Person: Faltings, Gerd
Gerd Faltings is a German mathematician whose work in algebraic geometry led to important results in number theory, including helping with the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Following the award of his doctorate, Faltings went to the United States where he spent a year doing postdoctoral work as a research fellow at Harvard University in 1978-79.
- In 1979 Faltings returned to Germany, taking up an appointment as professor of mathematics at the University of Wuppertal.
- In 1985 Faltings was appointed to the faculty at Princeton.
- Faltings proved conjectures by Mordell, Shafarevich and Tate during 1983.
- In 1986 Faltings received the highest honour that a young mathematician can receive when he was awarded a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians at Berkeley.
- At the Congress B Mazur gave an address describing the work by Faltings which had led to the award.
- Faltings has been closely linked with the work leading to the final proof of Fermat's Last Theorem by Andrew Wiles.
- However, Faltings was the natural person that Wiles turned to when he wanted an opinion on the correctness of his repair of his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in 1994.
- In 1994 Faltings left Princeton when appointed a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany.
Born 28 July 1954, Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Germany.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Prize Fields Medal, Origin Germany, Number Theory, Prize Shaw
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References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
