Courant’s Gromov Receives Abel Award from Norwegian King

     Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov, left, the Jay Gould Professor of Mathematics at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, received the 2009 Abel Prize in Mathematics from His Majesty King Harald of Norway, right, at an Oslo award ceremony on May 19.
       Gromov was selected by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters for “his revolutionary contributions to geometry” and cited as “one of the leading mathematicians of our time.” The honor is accompanied by a prize of approximately $950,000. Gromov, also a professor at France’s Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, is the third Courant professor in five years to receive the Abel Prize. Professor Peter Lax was awarded the Abel in 2005 and Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan was selected in 2007. The Abel Prize recognizes contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the mathematical sciences and has been awarded annually since 2003.