Karl SIGMUND,
Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil.,
Born on July 26th, 1945, in Gars am Kamp in Lower Austria,
I attended school in the lycée francais de Vienne. From 1963 to 1968, I studied at the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Vienna, and obtained my Ph.D. under the supervision of Leopold Schmetterer.
I spent the following postdoc years in Manchester (68-69), the Institut des Hautes Etudes in Bures sur Yvette near Paris (69-70), the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1970-71), the University of Vienna (1971-72) and the Austrian Academy of Science (1972-73). In 1972 I got my habilitation. In 1973 I was appointed C3-professor at the University of Göttingen, and in 1974 full professor at the Institute of Mathematics in Vienna. My main scientific interest during these years was in ergodic theory and dynamical systems. From 1977 on, I became increasingly interested in different fields of biomathematics, and collaborated with Peter Schuster and Josef Hofbauer on mathematical ecology, chemical kinetics and population genetics, but especially on the new field of evolutionary game dynamics and replicator equations. Together with Martin A. Nowak, Christoph Hauert and Hannelore Brandt, I worked on game dynamical approaches to questions related with the evolution of cooperation in biological and human populations. Since 1984, I also work as a part time scientist at the Institute for Applied Systems Theory (IIASA) in Laxenburg. From 1983 to 1985 I was head of the Institute of Mathematics in Vienna, from 1991 to 2001 managing editor of the Monatshefte für Mathematik, from 1995 to 1997 vice-president and, from 1997 to 2001, president of the Austrian Mathematical Society. I gave many plenary lectures, for instance at the International Congress of Mathematicians 1998. In 1996 I became corresponding member and, in 1999, full member of the Austrian Academy of Science. In 2003 I became a member of the Leopoldina. During the last decade, I became increasingly interested in the history of mathematics and in particular, the Vienna Circle: I co-edited the mathematical works of Hans Hahn and Karl Menger and organised in 2001 an exhibition on the exodus of Austrian mathematicians fleeing the Nazis and in 2006 an exhibition on Kurt Gödel. From 2003 to 2005 I was vice-president of the Austrian Science Fund FWF. I am married since 1974 with the author and historian Anna Maria Sigmund. We have one son, Willi, born 1984. .