Fred R Cohen PRIZE

The Association for Mathematical Research has awarded the first Fred R. Cohen prize to Søren Galatius of the University of Copenhagen.

Galatius is one of the outstanding mathematicians of his generation, and  has contributed greatly to the development of algebraic topology. This includes new proofs of the Mumford conjecture on the cohomology of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, a proof of the Hatcher-Vogtmann conjecture on the cohomology of the automorphism groups of free groups, and most significantly his breakthrough work with Oscar Randal-Williams on our understanding  of high dimensional manifolds and their automorphisms that constitute some of  the most outstanding contributions to the area over the last 30 years and open up a whole new approach to the algebraic topology of manifolds.

This prize honors the work of Fred R. Cohen who made fundamental advances in a range of fields.  The award is granted every other year, starting in 2024. The prize recognizes outstanding contributions in the area of algebraic topology from the last ten years. Fred Cohen was a leading figure within algebraic topology, making outstanding contributions to the topology of configuration spaces, the study of exponents of unstable homotopy groups, homology of iterated loop spaces, among many other aspects of algebraic topology.    His influence extended far beyond his own research, in that he attracted many collaborators and mentored many younger mathematicians.