
Paul Erdos
Wolf Prize Laureate in Mathematics 1983/4

The Mathematics Prize Committee for 1983/4 unanimously concluded that the Wolf Prize in Mathematics be shared jointly by Paul Erdos and Shiing-Shen Chern.
Paul Erdos
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Budapest, Hungary
“for his numerous contributions to number theory, combinatorics, probability, set theory, and mathematical analysis, and for personally stimulating mathematicians the world over” .
Professor Paul Erdos is one of the most prolific mathematicians of all times. His elementary proof of the prime number theorem (jointly with A. Selbey) came after many a famous mathematician had pronounced such a proof impossible. The field of combinatorics owes its very existence to his work. His ingenious applications of probabilistic methods to existence questions, has enabled him and those who followed him obtain results well beyond explicit computation. His partition calculus in set theory´ (partly in collaboration with R. Rado) has created a new branch of mathematics, at the intersection between mathematical logic and set theory. Two generations of mathematicians world-wide have benefited from his example and stimulation.
