Wiles selected to receive Shaw Prize

By Ruth Stevens on June 3, 2005, 5:04 p.m.

Andrew Wiles, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton, has been chosen to receive the 2005 Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences, a major award administered by the Shaw Foundation of Hong Kong.

The prize, which carries a cash award of $1 million, is being given to Wiles for his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. The presentation is scheduled for Sept. 2.

Wiles gained worldwide fame for his 1994 solution to Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem in number theory that had baffled mathematicians for 350 years. A Princeton faculty member since 1982, he has earned several awards for his work, including the Wolf Prize in Mathematics and a MacArthur Fellowship.

The Shaw Prize, given for the first time last year, is presented to individuals "who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or application and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind." It is awarded in three areas: astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences.

Last year, James Peebles, the Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus at Princeton, won the Shaw Prize in Astronomy. 

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