· Award the 2023 World Association of Leading Scientists Award "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Prize" to Arkady Nemirovsky and Yuri Nesterov for a series of groundbreaking works in convex optimization theory His work includes the theory of self-consistent functions and interior point methods, optimization complexity theory, accelerated gradient algorithm design, and methodological progress in robust optimization.

On September 14, the 2023 World Leading Scientists Association Award (WLA Prize, hereinafter referred to as the "WLA Prize") was announced in Shanghai.

Arkadi Nemirovski, Chair Professor of the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, and Emeritus Professor and Senior Scientific Researcher of the Operations Research and Econometrics Research Center and Department of Mathematical Engineering of the French-speaking University of Leuven in Belgium Yurii Nesterov received the "Prize for Intelligent Science or Mathematics".

The 2023 "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award" of the World's Top Scientists Association Award was announced in Shanghai. Image source: WLA Prize

According to the TITAS Award Review Committee and Selection Committee, this award was awarded to Nemirovsky and Nesterov in recognition of their series of pioneering works in convex optimization theory, including self-consistent functions and intrinsic The theory of point methods, optimization complexity theory, accelerated gradient algorithm design, and methodological progress in robust optimization, etc.

Convex optimization is a mathematical problem-solving method that is usually used to find the minimum value of an objective function while satisfying some constraints. It is widely used in the field of machine learning. In convex optimization, both the objective function and the constraints must be convex functions or sets. Visually speaking, the characteristic of a convex function is that the line between any two points is above the function image, like a bowl shape.

Michael I. Jordan, chairman of the selection committee for the "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award" commented: The research of Dr. Arkady Nemirovsky and Dr. Yuri Nesterov triggered the "first-order algorithm revolution". This enables optimization algorithms to be applied to large-scale problems in modern applications and drives the development of new computing platforms to support these algorithms. The optimization complexity theory and a series of acceleration algorithms they established have deepened our understanding of the possibility of optimization and the "optimal optimization method". Their contributions to robust optimization and stochastic optimization methods are crucial to fields such as control theory and statistics.

Arkady Nemirovsky: Focus on optimization theory and algorithms

Arkadi Nemirovski, chair professor at the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Image source: The scientist himself

Arkady Nemirovsky was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1947. He studied mathematics at the School of Mechanical and Mathematics of Moscow State University. He received a PhD in mathematics from Moscow State University in 1974 and a mathematics degree from the Supreme Appraisal Committee of the USSR in 1990. Doctorate of Science. He served as a senior researcher at the Moscow Institute of Automatic Equipment (1974-1987), a senior/principal researcher at the Central Institute of Economics and Mathematics of the USSR/Russian Academy of Sciences (1987-1993), and a full professor at the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (1993- year 2006).

Since 2005, he has been a Chair Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Nemirovsky was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.

Interestingly, Nesterov and Nemirovsky both won the John von Neumann Theory Prize, one of the highest honors in the field of computer science. Nesterov, who is 9 years younger, won the award in 2009, and Nemirovsky won the award jointly with others in 2003.

Nemirovsky’s research interests focus on optimization theory and algorithms. Key research areas include studying complexity theory, developing efficient algorithms for nonlinear convex programming, uncertainty optimization, engineering applications of convex optimization, and nonparametric statistics. During his more than 50-year career, he has co-authored 6 research monographs and more than 150 journal articles on the above topics.

Yuri Nesterov: Global leader in convex optimization

Yurii Nesterov is an honorary professor and senior scientific researcher at the Operations Research and Econometrics Research Center and Department of Mathematical Engineering of the French-speaking Université Leuven in Belgium. Image source: The scientist himself

Yuri Nesterov was born in 1956. He studied applied mathematics at Moscow State University in the Soviet Union. He received a doctorate in applied mathematics from the Institute of Control Sciences of the Soviet Union in 1984 and a full master's degree in applied mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia, in 2014. Ph.D. He served as junior/senior researcher at the Central Institute of Economics and Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1977-2000), visiting professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland (1992-1993), and visiting professor at the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) at the French-speaking University of Leuven in Belgium. (1993-2000).

Since 2000, he has been a professor, full professor, honorary professor and senior scientific researcher at the Department of Mathematical Engineering (INMA) and the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) at the French-speaking University of Leuven in Belgium. Nesterov was elected as an academician of the European Academy of Sciences in 2021 and an academician of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2022.

For four decades, Nesterov has been a global leader in convex optimization. Nesterov's first important results were related to the fast gradient method (FGM). Fast Gradient Method (FGM) is an optimization algorithm used in machine learning and deep learning. Its main goal is to find the best parameters of a model as quickly as possible so that the model can perform better on a given task. These results are increasingly important today and are increasingly used in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Later, he collaborated with Nemirovsky and achieved fundamental breakthroughs in the interior point method theory of polynomial-time algorithms for convex optimization. The theory has since been used to support the solution of linear matrix inequalities, a major tool in modern control theory.

About the Top Science and Technology Association Award

The Top Science and Technology Association Award is an international science award initiated by the World Leading Scientists Association (WLA), hosted by the World Leading Scientists Development Foundation, and exclusively donated by Sequoia China. It will be held on November 1, 2021 at the 4th World Leading Scientists Forum ( WLF officially announced its establishment.

The Top Science and Technology Association Award is awarded once a year. Currently, there are two individual awards: the "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award" and the "Life Science or Medicine Award". The individual award amount is 10 million yuan, ranking among the science awards with the highest award amounts in the world. The same award can be shared by up to 4 winners.

The Top Science and Technology Association Award aims to commend R&D personnel and technology pioneers around the world who have done pioneering work, promoted the theoretical development of their disciplines, opened up new major research fields, or promoted the transformation of science and technology and improved human life, with a view to supporting global scientific and technological progress and more To properly respond to the common challenges facing all mankind and promote the long-term progress of human society.

According to official information, the Top Science and Technology Association Award adopts a nomination system. The review body is divided into a selection committee and a review committee, both of which are composed of outstanding scientists from relevant disciplines in the international scientific community. The selection committee will review all nomination applications that meet the requirements and produce a list of candidates for each individual award; after review by the review committee, a list of winners will be produced; and then the TITTA Award Management Committee will review and confirm the final winner.