{{Short description|American mathematician (b. 1949)}} {{Infobox scientist | image = Charles Fefferman.jpg <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people – see WP:NONFREE --> | image_size = 150px | name = Charles Fefferman | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|4|18|mf=y}} | birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | field = Mathematics | work_institution = Princeton University,<br />University of Chicago | alma_mater = {{nowrap|University of Maryland, College Park}}<br />Princeton University | thesis_title = Inequalities for Strongly Singular Convolution Operators | thesis_year = 1969 | thesis_url = https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9915995103506421 | doctoral_advisor = Elias Stein | doctoral_students = Matei Machedon<br />Luis A. Seco | prizes = {{ubl|Alan T. Waterman Award (1976)| Fields Medal (1978)| Bergman Prize (1992)<br />Bôcher Memorial Prize (2008)|Wolf Prize (2017)| BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2021)}} | Erdős number = | religion = | footnotes = }}

'''Charles Louis Fefferman''' (born April 18, 1949) is an American mathematician at Princeton University, where he is currently the Herbert E. Jones, Jr. '43 University Professor of Mathematics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1978 for his contributions to mathematical analysis.

==Early life and education== Fefferman was born to a Jewish family,<ref>''The Jewish lists: physicists and generals, actors and writers, and hundreds of other lists of accomplished Jews'', Martin Harry Greenberg, (Schocken, 1979), page 110</ref><ref>''American Jewish Year Book 2017: The Annual Record of the North American Jewish Communities'', Arnold Dashefsky, Ira M. Sheskin, (Springer, 2018), page 796</ref> in Washington, DC. He was a child prodigy, entered the University of Maryland at age 14,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/interview-charles-fefferman/|title=Interview with Charles Fefferman - OpenMind|date=2014-01-07|work=OpenMind|access-date=2017-10-22|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/04/archives/new-jersey-weekly-charlie-fefferman-princeton-mathematician-and-an.html|title=Charlie Fefferman, Princeton mathematician, and an equation in his hand|last=Haitch|first=Richard|date=1976-07-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-10-22|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{refn|Some sources say age 12.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2017/01/qa-charles-fefferman-gs-69-2017-wolf-prize-recipient|title=Q and A with Prof. Charles Fefferman GS '69|work=The Princetonian|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14583680/charles_fefferman/|title=A prodigy keeps young by just thinking|last=Schumacher|first=Edward|date=February 27, 1979|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=2017-10-22|page=21}}</ref>}} and had written his first scientific paper by the age of 15.<ref name=":0" /> He graduated with degrees in math and physics at 17,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://alumni.umd.edu/about-us/hall-fame|title=Hall Of Fame|date=2016-05-24|work=University of Maryland Alumni Association|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref> and earned his PhD in mathematics three years later from Princeton University, under Elias Stein. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Inequalities for strongly singular convolution operators".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fefferman|first=Charles|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/1599510|title=Inequalities for strongly singular convolution operators|date=1969|language=en}}</ref> Fefferman achieved a full professorship at the University of Chicago at the age of 22, making him the youngest full professor ever appointed in the United States.<ref name=":2" />

==Career== At the age of 25, he returned to Princeton as a full professor, becoming the youngest person to be promoted to the title.<ref>{{cite web |title=Two named to endowed chairs |url=http://pr.princeton.edu/pwb/98/0608/0608-7b.html |website=pr.princeton.edu |access-date=February 13, 2020 |date=June 8, 1998}}</ref> He won the Alan T. Waterman Award in 1976<ref name=":1" /> (the first person to get the award) and the Fields Medal in 1978 for his work in mathematical analysis, specifically convergence and divergence.<ref name=":0" /> He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/55845.html|title=Charles Fefferman|website=www.nasonline.org|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref> He was appointed the Herbert Jones Professor at Princeton in 1984.

In addition to the above, his honors include the Salem Prize in 1971, the Bergman Prize in 1992,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/pabrowse?purl=bergman-prize|title=American Mathematical Society|website=www.ams.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref> the Bôcher Memorial Prize in 2008,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/notices/200804/tx080400499p.pdf|title=2008 Bôcher Prize|date=2008|website=American Mathematical Society|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref> and the Wolf Prize in Mathematics for 2017,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Wolf-Prize-to-be-awarded-to-eight-laureates-from-US-UK-and-Switzerland-477364|title=Wolf Prize to be awarded to eight laureates from US, UK and Switzerland|work=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=2017-10-22 |issn=0792-822X}}</ref> as well as election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charles Louis Fefferman |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/charles-louis-fefferman |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Charles+L.+Fefferman&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> In 2021 he was awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences.<ref>[https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/noticias/the-frontiers-of-knowledge-award-goes-to-charles-fefferman-and-jean-francois-le-gall-for-their-fundamental-contributions-in-two-mathematical-fields-with-multiple-ramifications/ BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2021]</ref>

Fefferman contributed several innovations that revised the study of multidimensional complex analysis by finding fruitful generalisations of classical low-dimensional results. Fefferman's work on partial differential equations, Fourier analysis, in particular convergence, multipliers, divergence, singular integrals and Hardy spaces earned him a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians at Helsinki in 1978.<ref>Carleson, Lennart. [http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1978.1/Main/icm1978.1.0053.0056.ocr.pdf "The work of Charles Fefferman."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207020108/http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1978.1/Main/icm1978.1.0053.0056.ocr.pdf |date=2017-12-07 }} ''Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians'', Helsinki, 1978. vol. 1: 53–56.</ref> He was a Plenary Speaker of the ICM in 1974 in Vancouver.<ref>Fefferman, Charles. [http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1974.1/Main/icm1974.1.0095.0118.ocr.pdf "Recent progress in classical Fourier analysis."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228045945/http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1974.1/Main/icm1974.1.0095.0118.ocr.pdf |date=2013-12-28 }} ''Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians'', Vancouver, 1974. vol. 1: 95–118.</ref>

His early work included a study of the asymptotics of the Bergman kernel off the boundaries of pseudoconvex domains in <math>\mathbb C^n</math>.<ref name=TheFeff>{{harv|Donnelly|Fefferman|1983}}</ref> He has studied mathematical physics, harmonic analysis, fluid dynamics, neural networks, geometry, mathematical finance and spectral analysis, amongst others.

==Family== Fefferman and his wife Julie have two daughters, Nina and Lainie. Lainie Fefferman is a composer, taught math at Saint Ann's School and holds a degree in music from Yale University and a Ph.D. in music composition from Princeton.<ref>{{cite web|title=At Hooding, advanced-degree recipients, advisers celebrate a long, successful journey|url=https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S43/32/07O06/index.xml|website=Princeton University|access-date=2017-10-22|language=en}}</ref> She has an interest in Middle Eastern music.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lainie Fefferman|url=http://lainiefefferman.com|website=lainiefefferman.com|access-date=2017-10-22}}</ref> Nina Fefferman is a computational biologist at the University of Tennessee who studies the application of mathematical models to biological systems.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fefferman Lab|url=http://feffermanlab.org/|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref>

Fefferman's brother, Robert Fefferman, is also a mathematician and former Dean of the Physical Sciences Division at the University of Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://president.uchicago.edu/deans/fefferman.shtml |title=Deans &#124; Office of the President &#124; the University of Chicago |access-date=2012-01-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204022050/http://president.uchicago.edu/deans/fefferman.shtml |archive-date=2012-02-04 }} Robert Fefferman webpage at the University of Chicago Office of the President</ref> Fefferman is also the nephew of mathematician Abe Gelbart.<ref name="m560">{{cite web | last=Fefferman | first=Charles L. | title=Twentieth Century Geometry | website=Bard Digital Commons | date=1984-04-14 | url=https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/dsls_1983_1984/3/ }}</ref>

==Works== The following are among Fefferman's best-known papers: * {{Citation|last=Fefferman|first=Charles|date=1970|title=Inequalities for strongly singular convolution operators|journal=Acta Mathematica|language=EN|volume=124|pages=9–36|doi=10.1007/bf02394567|doi-access=free}} * {{Citation|last=Fefferman|first=Charles|date=1971| title=The multiplier problem for the ball|jstor=1970864|journal=Annals of Mathematics|volume=94|issue=2|pages=330–336|doi=10.2307/1970864}} * {{Citation|last1=Fefferman|first1=C.|last2=Stein|first2=E. M.|date=1971|title=Some maximal inequalities|jstor=2373450|journal=American Journal of Mathematics|volume=93|issue=1|pages=107–115|doi=10.2307/2373450}} * {{Citation|last1=Fefferman|first1=C.|last2=Stein|first2=E. M.|date=1972|title=''H<sup>p</sup>'' spaces of several variables|journal=Acta Mathematica|language=EN|volume=129|pages=137–193|doi=10.1007/bf02392215|doi-access=free}} * {{citation| last1=Coifman | first1= R. | last2= Fefferman | first2= C. | title= Weighted norm inequalities for maximal functions and singular integrals | journal= Studia Mathematica | volume= 51 | issue=3 | year=1974 | pages= 241–250 | url=http://eudml.org/doc/217916| doi= 10.4064/sm-51-3-241-250 | doi-access= free }} * {{Citation|last=Fefferman|first=Charles|date=1974|title=The Bergman kernel and biholomorphic mappings of pseudoconvex domains|journal=Inventiones Mathematicae|language=en|volume=26|issue=1|pages=1–65|doi=10.1007/bf01406845|bibcode=1974InMat..26....1F|s2cid=125007742|url=http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183535694}} * {{Citation|last=Fefferman|first=Charles L.|date=1983|title=The uncertainty principle|url=https://www.ams.org/bull/1983-09-02/S0273-0979-1983-15154-6/|journal=Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society|volume=9|issue=2|pages=129–206|doi=10.1090/s0273-0979-1983-15154-6|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}} * {{Citation|last1=Donnelly|first1=Harold|last2=Fefferman|first2=Charles|title=L<sup>2</sup>-cohomology and index theorem for the Bergmann metric|journal=Annals of Mathematics|volume=118|issue=3|pages=593–618|year=1983|doi=10.2307/2006983|jstor=2006983}} * {{citation|last1=Constantin|first1=P. |last2=Fefferman|first2=C.|last3=Majda|first3=A. J. |title=Geometric constraints on potentially singular solutions for the 3-D Euler equations|journal=Communications in Partial Differential Equations|date=1996|volume=21|issue=3–4|pages=559–571| doi=10.1080/03605309608821197}} * {{cite journal | last=Fefferman | first=Charles | title=A sharp form of Whitney's extension theorem | journal=Annals of Mathematics | volume=161 | issue=1 | year=2005 | issn=0003-486X | doi=10.4007/annals.2005.161.509 | pages=509–577}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{wikiquote}} * {{MacTutor Biography|id=Fefferman}} * {{MathGenealogy|id=6678}} * [http://www.math.princeton.edu/WebCV/FeffermanCV.pdf Charles Fefferman Curriculum Vitae] *{{cite journal |date=December 2017 | title = Ad Honorem Charles Fefferman | journal = Notices of the American Mathematical Society | volume = 64 | issue = 11 | pages = 1254–1273 | url = https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201711/rnoti-p1254.pdf|doi=10.1090/noti1606|doi-access=free | last1 = Córdoba | first1 = Antonio }} * {{cite web|title=Charles Fefferman - Waves, Spectral Theory, and Applications Conference|date=November 24, 2015|publisher=Applied Mathematics|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjG6SVcVX2E}} * {{cite web|title=Charles Fefferman : Whitney problems and real algebraic geometry|date=December 1, 2015|publisher=Centre International de Recontres Mathématiques|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba5aiWgb72o}} * {{cite web|title=Charles Fefferman - Formation of singularities in fluid interfaces|date=December 21, 2015|publisher=princetonmathematics|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTUcCFj5xMk}} * {{cite web|title=GPDE Workshop - Alexakis' theorem on conformally invariant integrals - Charles Fefferman|date=September 2, 2016|publisher=Institute for Advanced Study|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIg0RDkitcQ}} * {{cite web|title=Fitting manifolds to data - Charlie Fefferman|date=April 7, 2018|publisher=Institute for Advanced Study|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtmzRyrv9tQ}} * {{cite web|title=The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation presents the HLF Portraits: Charles Fefferman|date=February 18, 2019|publisher=Heidelberg Laureate Forum|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r3jULblMvY}} * {{cite web|title=Great Thinker: Charles Fefferman {{!}} March 11, 2015|date=September 2020|publisher=The Frumkes Center|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rKWOcS6Tuw}} * {{cite web|title=JQI Seminar March 22, 2021: Charles Fefferman|date=March 22, 2021|publisher=JQInews|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB_31jLrLQE}} * {{cite web|title=ICMAT Distinguished Lectures - Charles Fefferman|date=October 15, 2021|publisher=Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas ICMAT|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VER3NzEGLd0}}

{{Wolf Prize in Mathematics}} {{Fields medalists}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fefferman, Charles}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American mathematicians Category:21st-century American mathematicians Category:Fields Medalists Category:Complex analysts Category:21st-century American Jews Category:American mathematical analysts Category:Partial differential equation theorists Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Princeton University faculty Category:Princeton University alumni Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:Jewish American scientists Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni Category:Sloan Research Fellows Category:Wolf Prize in Mathematics laureates Category:Mathematicians from Washington, D.C. Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society