2026 Abel Prize awarded to Gerd Faltings#
The Academia Europaea are delighted to announce that Professor Gerd Faltings MAE, Professor emeritus from the University of Bonn and Director emeritus from the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn has been awarded the 2026 Abel prize
. Prof. Faltings was elected as member of the Mathematics Section of Academia Europaea in 2014.
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the Abel Prize for 2026 to Prof. Faltings for “for introducing powerful tools in arithmetic geometry and resolving long-standing diophantine conjectures of Mordell and Lang”.
In its citation, the prize committee honours Gerd Faltings as “a towering figure in arithmetic geometry. His ideas and results have reshaped the field, settling major long-standing conjectures, while also establishing new frameworks that have guided decades of subsequent work. His exceptional achievements unite geometric and arithmetic perspectives and exemplify the power of deep structural insight.”
The prize will be presented by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon at a ceremony on May 26, 2026, in Oslo. It consists of 7.5 million Norwegian kroner, equivalent to €670,000, and is funded by the Norwegian government. Gerd Faltings is the first German mathematician to receive this high honour in mathematics. In 1986, Prof. Faltings was also the first German recipient of the Fields Medal and is thus the first German mathematician to be awarded both the Abel Prize and the Fields Medal.
About Gerd Faltings#
Gerd Faltings was born in Gelsenkirchen in 1954. After graduating from high school, he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Münster. In 1978, he completed his studies with a doctorate under Hans-Joachim Nastold. In 1978 - 1979, he was a visiting scholar at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upon his return to Münster, he became an assistant to Professor Nastold in 1979 and earned his habilitation in 1981. In 1982, he was appointed to the University of Wuppertal and, at the age of 27, became the youngest full professor of mathematics in Germany. In 1985, he accepted a position at Princeton University in the United States. He returned to Germany in 1994, where he has since been conducting research at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn and teaching at the University of Bonn. Since 2023, he has been Director Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn.
About the Abel Prize:#
The Abel Prize is named after Niels Henrik Abel, Norway’s greatest mathematician throughout the times. Abel left lasting marks on the mathematical world. His mathematics have served as a base for a number of major technological breakthroughs, there amongst the development of the internet. The Abel Prize was established by the Norwegian Parliament (The Storting) in 2002, on the occasion the 200-year anniversary of his birth. The prize is awarded by Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, on behalf of the Ministry of Education. The Abel Committee, consisting of five leading mathematicians from throughout the world, holds the task of appraising nominated candidates and recommend a worthy winner. The Prize is 7,5 million Norwegian Kroner.
Press#
- Gerd Faltings to receive the 2026 Abel Prize, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics
- German Mathematician Wins Abel Prize for Number Theory Work, New York Times
- Bundespräsident Steinmeier gratuliert Gerd Faltings – erstmals geht der Abelpreis an einen Deutschen, Frank-Walter Steinmeier President of Germany (in German)
Academia Europaea Abel Prize Awardees#
- 2026: Professor Gerd Faltings
- 2021: Professor László Lovász, Hungary (shared with Avi Wigderson)
- 2016: Sir Andrew J. Wiles, United Kingdom
- 2012: Endre Szemerédi, Hungary/USA
- 2009: Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov, France
- 2008: Jacques Tits, France
- 2006: Lennart Carleson, Sweden
- 2004: Sir Michael Francis Atiyah, United Kingdom
