Richard Schoen Announced as the Winner of the 2017 Lobachevsky Medal and Prize

The news was made public during a press conference on August 29th.

Chairman of the International Jury, KFU Professor Marat Arslanov shared his impressions, “All the world knew about this contest – universities of USA, UK, Norway, Germany, Czechia, Israel, Russia, etc. This is evidenced by a relatively large number of applications received. As a result, we left 13 nominees, of whom 9 were Russian nationals. Some of the candidates were discarded because their works were submitted not in accordance with the rules. We had to choose one winner – the most deserving of the most deserving. The process was very tense but objective. 8 of the 14 Jury members voted personally, and others cast votes in absentia. All opinions were considered. I and the other members of the Jury are all content with the results of our efforts”.

Vice-Rector Danis Nurgaliev noted the significance of this event for the University. “This is the third century in a row when Kazan University gives out the Lobachevsky prize for contributions to geometry”, said he while thanking Rector Ilshat Gafurov and President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov for making this possible. He added that all the applicants were worthy of the award.

Academician Sergey Matveev added to this, “The organization of the Jury’s work was impeccable. All the contestants were at the highest level. The majority of applicants, including the winner, work in 3D topology. Richard Schoen received this award for a theorem which concludes a big series of research in 3D manifolds”.

The medal will be coined at Goznak from silver with gold coating. The prize of 75,000 USD will be transferred to Richard Schoen’s account. As for the ceremony, it is planned for December 1st, the official celebration of Nikolai Lobachevsky’s 225th birthday. Dr. Schoen will give a speech.

In other news, it was announced that KFU plans to introduce the new Lobachevsky Prize for Youth and give it exclusively to young Russian mathematicians.

The winner, Professor Richard Schoen, is a specialist in differential geometry. He proved the positive energy theorem in general relativity, obtained a complete solution to the Yamabe problem on compact manifolds, and has contributed to the regularity theory of minimal surfaces and harmonic maps. His candidacy for the prize was proposed by Fernando Coda Marques.

Kazan University was represented by two applicants – Professor Marat Arslanov and Professor Semyon Nasyrov.

Learn more about the Lobachevsky Medal and Prize here.