Monday Morning Math: the Abel Prize

Good morning! The 2024 Abel Prize, named after Niels Abel, was announced last month: it will go to Michel Talagrand for his work in stochastic (random) processes in mathematics and physics. Even though the processes are random, a lot can be predicted and described.

Dr. Talagrand showed his strength in mathematics at a young age. Despite that, and despite his current accomplishments, he shared with the magazine New Scientist:

I’m not able to learn mathematics easily. I have to work. It takes a very long time and I have a terrible memory. I forget things. So I try to work, despite handicaps, and the way I worked was trying to understand really well the simple things. Really, really well, in complete detail. And that turned out to be a successful approach.

And that seems like a good thing for us all.

You can see a half hour video about the mathematics and the mathematician here:

Sources:

• “Why 2024 Abel prize winner Michel Talagrand became a mathematician” by Alex Wilkins
• “Mathematician Who Made Sense of the Universe’s Randomness Wins Math’s Top Prize” by Christian Thorsberg
• The Official Abel Prize site