Adam Marcus (mathematician)

Adam Marcus is an American mathematician known for his work in combinatorics, theoretical computer science, and probability. He has made significant contributions to the fields of discrete geometry and graph theory.

One of his most notable achievements is his work with Daniel Spielman and Nikhil Srivastava on the Kadison-Singer problem, a long-standing problem in operator theory. In 2013, they provided a positive solution, proving the Paving Conjecture and therefore resolving the Kadison-Singer problem. This breakthrough was published in Annals of Mathematics and garnered considerable attention in the mathematical community.

Marcus received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University in 2008, under the supervision of Daniel Spielman. Prior to Yale, he earned his bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Following his doctoral studies, Marcus held positions at various institutions, including Microsoft Research and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He has been a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and later at Princeton University.

His research interests include the development of spectral sparsification techniques and the analysis of polynomials. He has been recognized with several awards for his contributions to mathematics, including the Polya Prize in 2014, awarded jointly with Spielman and Srivastava. His work has had a substantial impact on our understanding of the interplay between linear algebra, combinatorics, and computer science.