Renowned for his outstanding contributions to the world of mathematics, Ruixiang Zhang, an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, has been named the recipient of the esteemed 2023 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize. This prestigious accolade, which comes with a $10,000 cash award, will be presented at an international conference in Number Theory held in Kumbakonam, India, during the third week of December, paying tribute to the legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
In keeping with the tradition honoring Srinivasa Ramanujan, who achieved groundbreaking mathematical work during his tragically short life of 32 years, the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize maintains an age limit of 32 years for its recipients, acknowledging Ramanujan’s extraordinary accomplishments.
Building upon his doctoral research at Princeton University, Zhang, in collaboration with Shaoming Guo, introduced a multivariable generalization of Vinogradov’s Mean Value Theorem. This groundbreaking work, featured in a 2019 publication in Inventiones Mathematicae, stands as a significant achievement in the field of analytic number theory.
During his thesis work, Zhang also delved into restriction theory within Fourier and classical harmonic analysis, tackling challenges such as Carleson’s problem regarding the pointwise convergence of solutions to the Schrödinger equation and the two-dimensional case of Sogge’s local smoothing conjecture for wave equations. In partnership with Xiumin Du, their 2019 Annals of Mathematics paper introduced innovative techniques tailored to Carleson’s problem, offering solutions applicable in all dimensions.
Ruixiang Zhang’s influence extends across various mathematical domains, including harmonic analysis and its practical applications. Dr. Zhang earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University in 2017 and has held positions at several academic institutions, currently affiliating with the University of California since 2021. His exceptional work has garnered recognition, including a Sloan Fellowship (2022-24) and an NSF CAREER award (2022-27).
The selection committee for the 2023 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize includes esteemed mathematicians:
- Krishnaswami Alladi (University of Florida) – Chair
- Don Blasius (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Sergei Konyagin (Lomonosov Moscow State University)
- Jonathan Pila (Oxford University)
- Bjorn Poonen (MIT)
- Zeev Rudnick (Tel Aviv University)
- Wadim Zudilin (Radboud University, The Netherlands)