Svetlana Jitomirskaya facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Svetlana Jitomirskaya
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| Світлана Житомирська | |
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| Born | June 4, 1966 |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Known for | Ten martini problem |
| Awards | Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics (2005) Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (2020) Olga Ladyzhenskaya Prize (2022) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Spectral and Statistical Properties of Lattice Hamiltonians (1991) |
| Doctoral advisor | Yakov Sinai |
Svetlana Yakovlevna Jitomirskaya (born June 4, 1966) is a famous mathematician. She studies how things change over time (called dynamical systems) and how math connects to mathematical physics. She is a top professor of mathematics at Georgia Tech and UC Irvine. One of her biggest achievements was solving a tough math problem called the ten martini problem with another mathematician, Artur Avila.
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Early Life and Education
Svetlana grew up in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Her parents, Valentina Borok and Yakov Zhitomirskii, were both math professors. This meant she was surrounded by math from a young age!
She went to Moscow State University for her college studies. There, she learned from famous mathematicians like Vladimir Arnold and Yakov Sinai. She earned her Ph.D. (a high-level degree) from Moscow State University in 1991. Her main teacher for her Ph.D. was Yakov Sinai.
After finishing her studies, she moved to the United States. In 1991, she started working at the University of California, Irvine. She began as a lecturer, then became an assistant professor in 1994, and a full professor in 2000.
Awards and Recognition
Svetlana Jitomirskaya has received many important awards for her work in mathematics.
Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize
In 2005, she won the Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics. This award recognized her amazing work on a topic called "non-perturbative quasiperiodic localization." This is a complex area of math that helps us understand how certain systems behave.
International Congress of Mathematicians
She has been invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians twice. This is a very important event where mathematicians from all over the world share their discoveries. She spoke in Beijing in 2002. She was also a main speaker in 2022. The 2022 event was planned for Russia, but because of the war in Ukraine, some parts were moved online or to Finland.
Other Honors
- In 1996, she received a Sloan Fellowship, which helps promising young scientists.
- In 2018, she was chosen to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a group of very talented people in different fields.
- In 2022, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. This is one of the highest honors for scientists in the United States.
- She also received the first-ever Ladyzhenskaya Prize in Mathematical Physics (OAL Prize) in 2022. This award was for her deep contributions to understanding how certain operators behave in physics.
- In 2023, she won the Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement.
Dannie Heineman Prize
Svetlana Jitomirskaya won the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 2020. She was the second woman ever to win this award, and the first woman to win it by herself. The award praised her work on the "spectral theory of almost-periodic Schrödinger operators." This work is important for understanding how energy levels behave in quantum systems. It also recognized her role in solving the "Ten Martini Problem."
See also
In Spanish: Svetlana Jitomirskaya para niños
