Günter Matthias Ziegler (born 19 May 1963) is a German mathematician who has been working as president of the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

since 2018. Ziegler is known for his research in

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

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

, and particularly on the combinatorics of polytopes.

Biography

Ziegler studied at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

from 1981 to 1984, and went on to receive his Ph.D. from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, in 1987, under the supervision of

Anders Björner Anders Björner (born 17 December 1947) is a Swedish professor of mathematics, in the Department of Mathematics at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He received his Ph.D. from Stockholm University in 1979, under Bernt Lindströ ...

. After postdoctoral positions at the

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg () is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively young campus university with a ...

and the

Mittag-Leffler Institute The Mittag-Leffler Institute (Swedish: Institut Mittag-Leffler) is a mathematical research institute in Sweden. Located in Djursholm, a suburb of Stockholm, it invites scholars to participate in half-year programs in specialized mathematical su ...

, he received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1992 from

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

], which he joined as a professor in 1995. Ziegler has since joined the faculty of the

Awards and honors

Ziegler was awarded the one million

Deutschmark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically ca ...

by the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...

(DFG) in 1994 and the 1.5 million Deutschmark Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Germany's highest research honor, by the DFG in 2001. He was awarded the 2005

Gauss Lectureship The Gauss Lectureship (''Gauß-Vorlesung'') is an annually awarded mathematical distinction, named in honor of Carl Friedrich Gauss. It was established in 2001 by the German Mathematical Society with a series of lectures for a broad audience. Eac ...

by the

German Mathematical Society The German Mathematical Society (, DMV) is the main professional society of German mathematicians and represents German mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). It was founded in ...

. In 2006 the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

awarded Ziegler and Florian Pfender its highest honor for mathematical exposition, the

Chauvenet Prize The Chauvenet Prize is an annual award given by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article on a mathematical topic. It consists of a prize of $1,000 and a certificate. The Chauvenet Prize was the ...

, for their paper on

kissing number In geometry, the kissing number of a mathematical space is defined as the greatest number of non-overlapping unit spheres that can be arranged in that space such that they each touch a common unit sphere. For a given sphere packing (arrangement o ...

s.January 2006 prizes and awards

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, ...

. In 2006 Ziegler became president of the

for a two-year term. In 2009, the

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 ...

(ERC) awarded Ziegler one of the ERC Advanced Grants in the amount of 1.85 million

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s. In 2012 he became a fellow of the

. In 2013 Ziegler was granted the Hector Science Award and became a member of the Hector Fellow Academy. Since 2016 Ziegler has been chair of the Berlin Mathematical School. In 2018 he received the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition (jointly with

Martin Aigner Martin Aigner (28 February 1942 – 11 October 2023) was an Austrian mathematician and professor at Freie Universität Berlin from 1974 with interests in combinatorial mathematics and graph theory. Biography Martin Aigner was born on 28 Februar ...

) for ''Proofs from THE BOOK''.

Other activities

* Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2020) *

German Institute for Economic Research The German Institute for Economic Research (), or, more commonly DIWBerlin, is a economic research institute in Germany, involved in economic research and policy advice. According to Repec, it is among the top-10 percent of non-profit economic ...

(DIW), member of the board of trustees (since 2018) * Genshagener Kreis, member of the board of trustees (since 2018) *

Einstein Foundation Berlin The Einstein Foundation Berlin is a foundation based in Berlin, Germany "that aims to promote science and research of top international caliber in Berlin and to establish the city as a centre of scientific excellence." It does this through various ...

, Member of the Council *

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (Max Delbrück Center) in Berlin is one of the 18 institutions that make up the Helmholtz Association. It combines basic molecular biology research with clinical research ...

(MDC), member of the supervisory board * Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), member of the board of trustees (since 2018) *

Klaus Tschira Foundation The Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS) is a German foundation established by the physicist Klaus Tschira in 1995 as a non-profit organization. Its primary objective is to support projects in the natural and computer sciences as well as mathematics. The ...

, member of the board of trustees (since 2017) *

Urania Urania ( ; ; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy and astrology. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, her attributes being the globe and compass. T ...

, Member of the BoardBoard

Selected publications

*; 6th ed, 2018. * . *

References

External links