Karen K. Uhlenbeck was born in Cleveland, USA, a great mathematician who was the first woman to receive the Abel prize in 2019 for her pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems, and for the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics. She donated half of the prize to the Institute for Advanced Study Women and Mathematics (WAM) Program to promote more engagement of women in mathematical research.
As a child she was passionate about reading, which finally led her to science.
“I read a lot, and I read everything. I’d go to the library and then stay up all night reading. I used to read under the desk in school, I read all of the books on science in the library and was frustrated when there was nothing left to read.”, Karen said.
After high school, she enrolled at the University of Michigan to study physics; however, she found herself more into mathematics and she later started her Master's degree at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. Meanwhile, Karen married biophysicist Olke C. Uhlenbeck who went to Harvard. Hence, she decided to follow him and studied her master degree at Brandeis University, near Boston, where she also completed her PhD in mathematics.
She continued her career in the academic environment, on research. This allowed her to work alone, so that she “didn’t have to work with other people” and she could compete only with herself, avoiding “the negative aspects of competition.”, as she said later.
As she said: “ One of the attractions of mathematics that had a great impact on choosing my career was, I wanted a career where I didn’t have to work with other people, to work in an area where I compete only with myself and didn’t have to deal with the negative aspects of competition.”.
The road to success was not flat for Karen. In her career, Uhlenbeck had already established herself as one of the world’s foremost mathematicians, having overcome many hurdles, both personally and professionally. But when she looked for jobs at MIT and Berkeley she couldn’t get a position in the same university of her husband, because they did not hire women and due to the “anti-nepotism" rule (Anti-nepotism policies exist to ensure that individuals can't supervise, discipline, work with, or have any influence over the recruitment, salary or promotion of a close relative). Those obstacles may have slowed her down at some points but she achieved what she wanted and then inspired many girls around the world.
Regarding the role of women in mathematics she stated: “Starting from my days in Berkeley, the issue of women has never been far from my thoughts. I have undergone wide swings of feelings and opinions on the matter. I remain quite disappointed at the number of women doing mathematics and in leadership positions. This is, to my mind, primarily due to the culture of the mathematical community as well as harsh societal pressures from outside. Changing the culture is a momentous task in comparison to the other minor accomplishments.”
Currently she lives in New Jersey, and is an advocate for greater gender diversity in mathematics and in science. She has stated that she is aware of being a role model, for young female mathematicians in particular, but that “it’s hard, because what you really need to do is show students how imperfect people can be and still succeed. Everyone knows that if people are smart, funny, pretty, or well-dressed they will succeed. Nevertheless, it is also possible to succeed with all of your imperfections. I may be a wonderful mathematician and famous because of it, but I’m also very human.”
Karen is the symbol of a person who was not satisfied with the ordinary solutions and was not afraid of exploring new ways both in mathematics and in her life. She mentioned about herself: “I find that I am bored with anything I understand. My excuse is that I am too poor an expositor to want to spend time on formal matters.”. On the other hand, to be successful we do not need to be a special person, we all have some deficiencies and downsides but we must embrace all of our features while trying to improve and be a better version of ourselves. Moreover, we need to live a life based on our characteristics, not just follow what is a trend or common in our world, but do what is best fitted to us and follow our passions.