Frans Oort

Frans Oort (born 17 July 1935) is a Dutch mathematician who specializes in algebraic geometry.

Frans Oort
Oort at Oberwolfach, 2004
Born	(1935-07-17) 17 July 1935 (age 90) Bussum, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Alma mater	University of Leiden
Known for	André–Oort conjecture
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Doctoral advisors	Willem Titus van Est [de] Jaap Murre
Doctoral students	Bas Edixhoven Michiel Hazewinkel Aise Johan de Jong Hendrik Lenstra Joseph Steenbrink

Career

Oort studied from 1952 to 1958 at Leiden University, where he graduated with a thesis on elliptic curves. He received his doctorate in 1961 in Leiden from Willem Titus van Est [de] and Jaap Murre with thesis Reducible and Multiple Algebraic Curves,^[1] but had previously studied under Jean-Pierre Serre in Paris and Aldo Andreotti in Pisa. Oort was from 1961 at the University of Amsterdam, where he became a professor in 1967. In 1977, until his retirement in 2000, he was a professor at Utrecht University.^[2]

He was a visiting scholar at several academic institutions, including Harvard University (1966/67) and Aarhus University (1972/73). In 2008 he was the Eilenberg Professor at Columbia University.^[3]

His doctoral students include Bas Edixhoven, Michiel Hazewinkel, Aise Johan de Jong, Hendrik Lenstra and Joseph Steenbrink.^[1]

Research

Oort's research deals with, among other topics, abelian varieties and their modules. In 1994, he formulated what is now known as the André–Oort conjecture (generalizing a conjecture made in 1989 by Yves André).^[4] In 2000 Oort proved a conjecture made by Grothendieck in 1970.^[5]

Awards and honors

In 1962, Oort made a short contribution Multiple algebraic curves at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Stockholm, but was not an invited speaker. In 2011 he was elected a member of Academia Europaea.^[2] In July 2013, he gave a talk at the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians in Taipei.^[6]

Personal life

Oort married and later divorced author Marijke Harberts [nl] (1936–2020).^[7]

Selected publications

• Commutative group schemes, Springer 1966; Oort, F (2006). pbk reprint. Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-37171-7.
• as editor: Algebraic Geometry, Oslo 1970, Wolters-Noordhoff 1972
• with Ke-Zheng Li: Moduli of supersingular abelian varieties, Springer 1998
• as editor with Steenbrink and van der Geer: Arithmetic algebraic geometry , Birkhäuser 1991; g, van der Geer; Oort, F; Steenbrink, J.H.M (2012-12-06). pbk reprint 2012. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4612-0457-2.
• as editor with Carel Faber and Gerard van der Geer: Moduli of abelian varieties, Birkhäuser 2001
• L. Schneps, ed. (2014). "Did earlier thoughts inspire Grothendieck? by Frans Oort". In: Alexander Grothendieck: A mathematical portrait. Sommerville, Massachusetts: International Press. pp. 231–268. S2CID 17286534.
• with Ching-Li Chai: Chai, Ching-Li; Oort, Frans (2017). "Life and work of Alexander Grothendieck". ICCM Notices. 5: 22–50. doi:10.4310/iccm.2017.v5.n1.a2. S2CID 34440499.