Sir Martin Hairer (born 14 November 1975) is an Austrian-British mathematician working in the field of

stochastic analysis Stochastic calculus is a branch of mathematics that operates on stochastic processes. It allows a consistent theory of integration to be defined for integrals of stochastic processes with respect to stochastic processes. This field was created an ...

, in particular

stochastic partial differential equation Stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) generalize partial differential equations via random force terms and coefficients, in the same way ordinary stochastic differential equations generalize ordinary differential equations. They hav ...

s. He is Professor of Mathematics at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. He previously held appointments at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020 ...

and the

Courant Institute The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU), and is among the most prestigious mathematics schools and mathematical sciences research cente ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. In 2014 he was awarded the

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 h ...

, one of the highest honours a mathematician can achieve. In 2020 he won the 2021

Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics The Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics is an annual award of the Breakthrough Prize series announced in 2013. It is funded by Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg and others. The annual award comes with a cash gift of $3 million. The Breakthrough Pri ...

Early life and education

Hairer was born in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

, Switzerland. He attended the Collège Claparède Geneva where he received his high school diploma in 1994. He entered a school science competition with sound editing software that was developed into Amadeus, and later continued to maintain the software in addition to his academic work; it continued to be widely used . He then attended the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in July 1998, Master of Science in Physics in October 1998 and PhD in Physics under the supervision of Jean-Pierre Eckmann in November 2001.

Research and career

Hairer is active in the field of

s in particular, and in stochastic analysis and stochastic dynamics in general. He has worked on variants of Hörmander's theorem, systematisation of the construction of

Lyapunov functions In the theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), Lyapunov functions, named after Aleksandr Lyapunov, are scalar functions that may be used to prove the stability of an equilibrium of an ODE. Lyapunov functions (also called Lyapunov’s se ...

for stochastic systems, development of a general theory of

ergodicity In mathematics, ergodicity expresses the idea that a point of a moving system, either a dynamical system or a stochastic process, will eventually visit all parts of the space that the system moves in, in a uniform and random sense. This implies tha ...

for non- Markovian systems, multiscale analysis techniques, theory of homogenisation, theory of path sampling and theory of

rough path In stochastic analysis, a rough path is a generalization of the notion of smooth path allowing to construct a robust solution theory for controlled differential equations driven by classically irregular signals, for example a Wiener process. The the ...

s and, in 2014, on his theory of regularity structures. Under the name HairerSoft, he develops

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

software.

Affiliations

* Regius Professor of Mathematics,

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020 ...

(2014–2017) *Member of the scientific steering committee of ETHZ-ITS (2013–2019) *

Institut Henri Poincaré The Henri Poincaré Institute (or IHP for ''Institut Henri Poincaré'') is a mathematics research institute part of Sorbonne University, in association with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). It is located in the 5th arrond ...

, member of scientific steering committee (2012–2020) *

Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (german: Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach) is a center for mathematical research in Oberwolfach, Germany. It was founded by mathematician Wilhelm Süss in 1944. It organizes wee ...

, member of steering committee (2013–2021) *Editor, ''

Probability Theory and Related Fields '' Probability Theory and Related Fields'' is a peer-reviewed mathematics journal published by Springer. Established in 1962, it was originally named ''Zeitschrift für Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie und verwandte Gebiete'', with the English replacing ...

'' *Editor, ''Nonlinear Differential Equations and Applications'' *Editor, ''

Annales Henri Poincaré The ''Annales Henri Poincaré'' (''A Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which collects and publishes original research papers in the field of theoretical and mathematical physics. The emphas ...

'' Ser. B *Editor, ''Electronic Journal of Probability'' *Editor, ''Stochastic Partial Differential Equations: Analysis and Computations'' *Visiting Professor,

Université Paul Sabatier Paul Sabatier University (''Université Paul Sabatier'', UPS, also known as Toulouse III) is a French public university, in the Academy of Toulouse. It is one of the several successor universities of the University of Toulouse. Toulouse III was ...

, Toulouse (December 2006 and February 2014) *Visiting Professor,

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

(July 2009) *Visiting Professor,

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, S ...

, Paris (April 2013) *Member,

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton 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 nin ...

(March – April 2014) *Lipschitz Lectures, Hausdorff Center for Mathematics,

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

(July 2013) *Minerva Lectures,

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 ...

(February 2014) *Euler Lecture,

Zuse Institute Berlin The Zuse Institute Berlin (abbreviated ZIB, or ''Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin'') is a research institute for applied mathematics and computer science on the campus of Freie Universität Berlin in Dahlem, Berlin, Germa ...

(May 2014) *Medallion Lecture,

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts o ...

(July 2014) *Lévy Lecture, Conference on Stochastic Processes and their Applications (July 2014) *Fields Medal lecture,

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 rena ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

(August 2014) *Collingwood Lecture,

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

(February 2015)http://hairer.org/cv.pdf *Bernoulli Lecture,

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(May 2015) *Leonardo da Vinci Lecture,

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

(October 2015) *Kai-Lai Chung Lecture,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

(November 2015) *Michalik Lecture,

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

(December 2015)

Awards and honours

* 2006–2011 Advanced

Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

ship,

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...

(EPSRC) * 2007 – Editors' Choice Award,

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macin ...

* 2008 – Whitehead Prize,

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh Mathematical ...

* 2008 –

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize sche ...

, Leverhulme Trust * 2009 – Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award * 2012 – Leverhulme Research Leadership Award, Leverhulme Trust * 2013 –

Fermat Prize The Fermat prize of mathematical research biennially rewards research works in fields where the contributions of Pierre de Fermat have been decisive: * Statements of variational principles * Foundations of probability and analytic geometry * Numbe ...

Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse ''Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse'' (Toulouse Mathematics Institute; IMT) is a research laboratory of the mathematics community of the Toulouse area in France. It is partially supported by the French public research agency CNRS as unit UMR ...

* 2014 – Consolidator grant,

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

* 2014 – Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014 * 2014 –

Fröhlich Prize The Fröhlich Prize of the London Mathematical Society is awarded in even numbered years in memory of Albrecht Fröhlich. The prize is awarded for original and extremely innovative work in any branch of mathematics. According to the regulations ...

, London Mathematical Society * 2014 –

* 2015 – 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, meeting ...

* 2015 – Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences * 2015 – Member of the

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

* 2015 – Member of the

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 ...

* 2016 – Honorary

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

* 2017 – Foreign member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society o ...

* 2019 – Substantive Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire * 2021 –

* 2022 – King Faisal PrizeKing Faisal Prize 2022
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Personal life

Hairer holds Austrian and British nationality, and speaks French, German and English; he married fellow mathematician Li Xue-Mei in 2003. His father is Ernst Hairer, a mathematician at the University of Geneva.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hairer, Martin 1975 births Living people 20th-century British mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians Academics of the University of Warwick Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom Austrian expatriates in England Austrian expatriates in Switzerland Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Royal Society Fields Medalists Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Probability theorists Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holders University of Geneva alumni Whitehead Prize winners Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina