Alain Connes

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Alain Connes bigraphy, stories - Mathematician

Alain Connes : biography

1 April 1947 –

Alain Connes ( born 1 April 1947) is a French mathematician, currently Professor at the Collège de France, IHÉS, The Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University.

Work

Alain Connes studies operator algebras. In his early work on von Neumann algebras in the 1970s, he succeeded in obtaining the almost complete classification of injective factors. Following this he made contributions in operator K-theory and index theory, which culminated in the Baum-Connes conjecture. He also introduced cyclic cohomology in the early 1980s as a first step in the study of noncommutative differential geometry.

Connes has applied his work in areas of mathematics and theoretical physics, including number theory, differential geometry and particle physics.

Awards and honours

Connes was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982, the Crafoord Prize in 2001 and the gold medal of the CNRS in 2004. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and several foreign academies and societies, including the Danish Academy of Sciences, Norwegian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, and US National Academy of Sciences.

Books

  • Alain Connes and Matilde Marcolli: Noncommutative Geometry, Quantum Fields and Motives, Colloquium Publications, American Mathematical Society, 2007, ISBN 978-0821842102
  • Alain Connes, Andre Lichnerowicz, Marcel Paul Schutzenberger, Jennifer Gage (translator): Triangle of Thought, American Mathematical Society, 2001, ISBN 978-0821826140
  • Jean-Pierre Changeux, Alain Connes, M. B. DeBevoise (translator): Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics, Princeton University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0691004051
  • Alain Connes: Noncommutative Geometry, Academic Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0121858605