The SASTRA-Ramanujan Award, 2018 was presented on Friday to professors Yifeng Liu of Yale University and Jack Thorne of University of Cambridge for their “spectacular and far-reaching” contributions in the field of arithmetic geometry and number theory.
The joint winners received the award at the inauguration of the 16th international conference on Srinivasa Ramanujan organised by the Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre of the SASTRA Deemed University in Thanjavur on Friday.
The award is given to mathematicians below 32 years for their contributions in areas influenced by the mathematics genius Ramanujan. A seven-member committee that included Prof. Krishnaswami Alladi from the University of Florida chose the awardees for 2018. According to the citation, Prof. Liu had established himself as a leading and influential figure in arithmetic geometry, automorphic representations and number theory.
Path-breaking work
Prof. Thorne was chosen as he had become one of his generation’s leaders in the field of algebraic number theory. Prof. Alladi, while reading out the citations, said the two mathematicians were selected for their path-breaking work. In their brief acceptance speeches, Prof. Liu and Prof. Thorne said it was a great honour for them to receive the awards in Ramanujan’s home town of Kumbakonam.
C. Velan, executive director and chief executive officer, Tata Realty Infopark Limited, Ramanujan IT City, Chennai, exhorted young scholars to contribute as much as possible to the field of mathematics. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, vice-chancellor, SASTRA Deemed University, participated.
