OSLO (AFP) — The world's leading mathematics award, the Abel Prize, was awarded Thursday to Jacques Tits of France and John Griggs Thompson of the United States for their pioneer work on algebra.
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said Tits, 77, and Griggs Thompson, 75, had been given the so-called "Mathematics Nobel" because of their "profound achievements in algebra and in particular for shaping modern group theory."
Their theories can be used to explain problems such as the Rubik's Cube puzzle.
"The achievements of John Thompson and of Jacques Tits are of extraordinary depth and influence. They complement each other and together form the backbone of modern group theory."
Tits is an expert at the College de France in Paris and Griggs Thompson works at the University of Florida. They will share a prize of six million Kroner (750,000 euro, 1.2 million dollars) which will be presented on May 20 in Oslo.
Tits, who was born in Belgium, emerged very young as a brilliant maths scholar and earned his doctorate at the age of 20. The College de France says he is now one of the world's most "influential and original" mathematicians.
Griggs Thompson studied at Yale University and got his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1959.
He taught at Cambridge University in England in the 1970s before going to the University of Florida.
The prize was first presented in 2002 for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-29).
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