17
Leiden Institute of Physics Prof. John Pendry was appointed on the honorary Lorentz chair 2015.
Spinoza Prize for statistician Aad van der Vaart
Dr. Martin van Exter was appointed Professor in Optics.
Aad van der Vaart was awarded the Spinoza Prize for his ground-breaking research in statistics. Van der Vaart conducts fundamental research on models that can help, for instance, to identify genes that play a role in cancer.
Dr. Vincenzo Vitelli was appointed professor Theory of Condensed Matter. Dr. Niels Laurens was appointed Institute Manager. Mathematical Institute Prof. Yakov G. Sinai was appointed on the honorary Kloosterman chair 2015. Prof. Jaqueline Meulman was appointed as member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.
Van der Vaart received the prestigious prize because he is an international leading authority in the research field of mathematical statistics. His books on estimation theories are highly influential works, while his applied statistics make an important contribution to areas such as medical imaging and statistical genetics. Fifteen years ago, he drew wide attention in the Netherlands to nonparametric Bayesian statistics, and it is partly thanks to his efforts that this branch of statistics has developed into a key research field. Van der Vaart not only works with applied mathematics. The core is pure mathematics. “I formulate the necessary concepts and develop theories. These can then be applied to all kinds of situations. But the aim is to formulate a theory that is universal.”
Dr. Bart de Smit was appointed professor of Algebra and number theory.
www.math.leidenuniv.nl/~avdvaart
Prof. Aad van der Vaart was appointed scientific director of the Mathematical Institute. Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science Prof. Natašja Jonoska was appointed on the honorary Pascal chair 2015. Prof. Jaap van den Herik was appointed director of education Mediatechnology.