Bjorn Mikhail Poonen (born July 27, 1968, in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts) is a mathematician, four-time Putnam Competition winner, and a Distinguished Professor in Science in the Department of Mathematics at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. His research is primarily in

arithmetic geometry In mathematics, arithmetic geometry is roughly the application of techniques from algebraic geometry to problems in number theory. Arithmetic geometry is centered around Diophantine geometry, the study of rational points of algebraic varieties. ...

, but he has occasionally published in other subjects such as

probability Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

. He has edited two books. He is the founding managing editor of the journal '' Algebra & Number Theory'', and serves also on the editorial boards of '' Involve: A Journal of Mathematics'' and the ''

A K Peters A K Peters, Ltd. was a publisher of scientific and technical books, specializing in mathematics and in computer graphics, robotics, and other fields of computer science. They published the journals '' Experimental Mathematics'' and the '' Journal ...

Research Notes in Mathematics'' book series.Curriculum vitae
retrieved January 28, 2015.

Education

Poonen is a 1985 alumnus of Winchester High School in

Winchester, Massachusetts Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the List of Massachusetts locations by per capit ...

. In 1989, Poonen graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

with an A.B. in Mathematics and Physics, summa cum laude. He then studied under Kenneth Alan Ribet at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, completing a PhD there in 1994.

Academic positions

Poonen held postdoctoral positions at Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and served on the faculty of the

from 1997 to 2008, before moving to

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. He has also held visiting positions at the Isaac Newton Institute (1998 and 2005), the Université Paris-Sud (2001), Harvard (2007), and MIT (2007).

Major honors and awards

* Joseph L. Doob Prize, 2023 * Fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

, 2012. *

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

: elected in 2012 * Chauvenet Prize: the 2011 winner, for his article "Undecidability in number theory" *

Miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...

Research Professorship – University of California Berkeley. * David and Lucile Packard Fellowship *

Sloan Research Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual list of mathematics competitions, mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in th ...

: winner in 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 (the only other four-time winners since 1938 are

Don Coppersmith Don Coppersmith (born 1950) is a cryptographer and mathematician. He was involved in the design of the Data Encryption Standard block cipher at IBM, particularly the design of the S-boxes, strengthening them against differential cryptanalysis. ...

Arthur Rubin Arthur Leonard Rubin (born 1956) is an American mathematician and aerospace engineer. He was named a Putnam Fellow on four consecutive occasions from 1970 to 1973. Life and career Rubin's mother was Jean E. Rubin, a professor of mathematics a ...

, Ravi D. Vakil,

Gabriel Carroll Gabriel Drew Carroll (born December 24, 1982) is a professor of economics at the University of Toronto. He was born to tech industry worker parents in Oakland. He graduated from Harvard University with B.A. in mathematics and linguistics in 200 ...

, Reid W. Barton, Daniel Kane and Brian R. Lawrence). *

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. It is widely regarded as the most prestigious mathematical competition in the wor ...

: silver medalist in 1985. * American High School Mathematics Examination: only participant (out of 380,000) to receive a perfect score in 1985.American High School Mathematics Examination results
page 31

Trivia

* Poonen co-authored a paper entitled "How to spread rumors fast".

References

External links

Personal webpage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poonen, Bjorn 1968 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Harvard University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of Paris-Sud University Putnam Fellows People from Winchester, Massachusetts Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Mathematical Society International Mathematical Olympiad participants Sloan Research Fellows Simons Investigator Winchester High School (Massachusetts) alumni American number theorists Arithmetic geometers American people of Ojibwe descent