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Serre Receives Abel Prize | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
[new] This first prize must be a joke ! (none / 0) (#2)
by Anonymous Hero on Thu May 15, 2003 at 12:39:26 PM PDT

The two commissions involved in choosing the first recipient of the Abel prize have succeeded in their apparent goal: making it equal or worse to a Nobel prize in Mathematics, with all the pompous ridicule of these establishment prizes. Jean-Pierre Serre is a great mathematician (although certainly not a great teacher), but what is the point of awarding him a new prize of this amount, after the Fields Medal, and numerous other prizes and awards? Just to be sure that the message is clear: Abel was a young, original mathematician, opening new fields of mathematics and new methods of looking to mathematics, who died ill and young, by lack of support and resources, having a spent considerable energy to get some stable position and recognition. So it is logical to award the prize bearing its name to an established mathematician, retired (with a solid government pension), having several times declared he was no more active in mathematics (he is still editing older mathematician works), living in a developed country, without material difficulties, having worked in central and mainstream fields of mathematics. It was too difficult to find a young or still active mathematician, in a less privileged country, making "different" mathematics? Apparently so. The Fields medal may have demerits. At least the 40 year barrier forces its commission to think a little about who it chooses. It can be seen as a very strong encouragement and trust for the awardee to go on doing valuable mathematics. Let's hope that the second Abel prize will correct this very bad impression.



Serre Receives Abel Prize | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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