Forskings- og høgare utdanningsministerens tale på Abelprisbanketten 2024

Dear Laureate, Minister, Ambassador, Ladies and Gentlemen
dear friends,

on behalf of the Norwegian government, I have the honour of welcoming you to Akershus castle and this year’s Abel Prize Banquet.

First, let me start by congratulating professor Michel Talagrand on receiving the Abel prize!

Tonight we celebrate your great contributions to probability theory, functional analysis, and statistics.

We also celebrate the world from which your research springs:

the community of mathematicians and scientists world-wide. We honour their curiosity, persistence, and their ability to open doors. Doors which bring new opportunities to human kind.

This is what mathematics is all about – to quote Mr. Talagrand himself: Mathematics gives you wings!

Mathematics gives us all wings.

Concepts such as stochastic processes and spin glasses might sound foreign to many – maybe not to the many bright minds of this assembly, but for the general population, indeed.

But probability is always present in our lives. It is the thought of how likely it is that something we really want to happen, will happen. To Norwegians, that is often nice weather…

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Professor Talagrand, your theories are immensely relevant for the time we live in.

They enable us to predict the height of waves or wind force so that we can build secure constructions and industries. As the climate becomes more extreme and unpredictable, this is a critical tool.

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Professor Talagrand, you are a highly productive scientist and you have already received a wide range of prizes.  

Yet, you reacted with big surprise when you got the news that you were the 2024 Abel Prize Laureate in March. I believe this is what you said:

«if I had heard that an alien mothership had landed in front of the city hall, I don’t think I would have been more surprised».

My question is: For such a distinguished scientist, what is the likeliness of a reaction like that?! Can you please do the math? 

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Your reaction is a sign of great humbleness.

The fact that you have dedicated previous price money to set up a mathematical prize for young researchers, is honourable.

The youth will open even new doors in the future. To spark their interest in math, we need inspiring teachers.

Just like the young Abel himself, I know that you had to overcome many obstacles as a child. And just like Abel, I assume that you’ve had important teachers and role models in your life.

For Abel, it was his teacher Bernt Michael Holmboe who discovered his exceptional talent.

Each year the Holmboe Prize is awarded for outstanding efforts in the teaching of mathematics.

I am pleased to tell you that we have this year’s Holmboe prize laureate, Pål Harald Hansen, here with us tonight (please stand up).

Mr. Hansen has over 30 years of experience as a math teacher – and the prize committee has been highly impressed by the way he stimulates students' curiosity about mathematics. Thank you for your great work, and congratulations.

Finally, I would like to ask this year’s winners of the annual Abel mathematics competition for pupils in high schools to please stand up.

• David S. Eikeland (Sandnes videregående skole)
• Aksel Løvholt (Oslo katedralskole)
• Ivar Lee Fevang (Thora Storm videregående skole)

You will be part of the team representing Norway in the International Mathematical Olympiad later this summer. Your achievements are impressive, and I wish you the best of luck.

Now I hope you will join me in a toast to this year’s Abel Prize Laureate Professor Michel Talagrand!

SKÅL!