Günter M. Ziegler is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 mathematician. Ziegler is known for his research in discrete mathematics

Discrete mathematics

Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that are fundamentally discrete rather than continuous. In contrast to real numbers that have the property of varying "smoothly", the objects studied in discrete mathematics – such as integers, graphs, and statements in logic – do not...

 and geometry

Geometry

Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....

, and particularly on the combinatorics of polytopes

Polyhedral combinatorics

Polyhedral combinatorics is a branch of mathematics, within combinatorics and discrete geometry, that studies the problems of counting and describing the faces of convex polyhedra and higher dimensional convex polytopes....

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Biography

Ziegler studied at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich from 1981 to 1984, and went on to receive his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

 in 1987, under the supervision of Anders Björner

Anders Björner

Anders Björner is a Swedish professor of mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden...

. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Augsburg

University of Augsburg

The University of Augsburg is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 7 Faculties....

 and the Mittag-Leffler Institute

Mittag-Leffler Institute

The Mittag-Leffler Institute is a mathematical research institute located in Djursholm, a suburb of Stockholm. It invites scholars to participate in year-long or half-year programs in specialized mathematical subjects...

, he received his habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 in 1992 from the Technical University of Berlin

Technical University of Berlin

The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...

, which he joined as a professor in 1995. Ziegler has since joined the faculty of the Free University of Berlin

Free University of Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...

.

Awards and honors

Ziegler was awarded one million Deutschmark Gerhard Hess Prize by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...

 (DFG) in 1994 and the
1.5 million Deutschmark Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is a research prize awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft every year since 1985 to scientists working in Germany. This highest German research prize consists of a research grant of 2.5 million euro, to be used within seven years...

, Germany's highest research honor, by the DFG in 2001. In 2006 the Mathematical Association of America

Mathematical Association of America

The Mathematical Association of America is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure and applied mathematicians; computer scientists;...

 awarded Ziegler and Florian Pfender its highest honor for mathematical exposition, the Chauvenet Prize

Chauvenet Prize

The Chauvenet Prize is the highest award for mathematical expository writing. It consists of a prize of $1,000 and a certificate, and is awarded yearly by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article on a mathematical topic. The prize is named in...

, for their paper on kissing numbers.

In 2006 he became president for a two-year term of the German Mathematical Society

German Mathematical Society

The German Mathematical Society is the main professional society of German mathematicians.The society was founded on 18 September 1890.Georg Cantor was one of the founders and in his honor the society awards the Cantor medal.-External links:*...

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Selected publications

• Proofs from THE BOOK, Springer, Berlin, 1998, ISBN 3-540-63698-6

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External links

• Ziegler's homepage at the Free University.