Laurent Clozel

Laurent Clozel (born 23 October 1953 in Gap, France) is a French mathematician and professor at Paris-Saclay University. He has made important contributions to the study of automorphic forms, which are special kinds of functions used in number theory and other areas of mathematics.

One of his key areas of research is the Langlands program, a major and still developing idea in mathematics that connects number theory with other parts of the subject. This program helps mathematicians understand deep relationships between different mathematical fields.

Clozel's work has earned him respect in the mathematical community, and he continues to teach and inspire students at the university level. His ideas help solve difficult problems and open new paths for discovery in 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, a big 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 the field of mathematics.