Frans Oort (born 17 July 1935) is a Dutch mathematician who specializes in

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

Career

Oort studied from 1952 to 1958 at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

, where he graduated with a thesis on

elliptic curve In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If ...

s. He received his doctorate in 1961 in Leiden from and Jaap Murre with thesis ''Reducible and Multiple Algebraic Curves'', but had previously studied under

Jean-Pierre Serre Jean-Pierre Serre (; born 15 September 1926) is a French mathematician who has made contributions to algebraic topology, algebraic geometry, and algebraic number theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954, the Wolf Prize in 2000 and the ina ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Aldo Andreotti Aldo Andreotti (15 March 1924 – 21 February 1980) was an Italian mathematician who worked on algebraic geometry, on the Several complex variables, theory of functions of several complex variables and on partial differential operators. Notably h ...

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

. Oort was from 1961 at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, where he became a professor in 1967. In 1977, until his retirement in 2000, he was a professor at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

. He was a visiting scholar at several academic institutions, including

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(1966/67) and

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

(1972/73). In 2008 he was the Eilenberg Professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. His doctoral students include

Bas Edixhoven Sebastiaan Johan Edixhoven (12 March 1962 – 16 January 2022) was a Dutch mathematician who worked in arithmetic geometry. He was a professor at University of Rennes 1 and Leiden University. Education Bas Edixhoven was born on 12 March 1962 i ...

Michiel Hazewinkel Michiel Hazewinkel (born 22 June 1943) is a Dutch mathematician, and Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science and the University of Amsterdam, particularly known for his 1978 book ''Formal groups and a ...

Aise Johan de Jong Aise Johan de Jong (born 30 January 1966) is a Dutch mathematician born in Belgium. He currently is a professor of mathematics at Columbia University. His research interests include arithmetic geometry and algebraic geometry. Education De Jong a ...

Hendrik Lenstra Hendrik Willem Lenstra Jr. (born 16 April 1949, Zaandam) is a Dutch mathematician. Biography Lenstra received his doctorate from the University of Amsterdam in 1977 and became a professor there in 1978. In 1987 he was appointed to the faculty of ...

and Joseph Steenbrink.

Research

Oort's research deals with, among other topics,

abelian varieties In mathematics, particularly in algebraic geometry, complex analysis and algebraic number theory, an abelian variety is a projective algebraic variety that is also an algebraic group, i.e., has a group law that can be defined by regular function ...

and their

modules Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a sy ...

. In 1994, he formulated what is now known as the André–Oort conjecture (generalizing a conjecture made in 1989 by

Yves André Yves André (born December 11, 1959) is a French mathematician, specializing in arithmetic geometry. Biography André received his doctorate in 1984 from Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI) with thesis advisor Daniel Bertrand and thesis ...

). In 2000 Oort proved a conjecture made by Grothendieck in 1970.

Awards and honors

In 1962, Oort made a short contribution ''Multiple algebraic curves'' at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, but was not an invited speaker. In 2011 he was elected a member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

. In July 2013, he gave a talk at the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Personal life

Oort married and later divorced author (1936–2020).

Selected publications

* ''Commutative group schemes'', Springer 1966; * as editor: ''Algebraic Geometry'', Oslo 1970, Wolters-Noordhoff 1972 * with Ke-Zheng Li
''Moduli of supersingular abelian varieties''
Springer 1998 * as editor with Steenbrink and van der Geer: '' Arithmetic algebraic geometry '', Birkhäuser 1991; * as editor with Carel Faber and Gerard van der Geer
''Moduli of abelian varieties''
Birkhäuser 2001 * * with Ching-Li Chai:

References

External links

Homepage in Utrecht
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oort, Frans 20th-century Dutch mathematicians 21st-century Dutch mathematicians Algebraic geometers Leiden University alumni University of Amsterdam faculty Utrecht University faculty Members of Academia Europaea 1935 births Living people