Laurent Clozel

Laurent Clozel was born on 23 October 1953 in Gap, France. He is a French mathematician and a professor at Paris-Saclay University.

Clozel studies special kinds of functions called automorphic forms. These functions are important in number theory and other areas of mathematics.

One of his main interests is the Langlands program. This is a big idea in mathematics that links number theory with other parts of the subject. It helps mathematicians see connections between different areas.

Clozel’s work is respected by other mathematicians. He teaches and inspires students at the university. His ideas help solve hard problems and find new ways to discover more about mathematics.

Career and distinctions

Laurent Clozel studied at the École normale supérieure and earned a Ph.D. with help from Michel Duflo and Paul Gérardin. For his important work on base change for automorphic forms, he received the Prix Élie Cartan from the French Academy. He also spoke at the 1986 International congress of mathematicians held in Berkeley.

Clozel worked with Richard Taylor, Nicholas Shepherd-Barron, and Michael Harris to solve the Sato–Tate conjecture, an important question in math.

Selected publications

Laurent Clozel has written many important books and articles about mathematics. Some of his well-known works include:

• Simple algebras, base change, and the advanced theory of the trace formula with James Arthur, published by Princeton University Press in 1989.
• Motifs et formes automorphes: applications du principe de fonctorialité, part of a book about automorphic forms published in 1990.
• Spectre automorphe des variétés hyperboliques et applications topologiques with Nicolas Bergeron, published in 2005 by the Société mathématique de France.
• An article called The Sato–Tate Conjecture, which appeared in a book edited by Barry Mazur, Wilfried Schmid, and Shing-Tung Yau in 2000.
• A tribute article for the mathematician André Weil, written with Luc Illusie in 1998.

These publications show Clozel's important contributions to mathematics.