Francisco Santos, born in 1968, is an internationally recognized mathematician in the field of discrete geometry. Recently Santos became known outside the field of mathematics when, on the basis of explicit examples, he refuted the validity of the Hirsch conjecture in higher dimensions. "The Hirsch conjecture is one of the topics that I would like to further explore with my colleagues in Berlin," said Santos recently when he was in Berlin. The Hirsch conjecture was first put forth in 1957 by Warren M. Hirsch and has crucial significance, for example, for combinatorial optimization and linear programming. That makes it relevant for practical applications of mathematics.

"The Humboldt Foundation accepted our proposal to bring a highly prominent researcher in the field of geometry from Spain to Berlin. This will give an additional push to our research at Freie Universität," said Günter M. Ziegler, a professor of discrete geometry at Freie Universität Berlin.

The Humboldt Research Award winners are invited to spend a period of up to one year cooperating on a long-term research project with specialist colleagues at a research institution in Germany. Francisco Santos plans to come to Berlin with his family from the beginning of August through the end of December, 2013.

Further Information

• Prof. Günter M. Ziegler, Department of Mathematics, Freie Universität, Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838-75668, Email: ziegler@math.fu-berlin.de
• Thomas Vogt, Media Office, Institute of Mathematics, Freie Universität, Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838 75657, Email: vogtt@math.fu-berlin.de 

Internet

• Homepage of Prof. Ziegler: http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/gmziegler 
• Homepage of Prof. Santos: http://personales.unican.es/santosf

Press Image

Professor Francisco Santos. The image may be used free of charge, provided credit is given to the photographer, Thomas Vogt.