Zariski, Simpson Win Science Medals For Studies in Math and Paleontology

Oscar Zariski, Dwight Parker Robinson Professor of Mathematics, and George Gaylord Simpson, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology, were awarded National Medals of Science by President Johnson Saturday.

The President annually presents the medals to those who, in his judgment, "are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences."

Both professors will attend a White House ceremony in February to accept their citations with the nine other recipients.

Simpson has won world-wide recognition for synthesizing recent discoveries in genetics and fossil research. He came to Harvard in 1959 from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History.

Zariski, who came to Harvard in 1947 after a year and a half at the University of Illinois and 18 years at Johns Hopkins University, has spent his career applying the principles of modern algebra to the study of algebraic geometry.

Algebraic Geometry

Algebraic geometry enables mathematicians to describe the properties of sets of points in any number of dimensions with algebraic equations. Zariski commented that mathematicians disagree over whether algebraic geometry is the study of geometry using algebraic methods or algebra in geometric form.

Zariski said yesterday that Italian mathematics before 1900 used intuitive methods to prove theorems in algebraic geometry. However, when Zariski began to investigate the theorems, he found the "edifice of algebraic geometry shaky in its foundations." The theorems embodied many "good guesses," but left too much room for conjecture, he added.

Rebuild Foundations

In order to "rebuild the foundations of the field," he began to apply algebraic methods to make the proofs more convincing and was able to use the results of other mathematicians' work and his own original methods to organize the subject on a more solid basis.

Simpson has played a major role in developing the modern theory of evolution. He has studied the problem of whether genetic experiments of the last few years apply to life over millions of years.

He also has scrutinized fossil records to see whether they confirm the discoveries of geneticists who have studied only living organisms.

Simpson also has traced the history and geography of mammals from fossil records and has contributed to the biological classification of mammals.