Page 54 - 8th European Congress of Mathematics. 20-26 June 2021. Presentation of Plenary, Invited, Public, Abel and Prize Speakers at the 8ECM.
P. 54
European Congress of Mathematics
László Lovász
Alfred Rényi Institute of Mathematics
Lovász is a Hungarian-American mathematician,
a research professor at the Alfred Rényi Institute
of Mathematics and professor emeritus at Eötvös
Loránd University, best known for his work in combinatorics and graph
theory. One of the major impacts of Lovász’s work has been to establish
ways in which discrete mathematics can address fundamental theoretical
questions in computer science.
In the 1970s, Lovász developed complementary methods to Erdős’s existing
probabilistic graph theory techniques in collaboration with Paul Erdős
himself, who introduced him to graph theory. This included the Lovász local
lemma, now a standard technique for proving the existence of rare graphs.
Lovász also proved Kneser’s conjecture and helped formulate the Erdős–
Faber–Lovász conjecture, which is to this day an unsolved problem about
graph colouring.
In the course of his work on the foundational underpinning of computer
science, Lovász has also devised powerful algorithms with wide-ranging
applications. One of these, the LLL algorithm, discovered in 1982 with the
brothers Arjen and Hendrik Lenstra, has led to breakthroughs in diverse
fields, including cryptology, algorithmic number theory and computer
algebra. Currently, the only known encryption systems that can withstand a
quantum computer attack are based on the LLL algorithm.
Lovasz is the author and co-author of ten, widely-praised, research
monographs and textbooks, including Combinatorial Problems and
Exercises (1979, 1993), Matching Theory (1986, with Michael D. Plummer),
Discrete Mathematics: Elementary and Beyond (2003, with Josef Pelikan
and Katalin L. Vesztergombi), and Large Networks and Graph Limits (2012).
50
László Lovász
Alfred Rényi Institute of Mathematics
Lovász is a Hungarian-American mathematician,
a research professor at the Alfred Rényi Institute
of Mathematics and professor emeritus at Eötvös
Loránd University, best known for his work in combinatorics and graph
theory. One of the major impacts of Lovász’s work has been to establish
ways in which discrete mathematics can address fundamental theoretical
questions in computer science.
In the 1970s, Lovász developed complementary methods to Erdős’s existing
probabilistic graph theory techniques in collaboration with Paul Erdős
himself, who introduced him to graph theory. This included the Lovász local
lemma, now a standard technique for proving the existence of rare graphs.
Lovász also proved Kneser’s conjecture and helped formulate the Erdős–
Faber–Lovász conjecture, which is to this day an unsolved problem about
graph colouring.
In the course of his work on the foundational underpinning of computer
science, Lovász has also devised powerful algorithms with wide-ranging
applications. One of these, the LLL algorithm, discovered in 1982 with the
brothers Arjen and Hendrik Lenstra, has led to breakthroughs in diverse
fields, including cryptology, algorithmic number theory and computer
algebra. Currently, the only known encryption systems that can withstand a
quantum computer attack are based on the LLL algorithm.
Lovasz is the author and co-author of ten, widely-praised, research
monographs and textbooks, including Combinatorial Problems and
Exercises (1979, 1993), Matching Theory (1986, with Michael D. Plummer),
Discrete Mathematics: Elementary and Beyond (2003, with Josef Pelikan
and Katalin L. Vesztergombi), and Large Networks and Graph Limits (2012).
50
