Charles Fefferman, Princeton University's Herbert E. Jones, Jr. '43 University Professor of Mathematics, will share the 2017 Wolf Prize in Mathematics awarded by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. Fefferman, whose focus is on mathematical analysis, was honored for his "major contributions to several fields, including several complex variables, partial differential equations and subelliptic problems," according to the prize citation from the Wolf Foundation. Bestowed annually since 1978, the Wolf Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics. Fefferman, who shares the prize with Richard Schoen of Stanford University, is one of numerous Princeton faculty and alumni to receive the prize, including Professor Peter Sarnak (2014), Professor Emeritus Elias Stein (1999) and Professor Yakov Sinai (1997).
Fefferman was a child prodigy who received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1969 at the age of 20 and was named a full professor at the University of Chicago at 22, the youngest professor ever appointed in the nation. He joined Princeton's faculty in 1973. Fefferman's work earned him the prestigious Fields Medal in 1978, which honors outstanding mathematicians under the age of 40. In 1976, he was the inaugural recipient of the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation's highest honorary award for scientists and engineers under 35.
