interaction of physics with culture and politics, teaching courses on the anti-science movement. His son, David, was President of the American Mathematical Society 2003-2004.
The US$5,000 prize will be awarded every three years.
Most Recent Prize: 2023The 2023 Leonard Eisenbud Prize is awarded to Jason P. Miller and Scott Sheffield for works on random two-dimensional geometries, and in particular on Liouville Quantum Gravity.
Prize announcement as seen in the news release.
See previous winnersNext Prize: January 2026
Nomination Period: 1 February - 31 May
Nomination Procedure:
Submit a letter of nomination, complete bibliographic citations for the work being nominated, and a brief citation that might be used in the event that the nomination is successful.