Year of Award: 1987

Award: Lester R. Ford, and also the Chauvenet Prize in 1989

Publication Information: The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 93, 1986, pp. 505-514

Summary: This article gives an expository survey of the Bieberbach Conjecture, from its origins as a footnote in 1916 to DeBrange's proof in 1985.

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About the Author: (from The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 93 (1986)) Jacob Korevaar has worked in complex analysis and approximation theory, including Tauberian theorems and Muntz-type approximation. Born and educated in the Netherlands, he became an admirer of Hardy-Littlewood-Polya-Szego-wiener. He has spent 25 years in the U.S., mostly at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and the University of California (San Diego). Since 1974 he has been a professor at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the Netherlands Academy of Sciences; he holds as honorary degree from the University of Gothenburg. Mathematics is a family interest (the father-in-law story applies), as are music, languages and mountain hiking.