Math prof garners top award

Penn Mathematics Professor Richard Kadison is a self-proclaimed "low profile" kind of guy. But after winning the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the 73-year-old mathematician might have a harder time maintaining a low profile than solving an algebraic brainteaser. The American Mathematical Society awarded Kadison its Lifetime Achievement prize -- considered the most prestigious prize in the field of mathematics -- on January 14 at a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas. Kadison -- who arrived at Penn in 1964 from Columbia University -- specializes in operator algebras and is one of the leading experts in the field. At Penn, he was named the Kuemmerle Professor of Mathematics and has also been honored with Fulbright, Sloan and Guggenheim research fellowships. Kadison is the first Penn professor to ever win the award. According to Kadison, operation algebras is a "subject that provides us with the mathematical language and mathematical technique for describing quantum physics." The Lifetime Achievement award is given annually to one mathematician -- usually a university professor -- for long-term outstanding research. The ceremony's program attributed the "tremendous flourishing of [operator algebras] in the last 30 years" to Kadison's efforts. The AMS told Kadison in early November that he had won the award, but none of his colleagues knew Kadison was the winner until the day he was leaving to claim the prize. But while only his wife made the trip with him, Kadison joked that his colleagues -- particularly Mathematics Chairperson Dennis DeTurck, who tried unsuccessfully to book a last-minute flight to San Antonio -- were "down there with me in spirit." Kadison said he was happy to hear about his victory. "I was pleased for a lot of reasons," he said. "[The award] is very nice for the University [and] it's very nice for my colleagues." But Kadison also recognized that the award "could have gone to a number of other people as well." "I think I'm also aware of how much luck goes into [winning]," he added. Kadison himself may downplay the importance of the Lifetime Achievement Award, but his colleagues had nothing but high praise for his accomplishments and for the significance of the honor. "It's well-deserved," said Math Professor Gerald Porter, adding that the department has "been a leader for a long time in functional analysis," Kadison's specialty. And Math Professor Jerry Kazdan, who has known Kadison for 32 years, said he was "delighted" for his long-time friend. "It's one of the highest honors the American math community can give to a mathematician," he said.