Abel
Prize 2017: Yves Meyer wins 'maths Nobel' for work on wavelets
Frenchman wins prestigious prize for theory that links maths,
information technology and computer science
French mathematician Yves Meyer was today
awarded the 2017 Abel Prize for his work on wavelets,
a mathematical theory with applications in data compression, medical imaging
and the detection of gravitational waves.
Meyer, 77, will receive 6 million Norwegian
krone (about £600,000) for the prize, which recognises outstanding contributions
to mathematics and is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
The Abel Prize has been awarded annually since
2003 and was last year won by Briton Andrew Wiles for his work on solving
Fermat’s Last Theorem. It is considered by many to be a maths equivalent of the
Nobel Prize, which has no prize for mathematics.