Abel Prize awarded to ERC grantee László Lovász

The 2021 Abel Prize was awarded to László Lovász of Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics and Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, and Avi Wigderson of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA.

They won the award, often dubbed as a maths Nobel, 'for their foundational contributions to theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, and their leading role in shaping them into central fields of modern mathematics.'

Professor Lovász's work provided further foundational underpinning for computer science. Lovász has also devised powerful algorithms with wide-ranging applications, among others in areas including number theory, cryptography and mobile computing. Recipient of several prestigious prizes, he was the president of the International Mathematical Union from 2007 to 2010 and the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 2014 to 2020.

In 2018, together with Jaroslav Nesetril from Charles University in Prague and Albert Laszlo Barabasi from Central European University in Budapest, Professor Lovász was awarded an ERC Synergy Grant to develop a mathematically sound theory of dynamical networks.

'On behalf of the European Research Council, I would like to warmly congratulate László Lovász and Avi Wigderson on receiving the 2021 Abel Prize for their work on computational complexity. We are particularly proud that this prize, which is one of the highest honours in mathematics, has been awarded to László Lovász, an ERC grantee whom we also have the privilege of having as a panel member in ERC's evaluations. In his capacity as President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he stood up to defend this remarkable institution in difficult times. He inspires bright minds throughout the world and of course also in his home country Hungary.' said, on the occasion of the 2021 Abel Prize award, ERC President Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, himself a mathematician.

The Abel Prize was established by the Norwegian government in 2002 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of famous mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. The Abel Prize recognizes contributions to the field of mathematics that are of extraordinary depth and influence.