Aisenstadt Chairs

The Aisenstadt Chair allows us to welcome in each of the thematic programs (semestral or annual), two or three world-famous mathematicians for a one-week to a one-semester stay. The recipients of the Chair give a series of conferences on set subjects, chosen because of their relevance and impact, within the thematic program, the first of which, in compliance to the donor André Aisenstadt’s wish, must be accessible to a large public. They are also invited to write a monograph in the CRM Monographs Series being distributed by the American Mathematical Society.

These Chairs, which brought Terence Tao (UCLA, the youngest Fields medalist at the ICM 2006), Manjul Bhargava (Princeton, Plenary speaker ICM 2014) and K. Soundararajan (Stanford, Ramanujan Prize winner) are unique in Canada. Since 2002, six of the Fields medalists have held an Aisenstadt Chair (Lafforgue, Okounkov, Tao, Werner, Lindenstrauss, Bhargava); five of these Chairs were awarded their Fields medals within two years of their Aisenstadt Chairs, holding our Chairs at the summit of their careers.

Brief history

Dr. André Aisenstadt, a businessman and well known patron of the arts and sciences, held a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Zurich. In 1991, he was given the high distinction of Grand Officier of the Ordre national du Québec. He always maintained a keen interest in the study of mathematics. For more than twenty years, he expressed his support for the Université de Montréal, creating the chair which carries his name. Dr. Aisenstadt deceased in December 2001.

Stéphane Jaffard (Université Paris-Est Créteil)
October 2023

Other Aisenstadt Chairs to be confirmed.

Ruth Charney (Brandeis University)
June 2023

Zlil Sela (Hebrew University in Jerusalem)
May 2023

Lauren Williams (Harvard University)
October 2022

Rei Inoue (Chiba University)
September 2022

Duncan Haldane (Princeton University)
August 2022

Gustav Lehrer (University of Sydney)
June 2022

Isabelle Gallagher  (École Normale Supérieure & Université Paris Cité)
May 2022

Bernard Derrida (École Normale Supérieure)
March – May 2022