2015 Ramanujan Prize Announced

The 2015 Ramanujan Prize has been awarded to Amalendu Krishna of India's Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Dr. Krishna won the award for his outstanding contributions in the area of algebraic K-theory, algebraic cycles and the theory of motives; the full Ramanujan Prize citation is here.

Dr. Krishna completed his PhD from TIFR in 2001. From 2001 until 2004 he taught mathematics as the Hedrick Assistant Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. From there he moved to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, becoming a member of the School of Mathematics from 2004 to 2005. He is currently an associate professor at TIFR.

Like many scientists from the developing world, Dr. Krishna faced daunting challenges on his journey to become a mathematician. "During the days of school and early college, there was hardly any one around to explain or teach good mathematics. There were constraints in going to good schools," he explains.

That all changed when Dr. Krishna enrolled at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), where he earned a master's degree in 1996. "I give full credit to my teachers at ISI, whose inspiring and motivating lectures made me learn that mathematics was the right thing to do in future," he says, adding, "I wanted to do something which could be one of the purest things to do, and at the same time, could keep challenging me throughout my life. And my teachers at ISI provided that answer to me."

Dr. Krishna says that his most recent work, which  focuses on algebraic cycles and K-theory, has been motivated by questions "on understanding certain pieces of algebraic K-theory and certain cohomology theories, in terms of algebraic cycles."

The Ramanujan Prize marks the third time that Dr. Krishna's work has been recognized with a prestigious prize. In 2011 he was awarded the Swarnajayanti Prize in Mathematical Sciences from the Government  of India, and in 2009 he won the BM Birla Science Centre's Prize in Mathematics.

The Ramanujan Prize is awarded annually to a researcher from a developing country who is less than 45 years of age on 31 December of the year of the award, and who has conducted outstanding research in a developing country. Researchers working in any branch of the mathematical sciences are eligible. The Prize is jointly supported by ICTP, the International Mathematical Union, and the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India.

For more details, see the Ramanujan Prize website.