Roland Speicher (born 12 June 1960) is a German mathematician, known for his work on
free probability theory Free probability is a mathematical theory that studies non-commutative random variables. The "freeness" or free independence property is the analogue of the classical notion of independence, and it is connected with free products.
This theory was i ...
. He is a professor at the
Saarland University
Saarland University (german: Universität des Saarlandes, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in si ...
.
After winning the 1979 German national competition
Jugend forscht Jugend Forscht (literal translation: “Youth researches”) is a German youth science competition. With more than 10,000 participants annually, it is the biggest youth science and technology competition in Europe. It was initiated in 1965 by Henri ...
in the field of mathematics and computer science, Speicher studied physics and mathematics at the Universities of Saarbrücken, Freiburg and Heidelberg. He received in 1989 his doctorate from
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
under the supervision of Wilhelm Freiherr von Waldenfels with thesis ''Quantenstochastische Prozesse auf der Cuntz-Algebra'' (Quantum Stochastic Processes on the Cuntz Algebra). From 2000 to 2010 Speicher was a professor at
Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...
. Since 2010 he is at the University of the Saarland.
His research deals with
free probability Free probability is a mathematical theory that studies non-commutative random variables. The "freeness" or free independence property is the analogue of the classical notion of independence, and it is connected with free products.
This theory was in ...
(with application to random matrices, statistical mechanics and operator algebras) and their combinatorial aspects and with
operator algebra
In functional analysis, a branch of mathematics, an operator algebra is an algebra of continuous linear operators on a topological vector space, with the multiplication given by the composition of mappings.
The results obtained in the study of ...
s.
In 2012, Speicher received the
Jeffery–Williams Prize The Jeffery–Williams Prize is a mathematics award presented annually by the Canadian Mathematical Society. The award is presented to individuals in recognition of outstanding contributions to mathematical research. The first award was presen ...
. He also received the Research Excellence Award of the President of Ontario. In 2014, he was an invited speaker with talk ''Free Probability and Random Matrices''
at the
ICM in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
.
Speicher is married and has four children.
Selected publications
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References
External links
*https://rolandspeicher.com/ - personal blog about free probability
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Speicher, Roland
20th-century German mathematicians
21st-century German mathematicians
Probability theorists
Heidelberg University alumni
Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston
Academic staff of Saarland University
1960 births
Living people