Zoé Maria Chatzidakis (3 April 1955 – 22 January 2025) was a French mathematician who worked as a director of research at the

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

in Paris, France.

Life and career

Chatzidakis was born on 3 April 1955. She earned her Ph.D. in 1984 from

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 ...

, under the supervision of

Angus Macintyre Angus John Macintyre FRS, FRSE (born 1941) is a British mathematician and logician who is a leading figure in model theory, logic, and their applications in algebra, algebraic geometry, and number theory. He is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics ...

, with a dissertation on the model theory of

profinite group In mathematics, a profinite group is a topological group that is in a certain sense assembled from a system of finite groups. The idea of using a profinite group is to provide a "uniform", or "synoptic", view of an entire system of finite groups. ...

s. She was Senior researcher and team director in

Algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

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 ...

in the Département de mathématiques et applications de l'

. Her research concerned

model theory In mathematical logic, model theory is the study of the relationship between theory (mathematical logic), formal theories (a collection of Sentence (mathematical logic), sentences in a formal language expressing statements about a Structure (mat ...

and difference algebra. She was invited to give the

Tarski Lectures The Alfred Tarski Lectures are an annual distinction in mathematical logic and series of lectures held at the University of California, Berkeley. Established in tribute to Alfred Tarski on the fifth anniversary of his death, the award has been give ...

in 2020, though the lectures were postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Chatzidakis died on 22 January 2025 in Paris at the age of 69.

Honours and awards

Chatzidakis was the 2013 winner of the

Leconte Prize The Leconte Prize ( French: ') is a prize created in 1886 by the French Academy of Sciences to recognize important discoveries in mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history or medicine. In recent years the prize has been awarded in the specif ...

, and was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

in 2014. She was named MSRI Chern Professor for Fall 2020.

References

External links

Home page
1955 births 2025 deaths Scientists from Neuilly-sur-Seine Model theorists French women mathematicians 21st-century French women mathematicians Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure {{france-mathematician-stub