Abel Prize facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Abel Prize
Abel Prize logo
Presented by	Government of Norway
Country	Norway
First awarded	2003
Currently held by	Gerd Faltings (2026)

The Abel Prize ( AH-bəl; Norwegian: Abelprisen) is a very important award given every year to one or more amazing mathematicians. It's like the "Nobel Prize for mathematics" because it celebrates outstanding scientific work in this field. The King of Norway presents this prize.

It is named after a brilliant Norwegian mathematician named Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829). The prize includes a special medal and a large sum of money, about 7.5 million Norwegian kroner (which is around US$873,000 in 2026).

The idea for the Abel Prize started way back in 1899. A Norwegian mathematician, Sophus Lie, suggested it. He found out that Alfred Nobel's famous prizes did not include one for mathematics. So, he wanted to create a special prize just for mathematicians.

In 1902, King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway was ready to help fund this new mathematics prize. However, some political changes in 1905, when Norway and Sweden separated, stopped the prize from being created then.

It took almost a hundred years for the idea to become real! The Government of Norway finally established the prize in 2001. Their goal was to give mathematicians their own award, similar to the Nobel Prize. A special group called the Abel Committee chooses the winners. Members of this committee are appointed by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

The award ceremony happens in a grand hall called the aula at the University of Oslo. This is the same place where the Nobel Peace Prize was given out for many years. The Abel Prize also has a special meeting, called the Abel symposium, which takes place twice a year.

The Story Behind the Abel Prize
How Winners Are Chosen and Funded
- How the Prize is Paid For
Abel Prize Winners
Where Winners Come From
See Also

The Story Behind the Abel Prize

The idea for the Abel Prize first came up in 1899. People wanted to celebrate the 100th birthday of Niels Henrik Abel, who was born in 1802. Sophus Lie, a Norwegian mathematician, suggested creating the prize. He learned that Alfred Nobel's famous awards did not include one for mathematics.

King Oscar II was willing to help pay for a mathematics prize in 1902. Two mathematicians, Ludwig Sylow and Carl Størmer, even wrote down the rules for the proposed award. But after Lie passed away, and when Norway and Sweden separated in 1905, the first attempt to create the Abel Prize ended.

The prize is awarded in the beautiful Domus Media building at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law. The Nobel Peace Prize was also given here for many years.

Interest in the prize grew again in 2001. A group worked together to make a new plan. In August 2001, the Norwegian government announced that the prize would start in 2002. This was exactly 200 years after Abel's birth. Atle Selberg received an honorary Abel Prize in 2002. The very first official Abel Prize was then awarded in 2003.

Since 2010, a series of books has been published about the Abel Prize winners and their amazing research. These books cover the years from 2003 to 2017.

In 2019, Karen Uhlenbeck made history. She became the first woman to win the Abel Prize. The award committee praised her "fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics."

Another award, the Bernt Michael Holmboe Memorial Prize, was created in 2005. It is named after Abel's teacher and celebrates excellent teaching.

How Winners Are Chosen and Funded

Anyone can suggest someone for the Abel Prize. However, you cannot nominate yourself. The person nominated must be alive. If a winner passes away after being chosen, they still receive the prize.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announces the winner of the Abel Prize every March. They make this decision based on a recommendation from the Abel Committee. This committee has five top mathematicians. Both Norwegian and non-Norwegian mathematicians can be on the Committee. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters chooses them. The International Mathematical Union and the European Mathematical Society also help nominate members.

How the Prize is Paid For

The Norwegian Government first provided 200 million NOK (about €21.7 million) in 2001 to start the prize. Today, the prize is paid for directly by the national budget of Norway.

A special Board manages the funding. Members of this Board are chosen by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The current board includes Ingrid Kristine Glad (chair), Aslak Bakke Buan, Helge K. Dahle, Kristin Vinje, Cordian Riener and Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund.

Abel Prize Winners

Year	Laureate(s)	Institution(s)	Citation
2003	Serre, Jean-PierreJean-Pierre Serre	Collège de France	"For playing a key role in shaping the modern form of many parts of mathematics, including topology, algebraic geometry and number theory."
2004	Atiyah, MichaelMichael Atiyah	University of Edinburgh University of Cambridge	"For their discovery and proof of the index theorem, bringing together topology, geometry and analysis, and their outstanding role in building new bridges between mathematics and theoretical physics."
2004	Singer, IsadoreIsadore Singer	Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of California, Berkeley
2005	Lax, PeterPeter Lax	Courant Institute (NYU)	"For his groundbreaking contributions to the theory and application of partial differential equations and to the computation of their solutions."
2006	Carleson, LennartLennart Carleson	Royal Institute of Technology	"For his profound and seminal contributions to harmonic analysis and the theory of smooth dynamical systems."
2007	Varadhan, S. R. SrinivasaS. R. Srinivasa Varadhan	Courant Institute (NYU)	"For his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviation."
2008	Thompson, John G.John G. Thompson	University of Florida	"For their profound achievements in algebra and in particular for shaping modern group theory."
2008	Tits, JacquesJacques Tits	Collège de France
2009	Gromov, MikhailMikhail Gromov	Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques Courant Institute (NYU)	"For his revolutionary contributions to geometry."
2010	Tate, JohnJohn Tate	University of Texas at Austin	"For his vast and lasting impact on the theory of numbers."
2011	Milnor, JohnJohn Milnor	Stony Brook University	"For pioneering discoveries in topology, geometry, and algebra."
2012	Szemerédi, EndreEndre Szemerédi	Alfréd Rényi Institute Rutgers University	"For his fundamental contributions to discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science, and in recognition of the profound and lasting impact of these contributions on additive number theory and ergodic theory."
2013	Deligne, PierrePierre Deligne	Institute for Advanced Study	"For seminal contributions to algebraic geometry and for their transformative impact on number theory, representation theory, and related fields."
2014	Sinai, YakovYakov Sinai	Princeton University Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics	"For his fundamental contributions to dynamical systems, ergodic theory, and mathematical physics."
2015	Nash Jr., John F.John F. Nash Jr.	Princeton University	"For striking and seminal contributions to the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations and its applications to geometric analysis."
2015	Nirenberg, LouisLouis Nirenberg	Courant Institute (NYU)
2016	Wiles, AndrewAndrew Wiles	University of Oxford	"For his stunning proof of Fermat's Last Theorem by way of the modularity conjecture for semistable elliptic curves, opening a new era in number theory."
2017	Meyer, YvesYves Meyer	École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay	"For his pivotal role in the development of the mathematical theory of wavelets."
2018	Langlands, RobertRobert Langlands	Institute for Advanced Study	"For his visionary program connecting representation theory to number theory."
2019	Uhlenbeck, KarenKaren Uhlenbeck	University of Texas at Austin	"For her pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems, and for the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics."
2020	Furstenberg, HillelHillel Furstenberg	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	"For pioneering the use of methods from probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics."
2020	Margulis, GrigoryGrigory Margulis	Yale University
2021	Lovász, LászlóLászló Lovász	Eötvös Loránd University	"For their foundational contributions to theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, and their leading role in shaping them into central fields of modern mathematics".
2021	Wigderson, AviAvi Wigderson	Institute for Advanced Study
2022	Sullivan, DennisDennis Sullivan	Stony Brook University CUNY Graduate Center	"For his groundbreaking contributions to topology in its broadest sense, and in particular its algebraic, geometric and dynamical aspects."
2023	Caffarelli, LuisLuis Caffarelli	University of Texas at Austin	"For his seminal contributions to regularity theory for nonlinear partial differential equations including free-boundary problems and the Monge–Ampère equation."
2024	Talagrand, MichelMichel Talagrand	Centre national de la recherche scientifique	"For his groundbreaking contributions to probability theory and functional analysis, with outstanding applications in mathematical physics and statistics."
2025	Kashiwara, MasakiMasaki Kashiwara	Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences	"For his fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory, in particular the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal graphs."
2026	Faltings, GerdGerd Faltings	Max Planck Institute for Mathematics	"For introducing powerful tools in arithmetic geometry and resolving long-standing diophantine conjectures of Mordell and Lang."