Robert F. Coleman

Mathematician Class of 1987
location icon Location
Berkeley, California
age iconAge
33 at time of award
age iconDate Deceased
March 24, 2014

About Robert's Work

Robert Coleman is a mathematician who molds p-adic analytic techniques to attack some of the basic problems of arithmetic, yielding discoveries with profound influence on the fields of arithmetic, algebraic geometry, and number theory.

His work involves simplifying equations by working them into purer forms.  His study of the p-adic multi-logarithm is an original extension of work initiated by mathematician Bernard Dwork.  Coleman has devised new techniques in algebraic-geometric number theory and formulated a theory of p-adic integration of differential forms, known as “Coleman integration,” which has had unexpected arithmetic applications. 

Biography

Coleman was an assistant professor and the Benjamin Peirce Lecturer at Harvard University (1980-83) and held visiting lecturer positions at the University of Paris-Sud (1982), the University of Grenoble (1985), and Harvard University (1985).  Since 1983, he has been a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley.  He has published articles in such publications as the American Journal of Mathematics, the Duke Mathematical Journal and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Coleman received an A.B. (1976) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. (1979) from Princeton University. 

Last updated January 1, 2005.

Published on July 1, 1987

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