In Praise of Mathematics

On Friday 9 November, ICTP celebrated mathematics with an award ceremony for the recipient of the 2018 Ramanujan Prize. The ceremony took place in ICTP’s Budinich Lecture Hall, and was recorded.

Photos of the ceremony are available on ICTP's Flickr page.

This year's recipient is Ritabrata Munshi of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.

The prize is in recognition of Munshi's outstanding work in number theory, a branch of pure mathematics that studies properties of integers, or numbers that do not have a fractional part. In particular, the Prize cites Munshi's profound contributions to the study of analytic properties of L-functions and automorphic forms. The focus of his work is central to modern number theory, one that links arithmetic geometry, representation theory and complex analysis in many profound ways. Munshi has developed an ingenious method which produced a breakthrough in the field, going significantly beyond what was known before.

Following Munshi's prize lecture, the ceremony featured a guest lecture by Brian Conrey, Executive Director, American Institute of Mathematics.

Immediately proceeding that event, ICTP celebrated World Science Day for Peace and Development with a special screening of the film "Salam - the first ..... Nobel Laureate". The documentary was introduced by the film's director, Anand Kamalakar. Information regarding the film is available at www.salamthefilm.com.