Gerd Faltings awarded the 2026 Abel Prize
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2026 Abel Prize to Gerd Faltings for his groundbreaking contributions to arithmetic geometry.
The European Mathematical Society warmly congratulates Gerd Faltings on being awarded the 2026 Abel Prize. Faltings, of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany, was honoured by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters “for introducing powerful tools in arithmetic geometry and resolving long-standing diophantine conjectures of Mordell and Lang.”
Faltings is one of the central figures in modern arithmetic geometry. The official Abel Prize announcement describes him as a “towering figure” whose ideas and results reshaped the field, not only by settling major long-standing conjectures but also by establishing new frameworks that influenced decades of later work.
Among his best-known achievements is his proof of the Mordell conjecture in 1983, a result that became known as Faltings’ theorem. This conjecture had fascinated mathematicians for around sixty years, and Faltings’ proof was a breakthrough that astonished experts. Another highlight is his later development of Faltings’ product theorem that contributed to the resolution of the Mordell–Lang conjecture.
The laureate page points readers to accessible material on Faltings’ work, including an introduction for non-mathematicians, science articles, and video content. In particular, the site features a video of Gerd Faltings’ reaction to winning the Abel Prize 2026, giving readers a more personal way to engage with the announcement.
Born in 1954 in West Germany, Faltings has received many major distinctions over the course of his career, including the Fields Medal in 1986. He held positions at the University of Wuppertal and Princeton University before moving to the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn in 1994. Since 2023, he has been Director Emeritus there.
The 2026 Abel Prize Award Ceremony will take place in Oslo on 26 May 2026.
Further information, including the official announcement, background articles, and videos, is available on the Abel Prize website.
Image © Peter Badge / Typos1 / The Abel Prize.
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