Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara, 78, has won the Abel Prize. The Abel Prize is regarded as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, and this is the first time a Japanese individual has received it.
According to foreign news reports on the 26th, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Abel Prize Committee have selected Professor Masaki Kashiwara from Kyoto University’s Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS) and the Advanced Institute for Mathematical Sciences (KUIAS) as the recipient of the Abel Prize for his groundbreaking contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory.
Professor Kashiwara, born in 1947, is a master of representation theory. Representation theory is a field of algebra that deals with mathematical structures and equations.
He has made significant contributions in algebraic tools such as "D-modules" under the influence of his mentor, Professor Mikio Sato, an emeritus professor at Kyoto University.
In recognition of these contributions, he also received the "Crafoord Prize" in 2018, awarded to mathematicians for outstanding lifetime achievements in the field.
He has connections to Korea as well. He has previously been invited to Seoul National University and the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences to mentor Korean students.
Meanwhile, the prize money for the Abel Prize is 7.5 million kroner, which is approximately 950 million won.