沃恩·弗雷德里克·兰德尔·琼斯Vaughan Jones

沃恩·弗雷德里克·兰德尔·琼斯 从八岁到十二岁在剑桥的圣彼得学校就读。1966年，他在奥克兰的奥克兰文法学校开始中学教育。他离校时获得了大学入学奖学金和吉莱斯奖学金，以帮助他在奥克兰大学学习。他还获得了菲利普斯工业助学金。

1970年，琼斯 进入奥克兰大学，1972年获得理学学士学位，1973年获得一等荣誉理学硕士学位。1973年，他获得瑞士政府奖学金，使他能够在瑞士进行研究。他还获得了 F W W 罗兹纪念奖学金。

在奥克兰担任助理讲师一段时间后，他于1974年进入日内瓦的物理学院，1976年转到数学学院。在日内瓦，他的研究由 A Haefliger 指导，他还担任助理教学。1979年，琼斯 获得科学博士学位（数学），次年，他的博士论文获得了江诗丹顿奖。

1980年，琼斯 移居美国，1980-81学年在加州大学洛杉矶分校担任E R Hedrick数学助理教授。1981年，他转到宾夕法尼亚大学，担任助理教授直到1984年晋升为副教授。1985年，他被任命为加州大学乔治·伯克利分校的数学教授。

琼斯 研究了冯·诺伊曼代数的指标定理，继续了孔涅等人开始的工作。然而，他最显著的贡献是在这项工作中，他发现了knots的一个新的多项式不变量，这导致了数学中看似完全不同的领域之间令人惊讶的联系。

琼斯因他卓越而优美的数学成就，在日本京都举行的1990年国际数学家大会上被授予菲尔兹奖。琼斯在1990年大会上作了一场报告，其着装对于数学报告而言相当不寻常。他穿着“全黑队”橄榄球球衣！琼·蕾特·比尔曼在ICM-90上报告了琼斯的工作，并如下介绍他的工作[4]：-

1984年，琼斯发现了冯·诺伊曼代数与几何拓扑学之间一种惊人的关系。由此，他发现了三维空间中纽结和链环的一种新的多项式不变量。尽管在此前60年间密切相关领域活动频繁，他的不变量却被拓扑学家完全错过，这完全出乎意料。随着时间推移，人们逐渐清楚，他的发现以令人眼花缭乱的各种方式与数学和物理学中相距甚远的领域相关……这些领域包括（除纽结和链环之外）与精确可解模型有关的统计力学的那一部分、量子群这一非常新的领域，以及尤金·登金图和简单李代数的表示论。所有这些数学中的核心联系环节是一座嵌套代数塔，琼斯在若干年前证明一个被称为“指标定理”的定理过程中发现了它。

琼·蕾特·比尔曼还谈到了琼斯与其他数学家自由交流思想的方式[4]：-

他的工作风格是非正式的，鼓励自由开放地交流思想。在过去几年中，琼斯写信给不同的人，在早期阶段描述了他的重要新发现，当时他还不觉得已准备好将其提交给期刊发表，因为他还有更多工作要做。尽管如此，他仍要求这些信可以被分享，因此它们被广泛传阅。它们随后成为他人工作的丰富思想来源，这并不令人意外。事实证明，功劳绰绰有余。他在这方面的开放和慷慨，体现了数学的最佳传统和精神。

除了约翰·查尔斯·菲尔兹奖章外，琼斯因其工作还获得了许多荣誉。他于1986年获得古根海姆奖学金，并于1990年当选为皇家学会会士。1991年，他被授予新西兰政府科学奖章，并于1992年获得奥克兰大学荣誉理学博士学位。1993年，他获得了第二个荣誉理学博士学位，这次来自威尔士大学。同样在1993年，他当选为美国艺术与科学院。

他于1999年当选为美国国家科学院院士，2001年当选为挪威皇家科学与文学院院士。2000年，他被授予特隆赫姆大学的昂萨格奖章，2002年被授予新西兰功绩勋章中的杰出同伴勋位。同样在2002年，他当选为伦敦数学会的名誉会员，并被滨海大学授予名誉学位。2004年，他进一步获得荣誉，当选为美国数学会的副主席，并于2007年被授予内西姆·哈比夫世界奖。

琼斯为数学界做出了许多其他贡献，特别是在编辑工作方面，他担任了许多期刊的编辑或副编辑：Transactions of the American Mathematical Society、Pacific Mathematics Journal、Annals of Mathematics、New Zealand Journal of Mathematics、Advances in Mathematics、Journal of Operator Theory、Reviews in Mathematical Physics、Russian Journal of Mathematical Physics、Journal of Mathematical Chemistry、Geometry and Topology和L'Enseignement Mathematique。他曾在菲尔兹数学研究所、埃尔温·薛定谔研究所、伯克利的数学科学研究所、通信研究中心（美国）、儒勒·昂利·庞加莱研究所和米勒基础科学研究所的科学顾问委员会任职。他曾在美国数学会的提名委员会和凯瑟琳·斯蒂尔奖委员会任职，并担任2006年在马德里举行的国际数学家大会的程序委员会委员。

Vaughan Jones attended St Peter's School in Cambridge, New Zealand from the age of eight years until he was 12. In 1966 he began his secondary schooling at Auckland Grammar School in Auckland. He left school having been awarded a University Entrance Scholarship and a Gilles Scholarship to assist him to study at the University of Auckland. He also received a Phillips Industries Bursary.

In 1970 Jones entered the University of Auckland graduating with a B.Sc. in 1972 and an M.Sc. with First Class Honours in 1973. He was awarded a Swiss Government Scholarship in 1973 to enable him to undertake research in Switzerland. He also won a F W W Rhodes Memorial Scholarship.

After teaching for a while as an assistant lecturer at Auckland, he entered the École de Physique in Geneva in 1974, moving in 1976 to the Écoles Mathématiques. In Geneva his research was supervised by A Haefliger and he also taught as an assistant. In 1979 Jones was awarded his Docteur es Sciences (Mathématiques), and the following year he was awarded the Vacheron Constantin Prize for his doctoral thesis.

In 1980 Jones moved to the United States spending the academic year 1980-81 as E R Hedrick Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1981 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he was assistant professor until 1984 when he was promoted to associate professor. In 1985 he was appointed as Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley.

Jones worked on the Index Theorem for von Neumann algebras, continuing work begun by Connes and others. His most remarkable contribution, however, was that in the course of this work he discovered a new polynomial invariant for knots which led to surprising connections between apparently quite different areas of mathematics.

Jones was awarded a Fields Medal at the 1990 International Congress in Kyoto, Japan for his remarkable and beautiful mathematical achievements. Jones gave a lecture to the 1990 Congress dressed in a rather unusual way for a mathematics lecture. He was wearing the "All Blacks" rugby strip! Joan Birman lectured on Jones's work at the ICM-90 and introduced his work as follows [4]:-

In 1984 Jones discovered an astonishing relationship between von Neumann algebras and geometric topology. As a result, he found a new polynomial invariant for knots and links in 3-space. His invariant had been missed completely by topologists, in spite of intense activity in closely related areas during the preceding 60 years, and it was a complete surprise. As time went on, it became clear that his discovery had to do in a bewildering variety of ways with widely separated areas of mathematics and physics .... These included (in addition to knots and links) that part of statistical mechanics having to do with exactly solvable models, the very new area of quantum groups, and also Dynkin diagrams and the representation theory of simple Lie algebras. The central connecting link in all this mathematics was a tower of nested algebras which Jones had discovered some years earlier in the course of proving a theorem which is known as the "Index Theorem".

Birman also talked of the way Jones freely exchanged his ideas with other mathematicians [4]:-

His style of working is informal, and one which encourages the free and open interchange of ideas. During the past few years Jones wrote letters to various people which described his important new discoveries at an early stage, when he did not yet feel ready to submit them for journal publication because he had much more work to do. He nevertheless asked that his letters be shared, and so they were widely circulated. It was not surprising that they then served as a rich source of ideas for the work of others. As it turned out, there has been more than enough credit to go round. His openness and generosity in this regard have been in the best tradition and spirit of mathematics.

Jones has received many honours for his work in addition to the Fields Medal. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1986 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990. In 1991 he was awarded the New Zealand Government Science Medal and given an honorary D.Sc. from the University of Auckland in 1992. In 1993 he was awarded a second honorary D.Sc. this time from the University of Wales. Also in 1993 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science.

He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1999), and the Norwegian Royal Society of Letters and Sciences (2001). In 2000 he was presented with the Onsager medal of Trondheim University and in 2002 he was awarded Distinguished Companionship of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Also in 2002 he was elected as an honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society and awarded an honorary degree by the Universite du Littoral, Cote d'Opale. He was further honoured by being elected Vice-President of the American Mathematical Society in 2004 and awarded the Prix Mondial Nessim Habif in 2007.

Jones has made many other contributions to the mathematical community, particularly in his editorial work as editor or associate editor for many journals: the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, the Pacific Mathematics Journal, the Annals of Mathematics, the New Zealand Journal of Mathematics, Advances in Mathematics, the Journal of Operator Theory, Reviews in Mathematical Physics, the Russian Journal of Mathematical Physics, the Journal of Mathematical Chemistry, Geometry and Topology, and L'Enseignement Mathematique. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Fields Institute of Mathematics, the Erwin Schrödinger Institute, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at Berkeley, the Center for Communications Research (United States), the Institut Henri Poincaré, and the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Sciences. He served on the Nominating committee and the Steele Prize committee of the American Mathematical Society, and on the Programme Committee for the International Congress of Mathematicians held at Madrid in 2006.