Vaikalathur Shankar Sunder (born 6 April 1952) is an Indian mathematician who specialises in
subfactor In the theory of von Neumann algebras, a subfactor of a factor M is a subalgebra that is a factor and contains 1 . The theory of subfactors led to the discovery of the
Jones polynomial in knot theory.
Index of a subfactor
Usually M is taken ...
s,
operator algebra
In functional analysis, a branch of mathematics, an operator algebra is an algebra of continuous linear operators on a topological vector space, with the multiplication given by the composition of mappings.
The results obtained in the study o ...
s and
functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (for example, Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics ...
in general.
In 1996, he was awarded the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
Shanti or Shanthi may refer to:
In Sanskrit
* Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress
* Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...
, the highest science award in India, in the mathematical sciences category.
Sunder is one of the first Indian operator algebraists. In addition to publishing about sixty papers, he has written six books including at least three monographs at the graduate level or higher on
von Neumann algebra
In mathematics, a von Neumann algebra or W*-algebra is a *-algebra of bounded operators on a Hilbert space that is closed in the weak operator topology and contains the identity operator. It is a special type of C*-algebra.
Von Neumann al ...
s. One of the books was co-authored with
Vaughan Jones
Sir Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones (31 December 19526 September 2020) was a New Zealand mathematician known for his work on von Neumann algebras and knot polynomials. He was awarded a Fields Medal in 1990.
Early life
Jones was born in Gisbo ...
, an operator algebraist, who has received the
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
.
Professor Sunder
at 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 ...
.
He received a Doctor of Philosophy from Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...
in 1977.
References
External links
Indian National Science Academy database
V.S. Sunder
1952 births
Living people
20th-century Indian mathematicians
Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematical Science
IIT Madras alumni
Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Academic staff of the Indian Statistical Institute
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