EMS Prizes

Call for Nominations of Candidates for the Paul Lévy Prize in Probability Theory

Background

The Paul Lévy Prize in Probability Theory is a new prize jointly established by the European Mathematical Society, Ecole Polytechnique, the Foundation of Ecole Polytechnique, and the Paul Lévy family, with financial support from BNP Paribas. The first Prize is to be awarded in 2024. The Prize is to honour the memory of Paul Lévy, a great French mathematician, professor at Ecole Polytechnique for almost 40 years, from 1920 to 1959. Paul Lévy's work largely shaped modern probability theory which plays an increasingly crucial role in mathematics, physics, financial mathematics, and many other fields. Paul Lévy introduced such fundamental concepts as local time, stable distributions and characteristic functions. He made fundamental contributions in the theory of stable and infinitely divisible laws, the theory of Brownian motion, Lévy flights, and many others.

Principal Guidelines

The Prize is to be awarded to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to Probability Theory and its Applications, broadly defined. The Prize is envisaged to be an individual award but in exceptional cases the Selection Committee may award the Prize to a group of up to three scientists. For the 2024 Prize the Selection Committee will be chaired by Wendelin Werner. The list of other members of the Selection Committee will be made public only after the award has been given.

Nominations for the Award

Nominations for the Prize should be submitted electronically to the EMS Office This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. not later than January 31, 2024. Any nomination should contain the name and affiliation of the candidate, as well as a description of the work that qualifies the candidate for the award, including references to the candidate’s important publications. The nominator should also provide a citation of about 100 words that can be read at the award date. Nominations are confidential, and must not be disclosed to the candidate. Nominations can be made by anyone but self-nominations are strongly discouraged.

Description of the Award

The award comprises a certificate including the citation and a cash prize of €20,000.

Award Presentation

The Prize will be presented at the Ninth European Congress of Mathematics in Seville, July 15–19, 2024. The recipients will be invited to present their work at the congress.

Prize Fund

BNP Paribas, the Principal Sponsor, has generously agreed to sponsor the Paul Lévy Prize through the Foundation of Ecole Polytechnique.