Vladimir Arnold
Wolf Prize Laureate in Mathematics 2001
Vladimir I. Arnold
Affiliation at the time of the award:
Steklov Mathematical Institute, Russia
Universite Paris-Dauphine, France
Award citation:
“for his deep and influential work in a multitude of areas of mathematics, including dynamical systems, differential equations, and singularity theory”.
Prize share:
Vladimir I. Arnold
Saharon Shelah
Professor Vladimir I. Arnold, a renaissance mathematician, has made significant contributions to an astounding number of different mathematical disciplines. His many research papers, books and lectures, plus his enormous erudition and enthusiasm, have had a profound influence on an entire generation of mathematicians.
Arnold’s Ph.D. thesis contained a solution to Hilbert’s 13th problem. His work on Hamiltonian dynamics, in particular as co-creator of the KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser) theory and as the discoverer of “Arnold’s diffusion”, made him world-famous at an early age. Arnold’s contributions to the theory of singularities, which complements Thom’s catastrophe theory, has transformed this field. He has also made innumerable and fundamental contributions to the theory of differential equations, symplectic geometry, real algebraic geometry, the calculus of variations, hydrodynamics, and magneto-hydrodynamics, often discovering links between problems in diverse areas.
