Prof. Dr. Eva Viehmann - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prizewinner 2024
Mathematics, University of Münster
Eva Viehmann, an outstanding mathematician, receives the Leibniz Prize for her influential work on arithmetic algebraic geometry in connection with the Langlands programme. Established by Robert Langlands in 1967, this programme consists of a series of far-reaching conjectures linking number theory and representation theory. The programme is one of the most fascinating in theoretical mathematics and is still far from being fully researched. It involves seemingly mysterious connections between prime numbers, integer solutions of polynomial equations and “arithmetic” on the one hand and the harmonic analysis of oscillations and spectra on the other. Viehmann is significantly advancing this field of research through her work. In doing so, she has developed a rich geometric understanding of the parameter spaces that occur, such as an appropriate breakdown of their dimensions (“stratification”). In addition, Viehmann is the originator of the theory in the case of bodies with the same characteristics; here, too, she has deciphered stratification. One of her strengths is the elaboration of group-theoretic formulations behind various structures, phenomena and constructions.
After obtaining her doctorate at the University of Bonn in 2005, Eva Viehmann completed her post-doctoral lecturing qualification in Bonn (2010), following research stays in Orsay near Paris and Chicago. She spent a brief period as a Fellow under the DFG’s Heisenberg Programme before taking up a professorship at the Technical University of Munich in 2012. Since 2022, she has held a chair in Arithmetic Geometry and Representation Theory at the University of Münster, where she conducts research in the Cluster of Excellence “Mathematics Münster: Dynamics – Geometry – Structure”. In 2012 she received the DFG’s von Kaven Award as well as being awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2011) and an ERC Consolidator Grant (2018).