László Lovász (; born March 9, 1948) is a Hungarian mathematician and professor emeritus at
Eötvös Loránd University, best known for his work in
combinatorics
Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...
, for which he was awarded the 2021
Abel Prize jointly with
Avi Wigderson. He was the president of the
International Mathematical Union from 2007 to 2010 and the president of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 2014 to 2020.
In
graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
, Lovász's notable contributions include the proofs of
Kneser's conjecture and the
Lovász local lemma, as well as the formulation of the
Erdős–Faber–Lovász conjecture. He is also one of the eponymous authors of the
LLL lattice reduction algorithm.
Early life and education
Lovász was born on March 9, 1948, in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary.
Lovász attended the
Fazekas Mihály Gimnázium in Budapest.
He won three gold medals (1964–1966) and one silver medal (1963) at the
International Mathematical Olympiad.
He also participated in a Hungarian game show about math prodigies.
Paul Erdős helped introduce Lovász to
graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
at a young age.
Lovász received his
Candidate of Sciences (C.Sc.) degree in 1970 at the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
His advisor was
Tibor Gallai.
He received his first doctorate (
Dr.Rer.Nat.) degree from
Eötvös Loránd University in 1971 and his second doctorate (Dr.Math.Sci.) from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1977.
Career
From 1971 to 1975, Lovász worked at Eötvös Loránd University as a research associate.
From 1975 to 1978, he was a
docent at the
University of Szeged, and then served as a professor and the Chair of Geometry there until 1982.
He then returned to Eötvös Loránd University as a professor and the Chair of Computer Science until 1993.
Lovász was a professor at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
from 1993 to 1999, when he moved to the
Microsoft Research Center where he worked as a senior researcher until 2006.
He returned to
Eötvös Loránd University where he was the director of the Mathematical Institute (2006–2011) and a professor in the Department of Computer Science (2006–2018).
He retired in 2018.
Lovász was the president of the
International Mathematical Union between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2010.
In 2014, he was elected the president of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and served until 2020.
Research
In collaboration with Erdős in the 1970s, Lovász developed complementary methods to Erdős's existing
probabilistic graph theory techniques.
This included the
Lovász local lemma, which has become a standard technique for
proving the existence of rare
graphs.
Also in graph theory, Lovász proved
Kneser's conjecture and helped formulate the
Erdős–Faber–Lovász conjecture.
With
Arjen Lenstra and
Hendrik Lenstra in 1982, Lovász developed the
LLL algorithm for approximating points in
lattices and
reducing their bases.
The LLL algorithm has been described by
Gil Kalai as "one of the fundamental algorithms" and has been used in several practical applications, including
polynomial factorization algorithms and
cryptography
Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...
.
Donald Knuth named Lovász as one of his combinatorial heroes in a 2023 interview.
Awards
Lovász was awarded the
Pólya Prize in 1979, the
Fulkerson Prize in 1982 and 2012, the
Brouwer Medal in 1993, the
Wolf Prize and
Knuth Prize in 1999, the
Gödel Prize in 2001, the
John von Neumann Theory Prize in 2006, the in 2007, the
Széchenyi Prize in 2008, and the
Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences in 2010.
In March 2021, he shared the
Abel Prize with
Avi Wigderson from the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
"for their foundational contributions to
theoretical computer science
Theoretical computer science is a subfield of computer science and mathematics that focuses on the Abstraction, abstract and mathematical foundations of computation.
It is difficult to circumscribe the theoretical areas precisely. The Associati ...
and
discrete mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous f ...
, and their leading role in shaping them into central fields of modern mathematics".
In 2017 he received
John von Neumann Professor title from the
Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and the
John von Neumann Computer Society.
[Recipients are listed on Budapest University of Technology and Economics website: ] In 2021, he received Hungary's highest order, the
Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen
The Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen ( Hungarian: ''Magyar Szent István Rend'') is the highest state honour bestowed by the President of Hungary. The order is made up of one grade and is awarded in recognition of the most special merits, outst ...
.
He was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006 and the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...
in 2007, and an honorary member of the
London Mathematical Society
The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...
in 2009. Lovász was elected as a member of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
in 2012. In 2012 he became a fellow 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, ...
.
Personal life
Lovász is married to fellow mathematician
Katalin Vesztergombi, with whom he participated in a program for high school students gifted in mathematics, and has four children.
He is a dual citizen of Hungary and the United States.
Books
*
*
*
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See also
*
Topological combinatorics
*
Lovász conjecture
*
Geometry of numbers
*
Perfect graph theorem
*
Greedoid
In combinatorics, a greedoid is a type of set system. It arises from the notion of the matroid, which was originally introduced by Hassler Whitney, Whitney in 1935 to study planar graphs and was later used by Jack Edmonds, Edmonds to characterize ...
*
Bell number
*
Lovász number
*
Graph limit
*
Lovász local lemma
Notes
External links
Website of László Lovász
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovasz, Laszlo
1948 births
Living people
20th-century American mathematicians
20th-century Hungarian mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
21st-century Hungarian mathematicians
Abel Prize laureates
American computer scientists
Brouwer Medalists
Combinatorialists
European Research Council grantees
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Gödel Prize laureates
Graph theorists
Hungarian computer scientists
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
International Mathematical Olympiad participants
John von Neumann Theory Prize winners
Knuth Prize laureates
Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences
Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Wolf Prize in Mathematics laureates
Yale University faculty
Network scientists
Presidents of the International Mathematical Union