Professor Heisuke Hironaka and RIMS

Professor Heisuke Hironaka achieved remarkable accomplishments in the field of algebraic geometry. In particular, his work on the resolution of singularities for algebraic varieties defined over fields of characteristic zero, as well as for complex analytic spaces, is regarded as an enduring achievement that has had a profound impact on many areas of mathematics.

During the 1970s, while serving as a professor at Harvard University, Professor Hironaka visited Kyoto several times and delivered lectures for Japanese graduate and undergraduate students. Shigefumi Mori was among those deeply inspired by these lectures.

From 1975 to 1988, Professor Hironaka held a professorship at the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS) at Kyoto University, and he made significant contributions to the development and administration of the institute, including serving as its director for 2 years from 1983.

We must also remember the Educational Project for Japanese Mathematical Scientists (JMS) started by Professor Hironaka in 1980 and the Japan Association for Mathematical Sciences (JAMS) founded by him in 1984 for a wider range of support. Both JMS and JAMS have provided research support in the mathematical sciences and have fostered many researchers. RIMS also received financial support from JAMS between 1996 and 2000.

In these ways, RIMS has benefited greatly from Professor Hironaka’s contributions.

We express our deepest condolences on his passing.

Yoshinori Namikawa
Director, RIMS