Hiroki Kato, IHES Postdoctoral Researcher, Receives the Takebe Katahiro Prize

The Mathematical Society of Japan (MSJ) has awarded the Takebe Katahiro Prize to Hiroki Kato, a postdoctoral researcher at IHES. His research is in arithmetic geometry.

Established in 1996 for the 50th anniversary of the MSJ, the prize is awarded annually to encourage and recognize outstanding research by young members of the society. It is named in memory of Katahiro Takebe (1664-1739), a leading figure of wasan, the traditional Japanese mathematics that developed independently during the Edo period. A student of Takakazu Seki, Takebe is best known for his circle theory (enri). Using a technique of his own invention, applied to Archimedes’ polygonal approximations, he calculated π to 41 digits. The method was later rediscovered in the 20th century as Richardson extrapolation.

“Having received the Takebe Katahiro Prize, I feel delighted to have my work recognized by the mathematical community in this honorable form,” says Hiroki Kato. “On a personal level, it means a great deal to me that my work is awarded in a tangible way that my parents can concretely appreciate, given that they may have difficulties to understand the meaning of my work but have nonetheless trusted me and supported me all the time.”

He thanks everyone who has supported him throughout his mathematical career, in particular his thesis advisor, Takeshi Saito, who introduced him to mathematical research and nominated him for the prize.

The entire IHES community warmly congratulates Hiroki Kato on this distinction.