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Peter Scholze
Peter Scholze (cropped).jpg
Scholze in 2014
Born (1987-12-11) 11 December 1987 (age 37)
Nationality German
Alma mater University of Bonn
Known for Introduction of perfectoid spaces and diamonds
Prismatic cohomology
Condensed mathematics
Geometrization of the local Langlands conjectures
Children 1
Awards Prix and Cours Peccot (2012)
SASTRA Ramanujan Prize (2013)
Clay Research Award (2014)
Cole Prize (2015)
Fermat Prize (2015)
Ostrowski Prize (2015)
EMS Prize (2016)
Leibniz Prize (2016)
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy Award (2016)
Fields Medal (2018)
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics
Arithmetic geometry
Algebraic geometry
Algebraic number theory
Institutions University of Bonn
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics
Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
University of California, Berkeley
Clay Mathematics Institute
Thesis Perfectoid Spaces (2011)
Doctoral advisor Michael Rapoport

Peter Scholze (born 11 December 1987) is a German mathematician. He is famous for his important work in a field called arithmetic geometry. This area of math combines ideas from number theory and geometry.

Since 2012, he has been a professor at the University of Bonn. He also became a co-director at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in 2018. Many people consider him one of the best mathematicians in the world. In 2018, he received the Fields Medal. This award is like the Nobel Prize for mathematics.

Early Life and School

Scholze was born in Dresden, Germany. He grew up in Berlin. His father is a physicist, and his mother is a computer scientist. His sister studied chemistry.

He went to the Heinrich-Hertz-Gymnasium in Berlin. This school focused on math and science. When he was a student, Scholze was very good at math competitions. He won three gold medals and one silver medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad.

He studied at the University of Bonn. He finished his first degree (bachelor's) in just three semesters. Then, he completed his master's degree in two more semesters. He earned his Ph.D. in 2012. His main teacher was Michael Rapoport.

It's interesting to know that Peter Scholze is part of a special group. His teacher, Michael Rapoport, was taught by Deligne. Deligne was taught by Grothendieck, who was taught by Schwartz. Peter Scholze, Deligne, Grothendieck, and Schwartz all won the Fields Medal.

Career Highlights

From 2011 to 2016, Scholze worked as a Research Fellow. This was at the Clay Mathematics Institute in New Hampshire. In 2012, he became a full professor at the University of Bonn. He was only 24 years old. This made him the youngest full professor in Germany at that time.

In 2014, Scholze was a special professor at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he taught a course on a type of math called p-adic geometry. In 2018, he became a director at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn.

His Math Work

Peter Scholze's work mainly focuses on a specific part of math. It's called p-adic algebraic geometry. He found simpler ways to understand some important theories. These theories were first developed by mathematicians like Gerd Faltings and Jean-Marc Fontaine.

One of his big achievements was his Ph.D. work on perfectoid spaces. This helped solve a part of a difficult math problem. It was called the weight-monodromy conjecture.

Scholze also worked with another mathematician, Bhargav Bhatt. They created a new theory called prismatic cohomology. Experts say this theory helps connect different areas of math. These include singular cohomology and crystalline cohomology.

More recently, Scholze and Dustin Clausen started a new project. It's about a field called condensed mathematics.

Awards and Recognition

Peter Scholze has received many awards for his amazing work.

  • In 2012, he won the Prix and Cours Peccot.
  • He received the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize in 2013.
  • In 2014, he was given the Clay Research Award.
  • He won the Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Algebra in 2015. He also received the Ostrowski Prize that same year.
  • The Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse gave him the Fermat Prize in 2015.
  • In 2016, he received the Leibniz Prize from the German Research Foundation. He also turned down another award, the "New Horizons in Mathematics Prize." This decision got some attention in the news.

In 2017, he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

In 2018, when he was 30 years old, Scholze won the Fields Medal. This award is one of the highest honors in mathematics. He received it for "transforming arithmetic algebraic geometry". He did this by introducing perfectoid spaces. His work also helped develop new theories in math.

In 2019, Scholze received the Great Cross of Merit. This is an honor from the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2022, he became a foreign member of the Royal Society. He also received the Pius XI Medal from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Personal Life

Peter Scholze is married to another mathematician. They have one daughter.

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