These prizes were
established in 1970 in honor of George D. Birkhoff, William F. Osgood, and
William C. Graustein, and are endowed under terms of a bequest from Leroy P.
Steele. From 1970 to 1976 one or more prizes were awarded each year for
outstanding published mathematical research. In 1977 the Council of the AMS
modified the terms. Since then, up to three prizes have been awarded each year
in three categories: (1) the cumulative influence of the total mathematical
work of the recipient, high level of research over a period of time, particular
influence on the development of a field, and influence on mathematics through
Ph.D. students; (2) a book or substantial survey or expository-research paper;
(3) a paper that proved of fundamental or lasting importance in its field, or a
model of important research. From 1993 on, the list focuses on those who won
The Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
August 1970: To Solomon Lefschetz for his paper, A page of
mathematical autobiography, Bulletin of the American Mathematical
Society,volume 74 (1968), pp. 854-879.
August 1971: To James B. Carrell for his
paper, written jointly with Jean A. Dieudonne, Invariant theory, old and
new, Advances in Mathematics, volume 4 (1970), pp. 1-80.
August 1971: To Jean A. Dieudonné for his
paper, Algebraic geometry, Advances in Mathematics, volume 3 (1969),
pp. 223-321, and for his paper, written jointly with James B. Carrell, Invariant
theory, old and new, Advances in Mathematics, volume 4 (1970), pp. 1-80.
August 1971: To Phillip A. Griffiths for his
paper, Periods of integrals on algebraic manifolds, Bulletin of the
American Mathematical Society, volume 76 (1970), pp. 228-296.
August 1972: To Edward B. Curtis for his
paper, Simplicial homotopy theory, Advances in Mathematics, volume 6
(1971), pp. 107-209.
August 1972: To William J. Ellison for his
paper, Waring's problem, American Mathematical Monthly, volume 78
(1971), pp. 10-36.
August 1972: To Lawrence F. Payne for his
paper, Isoperimetric inequalities and their applications, SIAM Review,
volume 9 (1967), pp. 453-488.
August 1972: To Dana S. Scott for his paper, A
proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis, Mathematical
Systems Theory, volume 1 (1967), pp. 89-111.
January 1975: To Lipman Bers for his paper, Uniformization,
moduli, and Kleinian groups, Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society,
volume 4 (1972), pp. 257-300.
January 1975: To Martin D. Davis for his paper, Hilbert's
tenth problem is unsolvable, American Mathematical Monthly, volume 80
(1973), pp. 233-269.
January 1975: To Joseph L. Taylor for his
paper, Measure algebras, CBMS Regional Conference Series in
Mathematics, Number 16, American Mathematical Society, 1972.
August 1975: To George W. Mackey for his
paper, Ergodic theory and its significance for statistical mechanics and
probability theory, Advances in Mathematics, volume 12 (1974), pp.
178-286.
August 1975: To H. Blaine Lawson for his
paper, Foliations, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society,
volume 80 (1974), pp. 369-418.
Source:
American Mathematical Society and Jinfo.org Web site
1976, 1977, 1978: No awards were made.
January 1979: To Salomon Bochner for cumulative influence on the
fields of probability theory, Fourier analysis, several complex variables, and
differential geometry.
August 1979: To Antoni Zygmund for cumulative
influence on the theory of Fourier series, real variables, and related areas of
analysis.
August 1980: To André Weil for total effect of his work on
the course of twentieth century mathematics, esp. the many areas in which he
made fundamental contributions.
August 1980: To Gerhard P. Hochschild for his significant work in
homological algebra and its applications.
August 1981: To Oscar Zariski for work in algebraic geometry,
especially his fundamental contributions to the algebraic foundations of this
subject.
August 1982: To Fritz John for cumulative influence of total
mathematical work, high level research over time, particular influence on
development of a field, and influence on mathematics through Ph.D. students.
August 1983: To Shiing-Shen Chern for the
cumulative influence of his total mathematical work, high level of research
over a period of time, particular influence on the development of the field of differential
geometry, and influence on mathematics through Ph.D. students.
August 1984: To Joseph L. Doob for his
fundamental work in establishing probability as a branch of mathematics and for
his continuing profound influence on its development.
August 1985: To Hassler Whitney for
fundamental work on geometric problems, particularly general theory of
manifolds, the study of differentiable functions on closed sets, in geometric
integration theory, and geometry of the tangents to a singular analytic space.
January 1986: To Saunders Mac Lane for his many
contributions to algebra and algebraic topology, and in particular for his
pioneering work in homological and categorical algebra.
August 1987: To Samuel Eilenberg for his fundamental contributions
to topology and algebra, in particular for his classic papers on singular
homology and his work on axiomatic homology theory which had a profound
influence on the development of algebraic toplogy.
August 1988: To Deane Montgomery for lasting
impact on mathematics, particularly mathematics in America. He is a founder of
the modern theory of transformation groups and is known for his contributions
to the solution of Hilbert's fifth problem.
August 1989: To Irving Kaplansky for his lasting impact on
mathematics, particularly mathematics in America. By his example, enthusiastic
exposition, and generosity, he has made changes in mathematics and inspired
generations of younger mathematicians.
August 1990: To Raoul Bott for having been instrumental in
changing the face of geometry and topology, with his incisive contributions to
characteristic classes, K-theory, index theory, and other tools of modern
mathematics.
August 1991: To Eugenio Calabi for his fundamental work on
global differential geometry, especially complex differential geometry.
August 1991: To Armand Borel for extensive
contributions in geometry and topology, the theory of Lie groups, their
lattices and representations and the theory of automorphic forms, the theory of
algebraic groups and their representations and development efforts.
January 1993: To Peter D. Lax for his numerous and fundamental
contributions to theory and applications of linear & nonlinear partial
differential equations and functional analysis, for his leadership in the development
of computational & applied mathematics, and for his extraordinary impact as
a teacher.
August 1993 -
Lifetime Achievement: To Eugene B. Dynkin for his foundational contributions to Lie algebras and
probability theory over a long period and production of outstanding research
students in both Russia and the United States.
August 1994 -
Lifetime Achievement: To Louis Nirenberg for numerous basic contributions to linear and nonlinear
partial differential equations and their application to complex analysis and
differential geometry.
August 1995 - Lifetime Achievement: To John T. Tate for scientific
accomplishments spanning four and a half decades.
August 1996 -
Lifetime Achievement: To Goro Shimura for his important and extensive work on
arithmetical geometry and automorphic forms;
January 1997
- Lifetime Achievement: To Ralph S. Phillips as one of the outstanding
analysts of our time:
January 1998
- Lifetime Achievement: To Nathan Jacobson for his many contributions to
research, teaching, exposition, and the mathematical profession.
January 1999
- Lifetime Achievement: To Richard V. Kadison. For almost half a century,
Professor Kadison has been one of the world leaders in operator algebras.
January 2000
- Lifetime Achievement: To Isadore M. Singer. Singer's series of five papers
with Michael F. Atiyah on the Index Theorem for elliptic operators and his
three papers with Atiyah and V.K. Patodi on the Index Theorem for manifolds
with boundary.
January 2001
- Lifetime Achievement: To Harry Kesten for many and deep contributions
to probability theory and its applications.
January 2002
- Lifetime Achievement: To Michael Artin for helping weave the fabric of modern
algebraic geometry, and Elias Stein for fundamental contributions to different
branches of analysis.
January 2003
- Lifetime Achievement: To Ron Graham for being a principal architect of rapid
development worldwide of discrete mathematics & to Victor Guillemin for
critical role in development of important areas in analysis and geometry.
January 2004 - Lifetime
Achievement: To Cathleen Synge Morawetz for greatly
influencing mathematics in the broad sense throughout her long and
distinguished career.
January
2005 – Lifetime Achievement: To Israel M. Gelfand for profoundly
influencing many fields of research through his own work and through his
interactions with other mathematicians and students.