Kannan Soundararajan (born December 27, 1973) is an
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
-born American
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and a professor of mathematics at
Stanford University. Before moving to Stanford in 2006, he was a faculty member at
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
where he pursued his undergraduate studies. His main research interest is in
analytic number theory, particularly in the subfields of
automorphic L-function
In mathematics, an ''L''-function is a meromorphic function on the complex plane, associated to one out of several categories of mathematical objects. An ''L''-series is a Dirichlet series, usually convergent on a half-plane, that may give ri ...
s, and
multiplicative number theory Multiplicative number theory is a subfield of analytic number theory that deals with prime numbers and with factorization and divisors. The focus is usually on developing approximate formulas for counting these objects in various contexts. The pr ...
.
Early life
Soundararajan grew up in
Madras and was a student at
Padma Seshadri High School in Nungambakkam in Madras. In 1989, he attended the prestigious
Research Science Institute. He represented India at the
International Mathematical Olympiad
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...
in 1991 and won a Silver Medal.
Education
Soundararajan joined the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, Ann Arbor, in 1991 for undergraduate studies, and graduated with highest honours in 1995. Soundararajan won the inaugural
Morgan Prize
:''Distinguish from the De Morgan Medal awarded by the London Mathematical Society.''
The Morgan Prize (full name Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student) is an annual award given to an un ...
in 1995 for his work in
analytic number theory while an undergraduate at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, where he later served as professor. He joined
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1995 and did his Ph.D under the guidance of Professor
Peter Sarnak
Peter Clive Sarnak (born 18 December 1953) is a South African-born mathematician with dual South-African and American nationalities. Sarnak has been a member of the permanent faculty of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced St ...
.
Career
After his Ph.D. he received the first five-year fellowship from the American Institute of Mathematics, and held positions at Princeton University, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of Michigan. He moved to Stanford University in 2006 where he is, as of November 2022,
the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Mathematics.
Work
He provided a proof
of a conjecture of
Ron Graham in combinatorial number theory jointly with
Ramachandran Balasubramanian. He made important contributions in settling the arithmetic Quantum Unique Ergodicity conjecture
for
Maass wave forms and
modular forms
In mathematics, a modular form is a (complex) analytic function on the upper half-plane satisfying a certain kind of functional equation with respect to the group action of the modular group, and also satisfying a growth condition. The theory of ...
.
Awards
He received the
Salem Prize in 2003 "for contributions to the area of
Dirichlet L-function
In mathematics, a Dirichlet ''L''-series is a function of the form
:L(s,\chi) = \sum_^\infty \frac.
where \chi is a Dirichlet character and ''s'' a complex variable with real part greater than 1. It is a special case of a Dirichlet series. By ...
s and related character sums". In 2005, he won the $10,000
SASTRA Ramanujan Prize, shared with
Manjul Bhargava
Manjul Bhargava (born 8 August 1974) is a Canadian-American mathematician. He is the Brandon Fradd, Class of 1983, Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, the Stieltjes Professor of Number Theory at Leiden University, and also holds A ...
, awarded by
SASTRA
''Shastra'' (, IAST: , ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The wo ...
in
Thanjavur
Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, for his outstanding contributions to
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Mat ...
. In 2011, he was awarded the Infosys science foundation prize. He was awarded the Ostrowski prize in 2011, shared with lb Madsen and
David Preiss, for a cornucopia of fundamental results in the last five years to go along with his brilliant earlier work.
He gave an
invited talk at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2010, on the topic of "Number Theory". In July 2017, Soundararajan was a plenary lecturer in the Mathematical Congress of the Americas. He was elected to the 2018 class of
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
s of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
.
Kannan Soundararajan was invited as a plenary speaker
of the 2022
International Congress of Mathematicians, scheduled to take place in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, but moved to Helsinki and online because of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
.
Selected publications
*
R. Holowinsky and K. Soundararajan, "Mass equidistribution for Hecke eigenforms,"
arXiv:0809.1636v1*K. Soundararajan, "Nonvanishing of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions at s=1/2
arXiv:math/9902163v2*K. Soundararajan, "Moments of the Riemann zeta function" https://annals.math.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/annals-v170-n2-p17-p.pdf
References
External links
Homepage at Stanford UniversityMaking Waves*
*
Infosys Prize 2011Videos of Kannan Soundararajanin the AV-Portal of the
German National Library of Science and Technology
The German National Library of Science and Technology (german: Technische Informationsbibliothek), abbreviated TIB, is the national library of the Federal Republic of Germany for all fields of engineering, technology, and the natural sciences. I ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soundararajan, Kannan
1973 births
Living people
Indian emigrants to the United States
Indian number theorists
University of Michigan alumni
Stanford University Department of Mathematics faculty
21st-century American mathematicians
Recipients of the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize
International Mathematical Olympiad participants
University of Michigan faculty
21st-century Indian mathematicians
Simons Investigator
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society