American Mathematician John Tate Awarded Abel Prize

American mathematician John Tate on Wednesday won one of the world's leading mathematics awards, the Abel Prize, "for his vast and lasting impact on the theory of numbers," the prize committee said, reports AFP.

Tate, an 85-year-old mathematics professor who recently retired from the University of Texas, is a "prime architect" in the development of the theory of numbers, which "stretches from the mysteries of prime numbers to the way in which we store, transmit and secure information in modern computers," the jury at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said.

"Many of the major lines of research in algebraic number theory and arithmetic geometry are only possible because of the incisive contributions and illuminating insights of John Tate," the jury said.

"He has truly left a conspicuous imprint on modern mathematics," it added.

The Abel Prize, in memory of Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829), was created by the Norwegian government in 2003 to make up for the absence of a Nobel mathematics prize.