2008 Steele Prizes

The 2008 Leroy P. Steele Prizes were awarded at the 114th Annual Meeting of the AMS in San Diego in January 2008. The Steele Prizes were established in 1970 in honor of George David Birkhoff, William Fogg Osgood, and William Caspar Graustein. Osgood was president of the AMS during 1905–1906, and Birkhoff served in that capacity during 1925–1926. The prizes are endowed under the terms of a bequest from Leroy P. Steele. Up to three prizes are awarded each year in the following categories: (1) Lifetime Achievement: for the cumulative influence of the total mathematical work of the recipient, high level of research over a period of time, particular influence on the development of a field, and influence on mathematics through Ph.D. students; (2) Mathematical Exposition: for a book or substantial survey or expository research paper; (3) Seminal Contribution to Research: for a paper, whether recent or not, that has proved to be of fundamental or lasting importance in its field or a model of important research. Each Steele Prize carries a cash award of US$5,000. The Steele Prizes are awarded by the AMS Council acting on the recommendation of a selection committee. For the 2008 prizes the members of the selection committee were: Rodrigo Bañuelos, Enrico Bombieri, Russel Caflisch, Lawrence C. Evans, Lisa C. Jeffrey, Nicholas M. Katz, Julius L. Shaneson, Richard P. Stanley, and David A. Vogan (chair). The list of previous recipients of the Steele Prize may be found on the AMS website at http://www. ams.org/prizes-awards. The 2008 Steele Prizes were awarded to Neil Trudinger for Mathematical Exposition, to Endre Szemerédi for a Seminal Contribution to Research, and to George Lusztig for Lifetime Achievement. The text that follows presents, for each awardee, the selection committee’s citation, a brief biographical sketch, and the awardee’s response upon receiving the prize.