Olga Holtz (; born August 19, 1973) is a Russian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

specializing in

numerical analysis Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...

. She received the

Sofia Kovalevskaya Award The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany bestowed the Sofia Kovalevskaya Award from 2002 to 2020. Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891) was the first major Russian female mathematician, who made important contributions to mathematical analysis ...

in 2006 and the

European Mathematical Society The European Mathematical Society (EMS) is a European organization dedicated to the development of mathematics in Europe. Its members are different mathematical societies in Europe, academic institutions and individual mathematicians. The curren ...

Prize (2008). Since 2008, she is a member of the Young Academy (Junge Akademie') of Germany.

Life

Holtz's early mathematical development was largely due to her parents, who were both programmers. At the age of 15, she was selected for a high school that specialized in mathematics, which she graduated from two years later. Holtz attended the South Ural State University in

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

(1995) and the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

(2000), staying on at the latter until 2002 in a postdoctorate research position after earning her Ph.D. She then spent 1.5 years in Germany with a Humboldt research fellowship at the Institute of Mathematics of

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

, before returning to the United States in 2004, where she held a Morrey Assistant Professorship at the Department of Mathematics of 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 ...

from 2004 to 2007. After winning a €1,000,000

in 2006, Holtz built her research group at Technische Universität Berlin, where she became a Professor of applied mathematics while concurrently serving as an Associate, then Full Professor of Mathematics at University of California, Berkeley. Since then, Holtz has garnered additional honors. The

awarded her its 2008 prize, and the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

awarded her €880,000 Starting Grant in August 2010. In 2015 she was elected as a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

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, ...

"for contributions to numerical linear algebra, numerical analysis, approximation theory, theoretical computer science, and algebra". Holtz, who considered a career in music before deciding on mathematics, performs with the Berlin Philharmonic Choir and practices ballroom dancing.

References

External links

Homepage at University of California, Berkeley

Holtz entry
in the

Mathematics Genealogy Project The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. it contained information on 300,152 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a typical mathematicia ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtz, Olga 1973 births Living people 20th-century Russian mathematicians 21st-century Russian mathematicians University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Soviet mathematicians Soviet women mathematicians Numerical analysts University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin Humboldt Research Award recipients 21st-century women mathematicians