Atle Selberg: Difference between revisions

| name = Atle Selberg

| image = Atle Selberg.jpg

| image_size = =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|6|14|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[Langesund]], Norway

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|8|6|1917|6|14|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]], [[New Jersey]], United States

| residence =

| nationality = Norwegian

| field = [[Mathematician|Mathematics]]

| known_for = [[Chowla–SelbergCritical formulaline theorem]] <br /> [[CriticalLocal linerigidity]] theorem<br /> [[Parity problem (sieve theory)|Parity problem]] <br /> [[Weakly symmetric space]] <br />[[Chowla–Selberg formula]] <br />[[Maass–Selberg relations]] <br /> [[Rankin–Selberg method]] <br /> [[Selberg class]] <br /> [[Selberg's conjecture]] <br /> [[Selberg's identity]] <br /> [[Selberg integral]] <br /> [[Selberg trace formula]] <br /> [[Selberg zeta function]] <br /> [[Selberg sieve]]

| awards = [[Abel Prize]] (honorary) (2002)<br /> [[Fields Medal]] (1950)<br /> [[Wolf Prize in Mathematics|Wolf Prize]] (1986)<br /> [[Gunnerus Medal]] (2002)

'''Atle Selberg''' (14 June 1917 – 6 August 2007) was a Norwegian [[mathematician]] known for his work in [[analytic number theory]], and in the theory of [[automorphic form]]s, and in particular for bringing them into relation with [[spectral theory]]. He was awarded the [[Fields Medal]] in 1950 and an honorary [[Abel Prize]] in 2002.

Selberg was born in [[Langesund]], Norway, the son of teacher Anna Kristina Selberg and mathematician [[Ole Michael Ludvigsen Selberg]]. Two of his three brothers, also[[Sigmund wentSelberg|Sigmund]] onand to[[Henrik becomeSelberg|Henrik]], were also mathematicians. as well,His andother thebrother, remaining[[Arne oneSelberg|Arne]], becamewas a professor of engineering.

While he was still at school he was influenced by the work of [[Srinivasa Ramanujan]] and he found an exact analytical formula for the [[Partition function (number theory)#Partition function|partition function]] as suggested by the works of Ramanujan; however, this result was first published by [[Hans Rademacher]]. During the war he fought against the German invasion of Norway, and was imprisoned several times.

title=An Elementary Proof of the Prime-Number Theorem| url=https://www.math.lsu.edu/~mahlburg/teaching/handouts/2014-7230/Selberg-ElemPNT1949.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.math.lsu.edu/~mahlburg/teaching/handouts/2014-7230/Selberg-ElemPNT1949.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|

yeardate=April 1949|

s2cid=124153092}}</ref><ref>

yeardate=April 1949|

volume=50|

for primes <math>p</math>. He established this result by elementary means in March 1948, and by July of that year, Selberg and [[Paul Erdős]] each obtained [[elementary proof]]s of the [[prime number theorem]], both using the asymptotic formula above as a starting point.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Spencer, Joel|author2=Graham, Ronald|title=The Elementary Proof of the Prime Number Theorem|journal=The Mathematical Intelligencer|year=2009|volume=31|issue=3|pages=18–23|url=http://www.cs.nyu.edu/spencer/erdosselberg.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.cs.nyu.edu/spencer/erdosselberg.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|doi=10.1007/s00283-009-9063-9|s2cid=15408261|doi-access=free}}</ref> Circumstances leading up to the proofs, as well as publication disagreements, led to a bitter [[priority dispute|dispute]] between the two mathematicians.<ref name=goldfeld>{{Cite journal | last = Goldfeld | first = Dorian | year = 2003 | title = The Elementary Proof of the Prime Number Theorem: an Historical Perspective | journal = Number Theory: New York Seminar | pages = 179–192 |url=http://www.math.columbia.edu/~goldfeld/ErdosSelbergDispute.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.math.columbia.edu/~goldfeld/ErdosSelbergDispute.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=interview>{{Cite journal|url=httphttps://www.ams.org/bull/2008-45-04/S0273-0979-08-01223-8/S0273-0979-08-01223-8.pdf |firstarchive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.ams.org/bull/2008-45-04/S0273-0979-08-01223-8/S0273-0979-08-01223-8.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |first1=Nils A.|lastlast1= Baas|first2= Christian F.|last2= Skau |journal= Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. |volume=45 |year=2008|pages= 617–649 |title=The lord of the numbers, Atle Selberg. On his life and mathematics|doi=10.1090/S0273-0979-08-01223-8|issue=4|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Selberg moved to the United States and worked as an associate professor at [[Syracuse University]] and later settled at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey]] in the 1950s, where he remained until his death.<ref name="IAS_profile">{{cite press release |last1=Ferrara |first1=Christine |title=Atle Selberg 1917–2007 |url=https://www.ias.edu/press-releases/atle-selberg-1917%E2%80%932007 |access-date=14 October 2020 |work=Institute for Advanced Study |date=August 9, 2007 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Maugh II |first1=Thomas H. |date=22 August 2007 |title=Atle Selberg, 90; Researcher 'Left a Profound Imprint on the World of Mathematics' |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-aug-22-me-selberg22-story.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 October 2020}}</ref> During the 1950s he worked on introducing [[spectral theory]] into [[number theory]], culminating in his development of the [[Selberg trace formula]], the most famous and influential of his results. In its simplest form, this establishes a duality between the lengths of [[closed geodesic]]s on a [[compact Riemann surface]] and the [[eigenvalueeigenvalues]]s of the [[Laplace-Beltrami operator|Laplacian]], which is analogous to the duality between the [[prime number]]s and the zeros of the zeta function.

HeSelberg was awarded the 1986 [[Wolf Prize in Mathematics]]. He was also awarded an honorary [[Abel Prize]] in 2002, its founding year, before the awarding of the regular prizes began.

Selberg received many distinctions for his work, in addition to the [[Fields Medal]], the [[Wolf Prize]] and the [[Gunnerus Medal]]. He was elected to the [[Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters]], the [[Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters]] and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].

In 1972, he was awarded an [[honorary degree]], doctor philos. honoris causa, at the [[Norwegian Institute of Technology]], later part of [[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Honorary Doctors |url=http://www.ntnu.edu/phd/honorary-doctors|title=Honorary doctors at NTNU|publisher=Norwegian University of Science and Technology}}</ref>

SelbergHis hadfirst twowife, childrenHedvig, Ingriddied Selbergin and1995. LarsWith her, Selberg. had two children: Ingrid Selberg is (married to playwright [[Mustapha Matura]]) and Lars Selberg. In 2003 Atle Selberg married Betty Frances ("Mickey") Compton (born in 1929).

He died at home in [[Princeton, New Jersey]] on 6 August 2007 of heart failure. Upon his death he was survived by his widow, daughter, son, and four grandchildren.<ref>{{cite news |first= |last=Pearce |authorlinkfirst=Jeremy |coauthorsdate=17 August 2007 |title=Atle Selberg, 90, Lauded Mathematician, Dies |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=17 August 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/nyregion/17selberg.html |url-access=limited}}</ref>

* {{Cite journal|url=httphttps://www.ams.org/bull/2008-45-04/S0273-0979-08-01223-8/

|firstfirst1=Nils A.|lastlast1= Baas|first2= Christian F.|last2= Skau

|title=The lord of the numbers, Atle Selberg. On his life and mathematics|doi=10.1090/S0273-0979-08-01223-8|issue=4|doi-access=free}} Interview with Selberg

*{{Cite journal | author = [[Dennis Hejhal|Hejhal, Dennis]] |date=June–July 2009 | title = Remembering Atle Selberg, 1917–2007 | journal = [[Notices of the American Mathematical Society]] | volume = 56

| issue = 6 | pages = 692–710 | url = httphttps://www.ams.org/notices/200906/rtx090600692p-corrected.pdf

* {{Cite webjournal|last=Selberg |url=httphttps://wwwlink.iasspringer.accom/content/pdf/10.in1007/resonanceBF02838915.pdf |archive-url=https:/Dec1996/ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/Dec1996Reflections10.1007/BF02838915.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Reflections Around the Ramanujan Centenary|journal=Resonance |year=1996|volume=1 |issue=12 |pages=81–91 |doi=10.1007/BF02838915 |s2cid=120285506 }}

* [http://publications.ias.edu/selberg Atle Selberg Archivearchive webpage]

* [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20151122035028/https://www.ias.edu/news/press-releases/2009-30 Obituary at IASInstitute for Advanced Study]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110524002831/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2477242.ece Obituary in ''The Times'']

* [http://arkivportalen.no/side/arkiv/detaljer?arkivId=no-NTNU_arkiv000000008702 Atle Selbergs private archive] exists at NTNU University Library [https://www.ntnu.no/ub/bibliotek/dora Dorabiblioteket]