Pitt
Mathematician Honored for Solving 400-Year Mathematical Mystery
Thomas C. Hales has been selected by the American Mathematical Society as an
inaugural Fellow and will have his new book on his mathematical solution
published later this month by Cambridge University Press
PITTSBURGH—University
of Pittsburgh Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Mathematics Thomas C. Hales is the
world’s only mathematician to crack the 400-year-old mystery of the Kepler
conjecture—a theory proposing that a pyramid formation is the most efficient
way to stack spheres. Even the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler
couldn’t prove his own idea when he published it in 1611.
For this achievement, Hales has been selected to join the inaugural class of
the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Fellows Program in 2013—an honor that
recognizes scholars who have contributed to the understanding of deep and
important mathematical questions. The AMS is the world’s largest and most
influential society dedicated to mathematical research, scholarship, and
education.
Hales announced his breakthrough on the Kepler conjecture in 1998 and has spent
most of the last decade engaged with the Flyspeck Project, a computer software
program verifying every single line of his Kepler proof. Such meticulous
examination stems from reviewers’ uncertainty regarding Hales’ proof, noting
they could only be 99 percent certain. This decade-long “proving of the proof”
has resulted in an up-and-coming book, Dense Sphere Packings: A Blueprint
for Formal Proofs, written by Hales and slated to be published later this
month by Cambridge University Press.
“My book examines every logical inference of the Kepler conjecture proof by
computer and is an indispensable resource for those who want to get up to date
with research on the proof,” said Hales. “I am presenting, for the first time,
a new proof of the conjecture in a very accessible way to a broad mathematical
audience.”
Hales joined Pitt in 2001 as Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Mathematics. He has
held postdoctoral and faculty appointments at the Mathematical Sciences
Research Institute, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the
Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of Michigan. He received B.S.
and M.S. degrees from Stanford University, a Master of Advanced Study in Part
III of the Mathematical Tripos curriculum from Cambridge University, and a PhD
from Princeton University in representation theory.
For more information on Hales’ Flyspeck project, visit http://code.google.com/p/flyspeck.
The American Mathematical Society was founded in 1888 to further the
interests of mathematical research and scholarship and serves the national and
international community through its publications, meetings, advocacy, and other
programs. The society promotes mathematical research, encourages and promotes
the transmission of mathematical understanding and skills, supports
mathematical education at all levels, advances the status of the profession,
and fosters an awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to
other disciplines and everyday life.