ORGANIZERS
|
Dr Tomasz Elsner from the Institute of Mathematics of the University of Wroclaw has become the first person to be awarded The International Banach Prize for his outstanding doctoral dissertation in the mathematical sciences.
His work is entitled "The minimal surface theory in systolic spaces" and was supervised by Lech Tadeusz Januszkiewicz, Ph.D.
The jury comprising representatives of the Polish Mathematical Society and the president of Ericpol - the Prize founder - had nominated five people:
- Tomasz Elsner (University of Wrocaw),
- Grzegorz Kapustka (Jagiellonian University in Krakow),
- Pawe Konieczny (University of Warsaw),
- Filip Murlak (University of Warsaw)
- Piotr Przytycki (Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences).
'All the works submitted were of superb quality which made it extremely difficult for the Jury to pick just one. The winning thesis covers a very current problem and its findings were later published in a well-known magazine - Geometry and Topology', says professor Zbigniew Bocki, the head of the Jury.
In total, 19 dissertations were submitted for the competition. There were 15 from Polish doctoral students, three from Ukraine and one from Latvia. The scope of these Works varied greatly: differential equations (4 works), functional equations (3), algebraic geometry (2), geometric group theory (2), number theory (2), functional analysis (1), differential geometry (1), probability theory (1), automata theory (1), control theory (1), dynamical system (1).
'The first edition of the Prize generated a genuine interest from the mathematical circles. My great hope is that the prize will contribute to strengthening the role Polish mathematics plays in Europe and, at the same time, to popularizing the heritage of the genius Polish mathematician, professor Stefan Banach, so that in ten years. time every mathematician in Europe will be striving to win this competition', says Jan Smela, the president of Ericpol Telecom.
In 2009, the prize is worth 20,000 PLN, which makes it the biggest mathematical prize awarded in Poland.
The prize will be presented to the winner at the 3rd Forum of Polish Mathematicians, 30 June, 2009.
The next edition of The International Banach Prize for a Doctoral Dissertation in the Mathematical Sciences for the academic year 2009-2010 is going to be extended to other East-European countries and EU member states: Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia. The second edition of the prize and the competition for an outstanding doctoral dissertation starts in November.
