Prizes awarded by the European Mathematical Society
The following prizes are awarded every fourth year at the European Congress of Mathematics (ECM). The call for nominations is published one year prior to the ECM.
For winners see History of prizes awarded at European Congresses of Mathematics.
EMS Prizes
The EMS prizes were established in 1992. At each ECM up to ten EMS prizes are awarded to early career researchers not older than 35 years at the time of nomination, of European nationality or working in Europe, in recognition of excellent contributions in mathematics. In the event of maternity, the upper limit is normally extended by 18 months for each child. For other parental, adoption, compassionate or extended sick leave the upper limit is extended to match the documented time spent on leave. The maximal extension is up to the age of 38 years.
Mathematicians are defined to be European if they are of European nationality or their normal place of work is within Europe. Europe is defined to be the union of any country or part of a country which is geographically within Europe or that has a corporate member of the EMS based in that country.
Felix Klein Prize
Nowadays, mathematics often plays the decisive role in finding solutions to numerous technical, economical and organizational problems. In order to encourage such solutions and to reward exceptional research in the area of Applied Mathematics the EMS decided, in October 1999, to establish the Felix Klein Prize. The mathematician Felix Klein (1849-1925) is generally acknowledged as a pioneer with regard to the close connection between mathematics and applications which lead to solutions to technical problems.
The Prize is to be awarded to a scientist, or a group of at most three scientists, under the age of 38 at the time of nomination for using sophisticated methods to give an outstanding solution, which meets with the complete satisfaction of industry, to a concrete and difficult industrial problem.
Otto Neugebauer Prize
The Prize (established in 2012) is to be awarded for highly original and influential work in the field of history of mathematics that enhances our understanding of either the development of mathematics or a particular mathematical subject in any period and in any geographical region. The prize may be shared by two or more researchers if the work justifying it is the fruit of collaboration between them. For the purposes of the prize, history of mathematics is to be understood in a very broad sense. It reaches from the study of mathematics in ancient civilizations to the development of modern branches of mathematical research, and it embraces mathematics wherever it has been studied in the world. In terms of the Mathematics Subject Classification it covers the whole spectrum of item 01Axx (History of mathematics and mathematicians). Similarly, there are no geographical restrictions on the origin or place of work of the prize recipient. All methodological approaches to the subject are acceptable.
EMS/ECMI Lánczos Prize for Mathematical Software
The Prize established in 2023 by EMS and the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry is to be awarded to a mathematician or scientist, or a group of mathematicians and scientists, for the development of outstanding mathematical software with important applications in mathematics, science, engineering, society or industry.
Eligibility for the Prize is restricted to software whose source is available to the general public for scrutiny. Commercial software meeting this criterion is explicitly welcomed. It is anticipated that many eligible software projects will have a core group of contributors and a larger group of occasional contributors. There is no limit to the number of authors nominated, but nominations with more than five authors should be very carefully justified.
Paul Lévy Prize in Probability Theory
The Prize established in 2023 by EMS, École Polytechnique, the Foundation of École Polytechnique, and the Paul Lévy family, with financial support from BNP Paribas, is to be awarded to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to Probability Theory and its Applications, broadly defined. The Prize is envisaged to be an individual award but in exceptional cases the Selection Committee may award the Prize to a group of up to three scientists.