JUSTIN MOORE WINS $25,000 PRIZE IN YOUNG SCHOLAR'S COMPETITION IN VIENNA
Justin Moore is the winner among 10 finalists from around the world who competed for a $25,000 prize at an international symposium in Vienna, Austria, on April 27. The symposium celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famed Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel.
Moore, 31, competed in the Young Scholar’s Competition at the "Horizons of Truth Gödel Centenary 2006" in Vienna, held Wednesday through Saturday, March 26-29. Moore was selected by a panel of international judges after submitting his resumé and a brief summary of his research proposal. Sixty-three applicants, all born in 1970 or later, vied for the 10 finalist spots.
Moore received an all-expenses paid trip to Vienna for the event. "I think the competition will be both a spectacle and a big celebration of Gödel and his work," he said before leaving.
Moore had only about 10 minutes to talk about his research proposal and how it relates to Gödel’s landmark contributions, a short amount of time given the complexity of the subject matter. As the winner, selected by a panel of international judges, he will receive the grand prize of 20,000 euros or about $25,000 at current exchange rates. First and second runners up each received 5,000 euros, or about $6,200.
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov announced the Young Scholar’s Competition winners on Friday, the 100th anniversary of Gödel’s birth, at a gala dinner at Austria’s famous Belvedere Palace. In addition to the contest, the symposium included a variety of presentations from top scholars from around the world. Austrian president Heinz Fischer officiated at the symposium’s opening celebration on Wednesday.
Gödel, a contemporary and friend of Albert Einstein, is famous for his wide-ranging theories that continue to influence issues as diverse as theology, philosophy, cosmology and artificial intelligence. One of his best-known works, published when he was only 25, deals with the notion that not all truths, even in mathematics, are provable.
"Mathematicians have had to come to grips with the idea if you try to write down all the rules, there will always be something you can’t do based on the rules," explained Moore, who conducts research involving set theory, the branch of mathematics that is concerned with sets of objects and rules for their manipulation.
In his proposal, Moore suggested a way to approach the "Continuum Problem," which deals with the size of the set of real numbers. While the content is highly technical, Moore will work to make his talk accessible to judges from a range of backgrounds. Other finalists at the contest presented proposals in areas ranging from "Gödel and German Idealism" to "Software Verification of Gödel’s Second Incompleteness Theorem."
For Moore, who joined Boise State’s faculty in 2000, just being at the Vienna conference with international experts on Gödel was fascinating. "Gödel is a founding father in the area of research I work in," he explained.
To read the Statesman coverage of the competition, click here.
