a. He was the founder of the journal ‘Acta Mathematica’, played an important role in helping the career of Sonya Kovalevskaya, and was eventually head of the Stockholm Hogskola, the precursor to Stockholm University.

b. It seems hardly likely that he would have undertaken this if there was prior bad blood between them.

c. At the time there existed already a well-known Scandinavian prize for mathematicians.

d. The reason for this conspicuous omission has been subject of extensivespeculations, some of which are discussed below.

e. So, apart from Arrhenius and Pettersson’s accusations, the written Archibalds testimony that Mittag-Leffler at least believed that he and Nobel were estranged is the only historical evidence on the matter.

f. If there had been one – there were guys like Poincare and Hilbert around, after all.

g. His will speak of prizes for those ‘inventions or discoveries’ of greatest practical benefit to mankind.

h. Pettersson and Arrhenius, academic rivals of Mittag-Leffler in the administration of theHogskola, let it be known that Nobel’s dislike for Mittag-Leffler had brought about what Pettersson called the `Nobel Flop’.

i. There are more credible reasons as to why there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics.

II. For (1–3) choose T if the statement is true according to the text, Fif it is false or NGif the information is not givenin the text.

1. There are no obvious facts and signs showing that Nobel and Mittag-Leffler hated each other.

2. Nobel’s relatives supported the idea of creating Nobel prizes.

3. Nobel may have left mathematicians out of his will because he didn’t particularly like Mathematics.

III. Work in pairs. Tell your partner why Nobel decided against a Nobel Prize in mathematics.

a.Give the most common reasons.

b. Listen to your partner and help. Add more information.

DO YOU KNOW THAT …

- The Wilks Memorial Award is awarded by the American Statistical Association to recognize outstanding contributions to statistics. It was established in 1964 and is awarded yearly. It is named in memory of the statistician Samuel Wilks. The award consists of a medal, a citation a cash honorarium (US $1500 in 2009)

IV. Do you know anything about Halbert L. Dunn Award or Stewhart Medal?

Search for information about these Awards and share it with students of your group.

Text 7

Reading and Speaking

MAJOR AWARDS IN MATHEMATICS

The obverse of the Fields Medal

The reverse of the Fields Medal

A. FIELDS MEDAL

The Fields Medal is often described as the ‘Nobel Prize of Mathematics‘ for the prestige it carries, though in most other ways the relatively new Abel Prize is a more direct analogue. Founded at the behest of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields, the medal was first awarded in 1936, to Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors and American mathematician Jesse Douglas, and has been awarded every four years (in contrast with the Nobel Prize) since 1950. The Medal also has an age limit: a recipient’s 40th birthday must not occur before the first of January of the year in which the Fields Medal is awarded. As a result some great mathematicians have missed it by having done their best work (or having had their work recognized) too late. The 40-year rule is based on Fields’desire that... while it was in recognition of work already done, it was at the same time intended to be an encouragement for further achievements of the recipients and a stimulus for other people to renew their efforts.

The monetary award is much lower than the roughly US $1.5 million given with each Nobel Prize. Finally, Fields Medals have generally been awarded for a body of work, rather than for a particular result; and instead of a direct citation there is a speech of congratulation.

Other major awards in mathematics, such as the Abel Prize, recognize lifetime achievement, again making them different in kind from the Nobel ones, although the Abel has a large monetary prize like a Nobel. The Fields Medal has the prestige of the selection by the IMU, which represents the world mathematical community

I. Match the words (1–7) with their definitions/explanations (a–g):