S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan
Born: January 2, 1940 in Madras (Chennai), India
In 2007 S. R. S. Varadhan
won the Abel Prize for his work in Large Deviations Theory focused on the asymptotic behaviour of remote
tails of sequences in probability distributions.
On
being questioned about difficult research problems:
Q: "Very few people, even among those
working on the topic understood Harish-Chandra's work at that
time. What is the wall you had to climb to enter into it?"
A: "I wouldn't say we
understood all of it. We just made a beginning....We had a
specific goal, a specific problem. When you have a specific
problem you learn what you need and expand your knowledge base. I
find that more attractive than saying I want to learn this subject or
that and face the whole thing at once."
from "A
Conversation with S. R. S. Varadhan" by Rajendra Bhatia in The Mathematical Intelligencer,
vol. 30 (2), Spring 2008, pp. 24-42.
 On receiving the Abel Prize in Oslo, Norway. |