ICM98-CL5: nominations for the Fields Medals and the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize

TO ALL MATHEMATICIANS WHO HAVE PRELIMINARILY PREREGISTERED FOR 
THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MATHEMATICIANS 1998 IN BERLIN

Fifth Circular Letter

Subject: ICM98-CL5: nominations for the Fields Medals and the
                                        Rolf Nevanlinna Prize


Dear colleague:

Two years from now, the second day of ICM98 will have been completed,
and yesterday the opening ceremony will have taken place at the
International Congress Center in Berlin (ICC). Some of the readers
of this mail will have received the highest honor of their life:
a Fields Medal or the Nevanlinna Prize.

Here is some information about the Fields Medals and the Rolf Nevanlinna 
Prize to be presented at the Opening Ceremony of ICM98 on August 18, 1998.

The IMU Executive Comittee has appointed a Fields Medals and a Nevanlinna 
Prize Committee to select the awardees. The members of the committees
will not be announced publically.

An individual can contribute to the selection process by contacting 
the Committee of Mathematics of his or her country. (You can find your 
National Mathematical Committee by looking up the list of IMU member 
countries in the IMU-server (http://elib.zib-berlin.de/IMU) and clicking 
on your own country.)

The National Committees can, if they wish, suggest candidates for the Fields
Medal and Rolf Nevanlinna Prizes to be awarded at the Opening Ceremony  of
the Congress. The names should be sent to the Secretary of IMU: 

International Mathematical Union
Professor Jacob Palis, Secretary
Estrada Dona Castorina, 110, Jardim Botânico
22.460-320 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Brazil
Fax No. (55) (21) 512 4112
e-mail: IMU@IMPA.BR


The nominations must be accompanied by a brief justification, and must reach 
J. Palis not after March 31, 1997. They will be forwarded to the chairman of 
the appropriate Committee.

Below you will find a short history of the two prizes and a list of all
awardees.

Sincerely 

Martin Groetschel



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                   FIELDS MEDALS AND ROLF NEVANLINNA PRIZE

FIELDS MEDALS, A SHORT HISTORY:

At the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, a
resolution was adopted that at each ICM, two gold medals should be awarded
to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement. Professor J. D. Fields, a
Canadian mathematician who was secretary of the 1924 Congress, later donated
funds establishing the medals which were named in his honor. Consistent with
Fields's wish that the awards recognize both existing work and the promise
of future achievement, it was agreed to restrict the medals to
mathematicians not over forty at the year of the Congress. In 1966 it was
agreed that, in light of the great expansion of mathematical research, up to
four medals could be awarded at each Congress.

ROLF NEVANLINNA PRIZE, A SHORT HISTORY:

The University of Helsinki has granted funds to award the Rolf Nevanlinna
Prize in the mathematical aspects of information science to a young
mathematician, to be given at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
The age limit is 40 at the year of the congress. The Nevanlinna Prize 
was first awarded in 1982.

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FIELDS MEDALS AWARDED:

1936
     Lars Valerian AHLFORS
     Jesse DOUGLAS

1950
     Laurent SCHWARTZ
     Atle SELBERG

1954
     Kunihiko KODAIRA
     Jean-Pierre SERRE

1958
     Klaus Friedrich ROTH
     René THOM

1962
     Lars HÖRMANDER
     John Willard MILNOR

1966
     Michael Francis ATIYAH
     Paul Joseph COHEN
     Alexander GROTHENDIECK
     Stephen SMALE

1970
     Alan BAKER
     Heisuke HIRONAKA
     Serge NOVIKOV
     John Griggs THOMPSON

1974
     Enrico BOMBIERI
     David Bryant MUMFORD

1978
     Pierre René DELIGNE
     Charles Louis FEFFERMAN
     Gregori Alexandrovitch MARGULIS
     Daniel G. QUILLEN

1982
     Alain CONNES
     William P. THURSTON
     Shing-Tung YAU

1986
     Simon K. DONALDSON
     Gerd FALTINGS
     Michael H. FREEDMAN

1990
     Vladimir DRINFELD
     Vaughan F.R. JONES
     Shigefumi MORI
     Edward WITTEN

1994
     Jean BOURGAIN
     Pierre-Louis LIONS
     Yean-Christophe YOCCOZ
     Efim ZELMANOV

NEVANLINNA PRIZES AWARDED:

1982
     Robert TARJAN

1986
     Leslie VALIANT

1990
     A.A. RAZBOROV

1994
     Avi WIDGERSON


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