Friedrich Hirzebruch
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| Friedrich Hirzebruch | |
 Friedrich Hirzebruch in 1980 (picture courtesy MFO)
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| Born | October 17, 1927 Hamm, Germany |
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| Residence | Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Bonn Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik |
| Alma mater | University of Münster ETH Zürich Institute for Advanced Study Princeton University |
| Known for | Hirzebruch-Riemann-Roch theorem |
| Notable awards | Wolf Prize (1988) Lobachevsky Medal (1989) |
Friedrich Ernst Peter Hirzebruch (born 17 October 1927) is a German mathematician, working in the fields of topology, complex manifolds and algebraic geometry, and a leading figure in his generation.
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[edit] Life
He was born in Hamm, Westphalia. He studied at the University of Münster from 1945-1950, with one year at ETH Zürich. He then had a position at Erlangen, followed by the years 1952-54 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. After one year at Princeton University 1955-56, he was made a professor at the University of Bonn, where he remained, becoming director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik in 1981. More than 300 people participated in the event in ceremony of his 80th birthday at Bonn in 2007.
The Hirzebruch-Riemann-Roch theorem (1954) for complex manifolds was a major advance and quickly became part of the mainstream developments around the classical Riemann-Roch theorem; it was also a precursor of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. Hirzebruch's book Neue topologische Methoden in der algebraischen Geometrie (1956) was a basic text for the 'new methods' of sheaf theory, in complex algebraic geometry. He went on to write the foundational papers on topological K-theory with Michael Atiyah, and collaborate with Armand Borel on the theory of characteristic classes. In his later work he provided a detailed theory of Hilbert modular surfaces, working with Don Zagier.
Hirzebruch is a foreign member of numerous academies and societies, including the United States National Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the French Academy of Sciences. In 1980/81 he delivered the first Sackler Distinguished Lecture in Israel.
[edit] Honors
Amongst many other honors, Hirzebruch was awarded a Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1988, a Lobachevsky Medal in 1989.
The government of Japan awarded him the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1996.[1]
Hirzebruch won an Einstein Medal in 1999, and received the Cantor medal in 2004.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ L'Harmattan web site (in French), Order with gold and silver rays
