Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck
Personal Information
Born: 1942
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
University of Michigan BA 1964 Mathematics; Brandeis University MA 1966 & PhD 1968 both in Mathematics; NYU-no degree transferred to Brandeis
Professional Life
Field of Study: Geometric Analysis
Institution/Corporation: University of Texas at Austin; University of University of Illinois-Chicago; University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degrees: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000) Ohio State University (2001) University of Michigan (2004) Harvard University (2007) Princeton University (2012); Member: American Philosophical Society (2007) American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1985) National Academy of Sciences (1986) Guggenheim Fellow (2001) Honorary Member London Mathematical Society (2008) American Mathematical Society (AMS 2012) Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM 2020) Fellow Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2019 Abel Prize Norwegian Academy of Arts & Letters; 1998 Noether Lecturer AWM; 1982 MacArthur Fellowship; 2000 National Medal of Science; 2007 & 2020 Leroy P. Steele Prize AMS; 1984 Alumna of the Year University of Michigan; 1995 Sigma Xi's Common Wealth Award for Science & Technology
Achievements: 1 of the founders of modern geometric analysis; contributed to topological quantum field theory & integrable systems; 1991 with Herbert Clemens & Dan Freed founded the Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI); co-founded Women & Mathematics Program at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University
One of the founders of modern geometric analysis
Has also contributed to topological quantum field theory & integrable systems
1st female recipient of the Abel Prize (2019), often called the Nobel Prize of mathematics
Co-founder of Park city Mathematics Institute & the Women & Mathematics Program at Princeton
Donated half of the Abel Prize money (3 million Norwegian kroner) to organizations that promote women in research mathematics