Harald Andrés Helfgott is a Peruvian mathematician born in Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

. His main area of research in number theory

Number theory

Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...

 and related topics. Helfgott is currently a researcher (CR1) at the CNRS/École Normale Supérieure

École Normale Supérieure

The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

, Paris.

Awards

In 2008, Helfgott was awarded the Leverhulme Mathematics Prize

Philip Leverhulme Prize

The Philip Leverhulme Prize, awarded by the Leverhulme Trust, is to recognise outstanding young scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that their greatest achievement is...

 for his work on number theory, diophantine geometry and group theory.

In June 2010, Helfgott was awarded the Whitehead Prize

Whitehead Prize

The Whitehead Prize is awarded yearly by the London Mathematical Society to a mathematician working in the United Kingdom who is at an early stage of their career. The prize is named in memory of homotopy theory pioneer J. H. C...

 by the London Mathematical Society

London Mathematical Society

-See also:* American Mathematical Society* Edinburgh Mathematical Society* European Mathematical Society* List of Mathematical Societies* Council for the Mathematical Sciences* BCS-FACS Specialist Group-External links:* * *...

 for his varied contributions to number theory, including work on Möbius sum

Möbius function

The classical Möbius function μ is an important multiplicative function in number theory and combinatorics. The German mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius introduced it in 1832...

s in two variables, integral points on elliptic curve

Elliptic curve

In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point O. An elliptic curve is in fact an abelian variety — that is, it has a multiplication defined algebraically with respect to which it is a group — and O serves as the identity...

s, and in particular for his groundbreaking work on growth and expansion of multiplication of sets in SL₂(F_p).

In February 2011, Helfgott was awarded the Adams Prize

Adams Prize

The Adams Prize is awarded each year by the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and St John's College to a young, UK based mathematician for first-class international research in the Mathematical Sciences....

jointly with Tom Sanders.