The Royal Dutch Mathematical Society (KWG) has awarded the Brouwer medal 2017 to the American mathematician Kenneth A. Ribet, professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
This prestigious prize, installed in 1970 by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the KWG, is awarded once every three years during the Dutch Mathematical Congress to a mathematician of international renown.
This year the medal has been awarded to Ken Ribet for his contributions to number theory, in particular for the groundbreaking work in which he applies methods of algebraic geometry to number theoretical problems. This work later became of decisive importance for the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
During the Dutch Mathematical Congress on April 11, 2017, Ken Ribet will deliver the Brouwer lecture, aimed at a general mathematical audience, after which he will receive the Brouwer medal.
Professor Ribet is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Sciences. Since 2017 he is president of the American Mathematical Society.
(Contact: Gunther Cornelissen, g.cornelissen@uu.nl)