The Abel Prize
お知らせ

ノルウェー政府はアーベル（1802−1829）を祈念し，数学の重要性を確認するとともに，学生，研究者の研究の発展を図るためにアーベル賞基金を創設し，数学に貢献した人にアーベル賞を送ることを決めました．

お知らせの文面を掲載するとともに，ちょうど生誕200年に当たる2002年8月5日にノルウェーのアーベルが生まれた島を訪問した御前氏の訪問記を掲載します．
アーベル賞については以下のお知らせにあるURL http二／／www．math．uio．no／abel／をご参照ください．ノーベル賞に数学部門が入っていないことは衆知の事実ですが，URL は次のように始まっています．

NorwayIntroduces MajorInternationalPrize
Thereis no NobelPrize for Mathematics，but now
The AbelPrize has comeinto being．

Norwayestablishesfundfbr
internationalprIZeinmathematics， ●tocommemorateNielsHenrikAbel−Weneedtostrengthenmathematicsandthesciences．NielsHenrikAbelwasanintemation

kn0wnNorweglanmathematicianwhonearly200yearsagomadealastlnglmPaCtintheworldof

SCience．AninternationalprlZeinmathematicsdedicatedtohisname，isanexpressionoftheimp
tanceofmathematics，andisintendedtoencouragestudentsandresearchers．

TheNorwegianPrimeMinisteちMr．JensStoltenberg，SaidthisinOslotoday，fo1lowlngtheGove
ment sdecisiontograntNOK200mi11ion（USD22million）toafundfbranewintemationalprizein

mathematics．Thepnzewillbenamedaftertheleading19th−CenturyNorweglanmathematicianNie
HenrikAbel（1802−1829）．TheAbelPrizewi11beawardedannually，andisintendedtopresentt
丘eldofmathematicswithapnzeonthehighestlevel．

Mr．StoltenbergannounCedtheestablishingoftheAbelPrizeinalectureattheUniversityofOslo
TbeprizehasbeenpreparedbyagroupattheUniversitysmathematicsdq）artment．

TheAbelPrizeFundwillbeestablishedatthe200thanniversaryforNielsHemikAbel sbirth，in2002・Theprizewi11haveaninitialcapitalofNOK200mi11ion（USD22million）．Thefundwillbe
astatefund，WheretheannualyieldshallcovertheprlZeandamgorawardevent．Laureateswillbe

appointedbyanindependentcommitteeofintemationalmathematicians．

一TheNorwegianGovernmentisworkingtofocusmoreonmathematicsandsciencethanw

hasbeenthecaseinrecentyears．Theestablishmer！tOftheAbelPrizeishopedtohaveseveralposi

tivee飴cts：increasedinterestamOngyOumgPeOpletostudyscience，Strengtheningofthecountry s

researchinthefieldofmathematics，increasedawarenessofNorwayasacountryofknowledgeandleamlng，aSWellaspositiveinternationalawareness，thePrimeMinistersaid．

LargepartsofthewesternWOrldisnowseelngalackofinterestinsciencesubjects．Aprizetocom−

memorateNielsHerlrikAbelisintendedtounderlinetheimportanceofmathematicsandscience．me
Planstoestablishtheprizehavealreadyseenwidesupport，inNorweglanaSWellasininternationalCircles．Amongothers，theEuropeanMathematicalSocietyandtheInternationalMathematicalSo
etyarebehindtheinitiative．meprizewillthushavebothnationalandinternationalsupport．

AnAbelPrizewasfirstproposedin1902，byKingOscarIIofSwedenandNorway．However；pl

WeredroppedastheunionbetweenthetwocoumtrieswasdissoIvedin1905．mus，thefieldofmath−ematicshasneverhadanintemationalpnzeofthesamedimensionsandimportanceastheNobel
prize．

TheAbelPrizewillbeanannualPrizevaluedatapproximately
6millionNOK，OrarOund800．000Euro
Theceremonywi11probablybeheldearlyJune

Therewillbeansymposiuminconnectionwi血theceremony

TheNie）sHenrikAbelMemorialFund−Guide）ines
TIleFundl．TheNielsHenrikAbelMemorialFund（〃7eLsHenrikAbeLfminn4bnd）wasestablishedoJanuary2002，ref二PropositionNo．1（2001−2002）tothe StortingandBudgetProposalS．No（200ト2002）．

2．memainobjectofestablishingtheNielsHeI】rikAbelMemorialFundistoawardaninternationa

Prizeforoutstandingscientificworkinthefieldofmathematics．meprlZeShallcontributetowards
raisingthestatusofmathematicsinsocietyandstimulatingtheinterestofchildrenandyoungpeople
inmathematics．

3．TheNielsHemikAbelMemorialFundisadministeredbytheNorwegianMinistryofEducation
andResearCh．OnitsestablishmenttheFundhadaninitialcapitalofNOK200mi11ion．Theannual

returnOnthiscapitalisallocatedtotheNorweglanAcademyofScienceandLetterswhichisrespon−
Siblefbr■［heawardtotheAbellaureateandforotherusesofthefunds（SeeItem5）．

4．TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersappolntSaboardoftruSteeSandacommitteeof
mathematiciansfbrtheAbelPrize．TheAbelBoardshallhavetheresponsibilityfbrallocatingthe

returnOnCaPitalandfbreventsincoruunctionwiththepresentationoftheprize．TheAbelCommittee
isresponsiblefornominatlngandrecommendingcandidatesfortheAbelPrize．
5．mereturnOnCaPitalshallbeusedfor：−theawardtotheAbellaureate−eVentSincoqunCtionwiththepresentationofthepnze−eVentStargetingchildrenandyoungPeOPle
TIleAbelBoard6．TheBoardfortheNielsHenrikAbelMemorialFundshallconsistoffivepersonsappointedbythe
NorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersasproposedby：−TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLetters（2persons）−TheRoyalNorwegianSocietyofSciencesandLetters（1person）−TheNorwegianCouncilforHigherEducation（1perSOn）−TheUniversityofOslo（1perSOn）
AtleastonememberoftheBoardshallhaveconnectionswithworkinglifbn）uSinessandindustry．

7．meNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersappolntSthechairmanOftheAbelBoard．Tbe
Boardisappointedfbraperiodoffouryearsandcanbereappointedonce．InthecaseofBoardmem−
berswhoareappointedatthesuggestionofpublicinstitutions，thegovernmentregulationsregarding

genderrepresentationwillapply．
8．TheAbelBoardisresponsiblefororganlZlngeVentSincoTUunCtionwiththepresentationofthe
Prizeandfbrachievingtheotherobjects（seeItem5）．EachyeartheBoarddrawsupabudgetanda
Planfortheuseofthefunds．TTlebudgetsha11beapprovedbytheNoIWegianAcademyofScienceandLetters．

NominationaIldse）ectionofAbellaureates
9．meNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersappo）ntSanAbelCommittee・TheAbelCommit一teeconsistsoffivepersons，Whoareo11tStandingresearchscientistsinthe負eldofmathematics．Both
Norweglanandnon−NorweglanCitizensmaybemembersofthecommittee．

ThemembersoftheAbelCommitteeareappointedfbr乙Periodoftwoyearsandmaybere叩POin
OnCe．

10．TheAbelCommitteeshal1：−nOminatecandidatesfortheAbelPrize−SubmitarecommendationtotheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLetters．
11．TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersselectstheAbellaureateonthebasisofthe
recommendation舟omtheAbelCommittee．

Administration

12・TheNielsHenrikAbelMemorialFundisnotanindependentinstitutionanditisnotasep

legalbody．
13．TbeFund scapitalhasbeeninvestedasanaccountloantotheGovernmentatarateofinterest
equaltotheinterestongovernmentbondswithaten−yearterm・
14．mepreviousyear

sre血rI10ntheFllnd

scapitalisenteredeachyearasincomeinthegovemm

budget．TheamountistranSftrredtotheexpensesideofthegovernmentbudgetanda1locatedasa
granttotheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLetters．

15．IntheeventthattheCommitteedoesnot丘ndaworthylaureateoneyeaI；itmayresoIveawardtheprlZe．Inthiscase，thereturnoncapitalshal1beaddedtotheFund sinitialcapital．

16．neNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersadministerstheallocationinaccordancewith
generallyacceptableaccountingpracticeandasinstruCtedbytheMinistryofEducationandResearch．
TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLettersreportseachyeartotheMinistryofEducationand
Researchontheuseofthefunds．

Reporting

17．AdescriptionofroutineshasbeendrawnuPintheMinistryofEducadonandResearchfor
accountingandpracticalhandlingoftheFund scapital．
18，meMinistryofEducationandResearchreportseachyeartotheStortingontheuseoftheFund
assets．

AmendmerLtOftheGuidelines
19．TheguidelinesgovemingtheNielsHenrikAbelMemorialFundmaybeamendedbytheMinistry
OfEducationandResearch．

IssuedbytheMinistryofEducationandResearchonllApri12002．
TrondFevolden

Secretary General

W町制蘭酢摘．旦呈i乱調0／aわe旦ノ′s