Pioneering UChicago mathematician wins prestigious Wolf Prize

University of Chicago mathematician Gregory Lawler has been awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize for pioneering research that helped expand the field of probability into new disciplines. Awarded by the Israeli Wolf Foundation, the annual prize honors the greatest achievements in the fields of agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, physics, medicine and the arts. It's the second straight year UChicago scholars earned the top math honor, which was established in 1978 and carries a $100,000 prize. Lawler, the George Wells Beadle Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, shares the 2019 award with Prof. Jean-François Le Gall of Paris-Sud University in Orsay. In its award citation, the foundation noted the two mathematicians' work "became the stepping stone for many consequent breakthroughs." "In many ways I see this award as a recognition not just of our work, but of the general progress and vitality of the field of probability in the last 40 years," said Lawler, a UChicago faculty member since 2006. "These advances have made probability more accessible to many fields that had hard questions that needed mathematical rigor and understanding." For example, Lawler said, when physicists are attempting to model a particular phenomenon, there may be so many variables involved that it's nearly impossible to solve all of the equations involved. One approach is to use random models, and Lawler's groundbreaking work has led to rigorous analysis of such problems.