Gerd Faltings

German mathematician

Gerd Faltings is remembered in mathematics for work the next generation could build on.

The record lists Gerd Faltings as German mathematician.

Gerd Faltings was born at Gelsenkirchen in 1954. His recorded nationality is Germany. He studied at University of Münster.

Twentieth-century mathematics became abstract and highly specialised, and its methods reached into physics, economics and computing.

His academic posts were held at Princeton University, University of Wuppertal and University of Bonn.

The recorded fields of work are algebraic geometry, number theory and mathematics.

Mathematics accumulates without discarding: a proof from two thousand years ago is still a proof.

The honours record reads: Dannie Heineman Prize (1983), Fields medal (1986), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (1996) and King Faisal International Prize in Science (2014).

That the work was done from Germany matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.

Gerd Faltings is still working, and the final assessment of the contribution has not been made.

Achievements

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19th-century mathematician who wrote the first algorithm for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.
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