Jean Bourgain, VUB alumnus, has received the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, for “multiple transformative contributions to analysis, combinatorics, partial differential equations, high-dimensional geometry, and number theory.” A member of the Institute Faculty since 1994, Bourgain was cited by the prize committee for solving major problems in vector spaces, as well as expander graphs; proving one of the two most fundamental theorems in ergodic theory; and developing novel techniques and insights applicable across a wide range of fields. A 1994 recipient of the Fields Medal, Bourgain has produced important work with impact across theoretical computer science, group expansion, spectral gaps, and the theory of exponential sums in number theory. 

On September 30th 2016 Maya Van Campenhout obtained the academic degree of Doctor of Sciences with the following doctoral thesis:
Finitely generated algebras defined by homogeneous quadratic monomial relations and their underlying monoids
Promotor: Prof. Dr. Eric Jespers

In the 1970s and 80s one of Belgium’s most brilliant minds studied and worked at VUB. Jean Bourgain has spent, however, the largest part of his career at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Valhalla for theorists. The institute plans to honour Bourgain for his contribution to the field of pure mathematics at a unique event.