Professor Gerd Faltings, winner of the prize in science, is the Director at the Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn. He has made groundbreaking contributions to algebraic geometry and number theory. His work combines ingenuity, vision and technical power. He has introduced stunning new tools and techniques which are now constantly used in modern mathematics.

Faltings’ deep insights into the p-adic cohomology of algebraic varieties have been crucial to modern developments in number theory. His work on moduli spaces of abelian varieties has had great influence on arithmetic algebraic geometry. He has introduced new geometric ideas and techniques in the theory of Diophantine approximation, leading to his proof of Lang’s conjecture on rational points of abelian varieties and to a far-reaching generalization of the subspace theorem. Professor Faltings has also made important contributions to the theory of vector bundles on algebraic curves with his proof of the Verlinde formula.

Peter Scholze 是德国(Germany)数学家, 主要的工作领域是算术代数几何(arithmetic Algebraic geometry).

Peter Scholze 非常年轻, 他 1987 年 12 月 11 日出生在德国萨克森州(Free State of Saxony)的首府城市德累斯顿(Dresden). Peter Scholze 入读的是座落在 Berlin-Friedrichshain 的一所侧重于数学与自然科学的语言学校 Heinrich-Hertz-Gymnasium.

2004 年, Peter Scholze 第一次成为德国 IMO 国家队的队员. 当年他没解出第三题, 第六题也没有完整解答, 得分是 31, 获得一枚银牌. 第二年, 他再次披挂上阵, 发挥出色, 得满分 42. 接下来, 他又分别在 2006 年, 2007 年斩获两枚金牌.

Peter Scholze 完成本科和研究生的学习, 可谓神速. 他只用  3  semesters 完成学士, 2 semesters 得到硕士. 于是, Peter Scholze 就引起了大家的注意. 随后, 在 Bonn 大学,  在 Michael Rapoport 的指导下, 做 cohomology of Shimura varieties 和 Langlands program 相关的工作. 他在 2012 年得到博士, 论文是关于 Perfectoid spaces–该理论解决了 weight-monodromy conjecture 的一个特殊情形, 也在 p-adic Hodge theory 有重要应用.

Peter Scholze 获得博士之后不久, 25 岁那年, 成为 bonn 大学 Hausdorff 数学中心的教授. 他是德国最年轻的教授.

Friedrich Hirzebruch passed away at the age of $$84$$ on  May$$27$$, $$2012$$.

Hirzebruch was born on  October$$17$$, $$1927$$ in Germany, and a leading figure in his generation.  他被认为是德国战后最重要的数学家。

For his manifold achievements Friedrich Hirzebruch received a number of awards and prizes. Among others, the Grand Merit Cross with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Wolf Prize for Mathematics, the Seki Takakazu Prize, the Lomonossov Gold Medal, the Albert Einstein Medal, and the Georg Cantor Medal of the Deutsche Mathematikervereinigung. He held honorary doctorates from over 14 universities. He was member of a number of Academies of Science and of the Order pour le mérite.

“With Friedrich Hirzebruch, mathematics has lost one of his truly great personalites. He was a wonderful human being and an eminent researcher whose contributions have shaped the entire field”, said Peter Teichner, managing director of the Max Planck Institut for Mathematics in Bonn. “Our institute, which he founded, will always remain his institute, too.”