Pembroke Supernumerary Fellow receives Steele Prize in Mathematics

NEWS |

Congratulations to Pembroke Supernumerary fellow, Professor Martin Bridson on being co-awarded the 2020 Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition alongside Andre Haefliger for their 1999 book Metric Spaces of Non-positive Curvature.

Professor Bridson, who currently serves as the president of the Clay Mathematics Institute, was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2016. His research interests lie in the fields of geometry, topology and group theory, and has previously received several awards for his work. The latest of these, the Steele Prize, is awarded annually for a book, substantial survey or expository research paper.

Not only does Professor Bridson’s book cover a large area of modern geometric group theory, but it has also already proven to be a reliable textbook for many graduate students. In addition to this, the book has paved the way for future developments to be made in the field of geometry.

Martin discussed the process of developing the book alongside Andre, commenting: "We were at opposite ends of our careers when we embarked on this project and we came with our own tastes, but it was a joy to explore the mathematics together and to argue until we agreed on how to present each idea. The structure of our profession does not reward the effort of writing a monograph as readily as it rewards theorems presented in discrete papers published promptly. There are good reasons for this, but the enduring value of a book that gives students and colleagues access to a coherent body of ideas is something to be treasured, and we applaud the AMS for recognizing that value through the Steele Prize".

The prize will be awarded to Professor Bridson on Thursday, 16th of January 2020 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Denver, Colorado.