“Just like a Nobel Laureate from Münster”

He is the only person in Germany to hold the Fields Medal – the "Nobel Prize for Mathematics" – as well as numerous other renowned awards. His colleagues from Münster are also officially paying tribute to this exceptional mathematician: Prof. Gerd Faltings, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, received an honorary doctorate on Friday 19th October from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Sciences at the University of Münster. The alumnus of Münster University accepted the award from the Head of Faculty, Prof. Matthias Löwe, for his "great accomplishments in theoretical mathematics".

Laudatory speaker Prof. Christopher Deninger from the Department of Mathematics at Münster University explained that "the Fields Medal is the highest accolade in mathematics". He pointed out that "in order to receive it, a mathematician has to accomplish something ground-breaking in his field at an early age". Before turning thirty, Gerd Faltings proved three conjectures which previously had been regarded as unsolvable in one fell swoop. "To achieve this, one has to master a multitude of mathematical methods and techniques and to combine them in an incredibly smart way. Gerd Faltings is a genius." Christopher Deninger pointed out that the outstanding mathematician is a graduate from Münster University. "It is just like having a Nobel laureate from Münster."

Rector Ursula Nelles also emphasized how important this extraordinary alumnus is for Münster University: "When introducing Münster to mathematicians from abroad, you only have to say 'it's where Gerd Faltings studied'. We are pleased and proud that our university has brought forth such a successful graduate and that the name 'Gerd Faltings' is associated with his home university. This association is now strengthened by the honorary doctorate."

Gerd Faltings, born on 28th July 1954 in Gelsenkirchen, studied Mathematics and Physics at Münster University, where he also did his doctorate and finished his postdoctoral degree in 1981. In 1982, at the age of 27, he became Germany's youngest professor of Mathematics at the University of Wuppertal. He received the Fields Medal in 1986. The International Mathematical Union thereby acknowledged his work from 1983 about "Finiteness Theorems for Abelian Varieties over Number Fields" which is considered a breakthrough in algebraic geometry. In this paper, Gerd Faltings demonstrates, among other things, the so called Mordell Conjecture from 1922 which remained unsolved for more than sixty years.

In 1985, Gerd Faltings began to research and teach at Princeton University, USA. He returned to his home country in 1994 and has been Director of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn since. Besides the Fields Medal, he has also received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize from the German Research Foundation (1996), the Karl Georg Christian von Staudt Prize from the Otto and Edith Haupt Foundation (2008), the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, First Class, for his outstanding achievements and findings in the field of mathematics (2009), as well as the Heinz Gumin Prize from the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation (2010).

In the course of the ceremony in Münster's University "Schloss" there was another highlight to the honorary doctorate: the opening of "DEMAIN" (Developing Mathematics in Interaction). This new centre is to promote a broad exchange between mathematicians and natural scientists and to strengthen the collaboration between theoretical and applied mathematics at Münster University.

Translated by Florian Barten, Miriam Tominac and Lina Stehr