Apr 12, 2007 :: S S R Varadhan wins the Abel Prize

Srinivasa S R Varadhan, born in Chennai and living in America since 1963 has won the Abel Prize for 2007. It is considered the Nobel Prize for mathematics. Varadhan is credited with playing a big part in mainstreaming probability theory.

Here is an interesting excerpt from the biographical note put out by the Abel institution: “It is reported that during his thesis defence Varadhan noticed a visitor whom he did not know and who asked many penetrating questions. After the exam he discovered that it was the great Russian mathematician and probabalist A N Kolmogorov. Apparently Professor C R Rao [Varadhan’s thesis advisor] arranged the date of the exam knowing Kolmogorov would be visiting India then, in order to show off his star student, and Kolmogorov was not disappointed.”