Marina Ratner
- Born:
- October 30, 1938, Moscow, USSR
- Nationality:
- American (originally Soviet)
- Profession(s):
- Mathematician
Early Life and Education
- Ratner emigrated to Israel in 1961.
- Earned a master's degree in mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- Received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969, under the supervision of Jacob Feldman.
Career and Major Achievements
- Held positions at the State University of New York, Buffalo and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley in 1982, where she remained until her retirement.
- Made fundamental contributions to ergodic theory, particularly Ratner's theorems.
- Her work solved long-standing conjectures concerning the ergodic and topological behavior of unipotent flows on homogeneous spaces.
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.
- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1993.
Notable Works
- Ratner's theorems are a cornerstone of modern ergodic theory.
- Published numerous influential research papers in leading mathematical journals.
Legacy and Impact
Marina Ratner's profound contributions to ergodic theory have established her as a highly influential figure in modern mathematics. Her theorems have had a lasting impact on the field and continue to inspire research.