Joseph L. Doob Prize

This prize was established in by the AMS in 2003 to recognize a single, relatively recent, outstanding research book that makes a seminal contribution to the research literature, reflects the highest standards of research exposition, and promises to have a deep and long-term impact in its area.  The book must have been published within the six calendar years preceding the year in which it is nominated.  Books may be nominated by members of the Society, by members of the selection committee, by members of AMS editorial committees, or by publishers.  The US$5,000 prize is awarded every three years.

The prize (originally called the Book Prize) was endowed in 2005 by Paul and Virginia Halmos and renamed in honor of Joseph L. Doob.  Paul Halmos (1916-2006) was Doob's first Ph.D. student.  Doob received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 and three years later joined the faculty at the University of Illinois, where he remained until his retirement in 1978.  He worked in probability theory and measure theory, served as AMS President in 1963-1964, and received the AMS Steele Prize in 1984 "for his fundamental work in establishing probability as a branch of mathematics.  Doob passed away on June 7, 2004 at the age of 94.

Next award:  January 2011.

Second award, 2008:  To Enrico Bombieri and Walter Gubler for their book Heights in Diophantine Geometry (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

First award, 2005 :   To William P. Thurston for his book Three-dimensional Geometry and Topology, edited by Silvio Levy (Princeton University Press, 1997).