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Awards
Credit: Miles Reid
Sylvester Medal
Nominations now open
The call for nominations is now open. Please ensure you read through the guidance document fully.
The Royal Society is encouraging nominations of joint collaborations, groups or teams for almost all its medals to better represent how contemporary science is undertaken. In addition, the Society is extremely keen to broaden the diversity of those nominated for its awards, so do please consider all contacts and colleagues.
You do not have to be a Fellow of the Royal Society to nominate or to be nominated for any of the Royal Society medals and awards.
Nominations close on Friday 23 February 2024 at 23:59 GMT.
Sylvester medallist 2023
Professor Miles Reid
The Sylvester Medal 2023 is awarded to Professor Miles Reid FRS for his exceptionally creative research and fundamental insights into higher-dimensional algebraic geometry, in particular the minimal model program for 3-folds, and for untiring work for the community of algebraic geometers.
The award
The Sylvester Medal is awarded annually for outstanding contributions in the field of mathematics. The award was created in memory of the mathematician James Joseph Sylvester FRS (PDF), who was Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford in the 1880s. It was first awarded in 1901. The medal is of bronze, is now awarded annually and is accompanied by a gift of £2,000.
Eligibility
The Sylvester medal is open to UK/Commonwealth/Republic of Ireland citizens or those who have been residents for three or more years. There are no restrictions on career stage and nominations will remain valid and shall be considered by the award selection committee throughout three nomination cycles. Teams or groups may now be nominated for this award.
Nominations
Nominations are now open.
Past winners
Professor D.R. Heath-Brown FRS for his many important contributions to the study of prime numbers and solutions to equations in integers.
Professor Frances Kirwan DBE FRS was awarded the Sylvester Medal in 2021 for her research on quotients in algebraic geometry, including links with symplectic geometry and topology, which has had many applications.
Professor Bryan Birch FRS was awarded the Sylvester Medal in 2020. His work has played a major role in driving the theory of elliptic curves, through the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture and the theory of Heegner points.
Professor Peter Sarnak FRS was awarded the Sylvester Medal in 2019 for transformational contributions across number theory, combinatorics, analysis and geometry.