Belgian-born mathematician Jaques Tits passed away on Sunday, December 5th, leaving behind a legacy of research in group theory and geometry. His tendency to name his contributions after himself suggests that he knew his power.
He won the Abel Prize in 2008, an award created in 1899 after a Norwegian mathematician learned that Alfred Nobel would not give out a prize in mathematics. The annual award did not formally begin until over a century later, in 2001. Since its start, the Abel Prize, which includes over $800,000 in prize money (7.5 million Norwegian kroner), has been given to just one or two academics per year.
Enthusiasts of group theory or incidence structures may enjoy reading about Tits' work, such as Tits buildings, the Tits alternative, the Tits group, and the Tits metric.
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