MEDIA CONTACT: Charles R. Loebbaka at (847) 491-4887 or at c-loebbaka@northwestern.edu

April 13, 2004

Two Leading Scholars Receive Nemmers Awards

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University has announced the recipients of its 2003-2004 Nemmers Prizes -- believed to be the largest monetary awards in the United States designated specifically for academic excellence in economics and mathematics.

Mikhael L. Gromov, professor of mathematics at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette, France, and Jay Gould Professor of Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, has been named the recipient of the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics.

Ariel Rubinstein, professor of economics at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and New York University, has been named the recipient of the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics.

The Nemmers Prizes are awarded to scholars who display outstanding achievement in their discipline as demonstrated by major contributions to new knowledge or the development of significant new modes of analysis. Each prize carries a stipend of $150,000.

In connection with their receipt of these prizes, Gromov and Rubinstein are expected to deliver public lectures and participate in other scholarly activities at Northwestern University during the 2004-05 academic year.

The Selection Committee for the mathematics prize recognized Gromov “for his work in Riemannian geometry, which revolutionized the subject; his theory of pseudoholomorphic curves in symplectic manifolds; his solution of the problem of groups of polynomial growth; and his construction of the theory of hyperbolic groups.” His work has been revolutionary in a number of basic areas of modern geometry.

Gromov’s work is “both tremendously elegant and immediately relevant to problems in applied mathematics and mathematical physics in a way that reflects his tremendous creativity and excellent taste,” said Ezra Getzler, professor of mathematics at Northwestern University. Getzler commented that "Gromov's work on symplectic manifolds has already played a central role in the development of one of the most promising unified field theories of theoretical physics, string theory. He is a true successor to great geometers of the past, such as Felix Klein, who lectured at

Northwestern in 1893."

Gromov is the recipient of numerous distinguished awards, including the Kyoto Prize (2002), the Balzan Prize (1999), the Leroy P. Steele Prize (1997), the Lobatchewski Medal (1997), the Wolf Prize (1993), the Prix UAP (1989), Elie Cartan Prize (1984), Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry (1981), and the Moscow Mathematical Society Prize (1971). He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva (1992). He was invited to give addresses to four International Conferences of Mathematicians, including a plenary lecture in 1986.

Gromov is an overseas member of the National Academy of Sciences, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Academy of Sciences (Paris).

Before joining the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in 1982, Gromov was a member of the faculty at Leningrad University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Universite de Paris VI. He obtained his master’s, doctorate and state doctor’s degree from Leningrad University.

The Selection Committee for the economics prize recognized Rubinstein “for a broad series of highly original contributions to game theory in economics, ranging from analyses of bargaining and repeated games to models of bounded rationality.”

Rubinstein’s work on non-cooperative bargaining has been extraordinarily influential, with well over 700 citations. He was among the first to develop a compelling game theoretic model of non-cooperative bargaining with a unique solution to the bargaining problem.

“He is widely recognized as one of the most important and creative economic theorists of our day,” said Eddie Dekel, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Economics at Northwestern. “He has worked on several of the most important problems in economic theory and led the development of literatures in several areas of research.” Dekel added that Rubinstein’s “seminal contributions to economics -- especially in bargaining, a basic economic activity -- have opened up new avenues of research and new ways of thinking,”

Rubinstein began his academic career as an economics faculty member of The Hebrew University. He then joined the department of economics at Tel Aviv University where he serves as professor and holds the Salzberg Chair.

He is an overseas member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow and current president of the Econometric Society, and fellow of the Israeli Academy of Sciences. He is a recipient of the Michael Bruno Memorial Award (2000) and the Pras Israel (2002). He has held editorial positions on such leading journals as Econometrica, the Journal of Economic Theory, the Review of Economic Studies, and Games and Economic Behavior.

Rubinstein delivered the Walras-Bowley Lecture at The Econometric Society meeting (1988); the Churchill Lecture (Cambridge University, 1996); the Zeuthen Lecture (Copenhagen, 1996); the Pareto Lecture (Alicante, 1996); the Schwartz Lecture (Northwestern University, 1998); the Schumpeter Lecture (European Economic Association, Bolzano, 2000); and the Woodward Lecture (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2003).

Rubinstein received degrees in economics and mathematics -- bachelor’s, master’s and a doctorate -- from The Hebrew University.

“We are proud once again to recognize two exceptional scholars with Nemmers Prizes,” said Northwestern University Provost Lawrence B. Dumas. “Since the prizes were first awarded in 1994, they have become recognized as among the leading awards in their fields.”

The Nemmers Prizes are made possible through bequests from the late Erwin E. Nemmers, a former member of the Northwestern University faculty, and his brother the late Frederic E. Nemmers, both of Milwaukee. The prizes are awarded every other year.

Erwin Esser Nemmers, who persuaded his brother to join him in making a substantial contribution to Northwestern, served as a member of the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management from 1957 until his retirement in 1986. Along with his brother, Frederic E. Nemmers, he was a principal in a Milwaukee-based, family-owned church music publishing house.

Their gifts, totaling $14 million, were designated by Erwin and Frederic Nemmers for two purposes: the establishment of four endowed professorships in the Kellogg School of Management and the establishment of the Nemmers Prizes.

Consistent with the terms of the Nemmers bequests, the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics (named in honor of the Nemmers' father) and the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics (named by Erwin in honor of his brother) are designed to recognize "work of lasting significance" in the respective disciplines. In particular, the prizes recognize "major contributions to new knowledge or the development of significant new modes of analysis."

A third award, the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition, was announced in fall 2003 and will be awarded in 2004-05. Like the economics and mathematics prizes, the music prize will be awarded every other year; it will have a value of $100,000.