The President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Kirsti Strøm Bull, announced the winner of the 2013 Abel Prize at the Academy in Oslo today, 20 March. Pierre Deligne will receive the Abel Prize from His Majesty King Harald at an award ceremony in Oslo on 21 May. The Abel Prize recognizes contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the mathematical sciences and has been awarded annually since 2003. It carries a cash award of NOK 6,000,000 (about EUR 800,000 or USD 1 million).
Deligne is a research mathematician who has excelled in finding connections between various fields of mathematics. His research has led to several important discoveries. One of his most famous contributions was his proof of the Weil conjectures in 1973. This earned him both the Fields Medal and the Crafoord Prize, the latter jointly with Alexandre Grothendieck.
Deligne's brilliant proof of the Weil conjectures made him famous in the mathematical world at an early age. This first achievement was followed by several others that demonstrate the extreme variety as well as the difficulty of the techniques involved and the inventiveness of the methods. He is best known for his work in algebraic geometry and number theory, but he has also made major contributions to several other domains of mathematics.
The Abel Committee says: "Deligne's powerful concepts, ideas, results and methods continue to influence the development of algebraic geometry, as well as mathematics as a whole".
Read more about the prize here:
http://www.abelprize.no/