The Abel Prize ( ; no, Abelprisen ) is awarded annually by the
King of Norway to one or more outstanding
mathematicians. It is named after the Norwegian mathematician
Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) and directly modeled after the
Nobel Prizes.
It comes with a monetary award of 7.5 million
Norwegian krone
The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''� ...
r (NOK; increased from 6 million NOK in 2019).
The Abel Prize's history dates back to 1899, when its establishment was proposed by the Norwegian mathematician
Sophus Lie when he learned that
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
's plans for annual prizes
would not include a prize in mathematics. In 1902,
King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway indicated his willingness to finance the creation of a mathematics prize to complement the Nobel Prizes, but the establishment of the prize was prevented by the
dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. It took almost a century before the prize was finally established by the Government of Norway in 2001, and it was specifically intended "to give the mathematicians their own equivalent of a Nobel Prize."
The laureates are selected by the Abel Committee, the members of whom are appointed by the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
The award ceremony takes place in the
aula of the
University of Oslo, where the
Nobel Peace Prize was awarded between 1947 and 1989. The Abel Prize board has also established an Abel symposium, administered by the
Norwegian Mathematical Society
The Norwegian Mathematical Society ( no, Norsk matematisk forening, NMF) is a professional society for mathematicians. It was formed in 1918, with Carl Størmer elected as its first president.
It organizes mathematical contests and the annual Abe ...
, which takes place twice a year.
History
The prize was first proposed in 1899, to be part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of
Niels Henrik Abel's birth in 1802.
The Norwegian mathematician
Sophus Lie proposed establishing an Abel Prize when he learned that
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
's plans for annual prizes would not include a prize in mathematics.
King Oscar II
Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905.
Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...
was willing to finance a mathematics prize in 1902, and the mathematicians
Ludwig Sylow
Peter Ludwig Mejdell Sylow () (12 December 1832 – 7 September 1918) was a Norwegian mathematician who proved foundational results in group theory. Biography
He was born and died in Christiania (now Oslo). Sylow was a son of government minister ...
and
Carl Størmer drew up statutes and rules for the proposed prize. However, Lie's influence decreased after his death, and the
dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway in 1905 ended the first attempt to create an Abel Prize.

After interest in the concept of the prize had risen in 2001, a working group was formed to develop a proposal, which was presented to the Prime Minister of Norway in May. In August 2001, the Norwegian government announced that the prize would be awarded beginning in 2002, the two-hundredth anniversary of Abel's birth.
Atle Selberg received an honorary Abel Prize in 2002, but the first actual Abel Prize was awarded in 2003.
A book series presenting Abel Prize laureates and their research was commenced in 2010. The first three volumes cover the years 2003–2007, 2008–2012, and 2013-2017 respectively.
In 2019,
Karen Uhlenbeck became the first woman to win the Abel Prize, with the award committee citing "the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics.
The
Bernt Michael Holmboe Memorial Prize was created in 2005. Named after Abel's teacher, it promotes excellence in teaching.
Selection criteria and funding
Anyone may submit a nomination for the Abel Prize, although self-nominations are not permitted. The nominee must be alive. If the awardee dies after being declared the winner, the prize will be awarded posthumously.
The
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters declares the winner of the Abel Prize each March after recommendation by the Abel Committee, which consists of five leading mathematicians. Both Norwegians and non-Norwegians may serve on the Committee. They are elected by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and nominated by the
International Mathematical Union and the
European Mathematical Society.
, the committee is chaired by Norwegian mathematician
Hans Munthe-Kaas
Hans Zanna Kaas (noble family), Munthe-Kaas (born 28 March 1961) is a Norway, Norwegian mathematician at the University of Bergen, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway working in the area of computational mathematics in the borderland between ...
(
University of Bergen), and before then was headed by Professor
John Rognes.
Funding
The Norwegian Government gave the prize an initial funding of NOK 200 million (about €21.7 million
) in 2001. Previously, the funding came from the Abel foundation, but today the prize is financed directly through the national budget.
The funding is controlled by the Board, which consists of members elected by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
The current leader of the Board is
John Grue
John Grue (born 1957) is a Norwegian applied mathematician noted for his contributions to marine hydrodynamics and internal waves.
He took the cand.real. degree in 1982 and the dr.philos. degree in 1987, both at the University of Oslo. He stayed a ...
.
Laureates
See also
*
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
*
List of prizes known as the Nobel of a field
Several fields of human cultural and scientific development are not included in the list of Nobel Prizes, because they are neither among the prizes established as part of Alfred Nobel's will nor, in the case of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Econom ...
*
List of mathematics awards
This list of mathematics awards is an index to articles about notable awards for mathematics. The list is organized by the region and country of the organization that sponsors the award, but awards may be open to mathematicians from around the wor ...
References
External links
*
Official website of the Abel Symposium*
{{International mathematical activities
2001 establishments in Norway
Academic awards
Awards established in 2001
International awards
Mathematics awards
Niels Henrik Abel
Norwegian awards