Charles Fefferman
fl. 1949, Washington, D.C., United States
AnalysisDifferential equations and dynamical systemsTopologyFields Medal 1978
American mathematician who made foundational contributions to harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, and several major geometric problems.
Charles Fefferman developed sharp tools for several complex variables, singular integrals, and partial differential equations. His work on the disc multiplier and restriction phenomena revealed deep links between Fourier analysis and geometry. He received the 1978 Fields Medal.
Workplaces: Princeton University
United States
Award-winning work
Fields Medal 1978Awarded for fundamental contributions to harmonic analysis, in particular to multidimensional Fourier analysis and the theory of singular integrals. Fefferman showed that the Fourier series of an integrable function of several variables can diverge on spherical partial sums, settling the multidimensional convergence problem for the ball multiplier. With Elias Stein he built the modern theory of real Hardy spaces, proving that the space BMO of functions of bounded mean oscillation is the dual of the Hardy space H¹. These results reshaped harmonic analysis and became basic tools in partial differential equations.