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JIRI PATERA WINNER of
2004 CAP/CRM PRIZE IN THEORETICAL AND MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS

The CRM-CAP Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics is awarded to Jiri Patera, University of Montréal, for his outstanding contributions to Lie group and Lie algebra theory, with applications to elementary particle and nuclear physics and to quantum chemistry, and more recently for his significant contributions to the mathematical theory of quasicrystals, with applications to condensed matter physics and cryptography.

The Prize, consisting of a medal and a cash award of $2000, will be presented to him at the Annual Congress which will take place next June in Winnipeg. He will also be invited to give a talk.

Coming from elementary particle physics, Jiri Patera was attracted very early to the underlying mathematics, and in 1965, while a postdoctoral fellow at the Université de Montréal, he focused his attention on the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras. The numerous contributions he made with various collaborators (amongst others, P. Winternitz, H Zassenhaus, R. Sharp and R. Moody) have left an indelible mark on this discipline, in which he is now considered to be one of the best specialists in the world. The areas where his contributions were crucial include the representation theory of compact and non-compact Lie groups, generating functions in group representation theory, discrete Fourier analysis on simple and semi-simple Lie groups, and Lie algebra gradings. In 1992, in collaboration with R. Moody, he undertook a remarkable series of investigations on the mathematical properties of quasi-crystals.

Combining a deep physical intuition with an exceptional knowledge of mathematics, Jiri Patera has displayed much inventiveness in proposing new approaches to old problems. He has always managed to choose research topics likely to have practical applications, as testified by the six books he co-authored, which give tables on weight multiplicities and branching rules. His work has had an impact on nuclear and elementary particle physics, quantum chemistry and solid state physics. His research on quasi-crystals even had implications in cryptography. After staying in Soviet Union for many years, mainly in Moscow and Dubna, Jiri Patera obtained his Ph.D. in 1964 from the Charles University in Prague. He joined the CRM in 1969, and has been a member of the Department of mathematics and statistics of the Université de Montréal since 1983.