MathWorld Headline News

Lennart Carleson Receives 2006 Abel Prize

By Eric W. Weisstein

March 23, 2006--The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2006 Abel Prize to Lennart Carleson of Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Carleson received the Abel Prize for his contributions to harmonic analysis and the theory of smooth dynamical systems. King Harald of Norway will present the Abel Prize to Lennart Carleson at an award ceremony in Oslo on May 23.

Carleson has solved many difficult open problems, the most impressive of which concerns Fourier series. His name is also associated with the solution of the so-called corona problem, but he has made many important contributions to several fields of mathematics.

The Abel Committee says in its citation: "Carleson's work has forever altered our view of analysis. Not only did he prove extremely hard theorems, but the methods he introduced to prove them have turned out to be as important as the theorems themselves. His unique style is characterized by geometric insight combined with amazing control of the branching complexities of the proofs."

Lennart Carleson has also held many important posts. In the years 1968-1984, he was director of the Mittag-Leffler Institute, building it up from a rather dormant existence into one of the most popular and active mathematical research institutes in the world. In the years 1978-1982, he was president of the International Mathematical Union and was, among other things, one of the key persons involved in the establishment of the Nevalinna Prize, which goes to young researchers in the field of theoretical computer science.