Evan O'Dorney

Evan O'Dorney
Born (1993-09-16) September 16, 1993 (age 31)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Alma mater
Known for
Scientific career
ThesisReflection theorems for number rings (2021)
Doctoral advisorManjul Bhargava

Evan Michael O'Dorney (born September 16, 1993) is an American mathematician who is a postdoctoral associate at Carnegie Mellon University. His specialization is number theory. As a home-schooled high school student and college student, he won many contests in mathematics and other subjects, including the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee, 2011 Intel Science Talent Search, four International Math Olympiad medals, and three Putnam Fellowships. A 2013 report by the National Research Council called him "as famous for academic excellence as any student can be".[1]

Education and competitions

O'Dorney grew up in Danville, California. When he was a child, he was assessed as "'profoundly gifted' with autistic behaviors", but he has never been formally diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder.[2][3] As a home-schooled high school student, he attended classes at the University of California, Berkeley from 2007 to 2011. He was the winner of the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee;[4] an interview on CNN with Kiran Chetry after his win, in which he misspelled scombridae due to the interviewer's pronunciation, later became a viral video.[5][6] During this time he was a four-time International Math Olympiad medalist, with two gold and two silver medals.[7]

In 2010, he won $10,000 (half for himself and half for the Berkeley Mathematics Circle) in a national "Who Wants to Be a Mathematician" contest, held at that year's Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco.[8] In 2011, he won the top prize in the Intel Science Talent Search for a project entitled "continued fraction convergents and linear fractional transformations".[9][10][11]

O'Dorney started attending Harvard College in 2011, where he studied mathematics.[12] He enrolled in graduate classes in mathematics, skipping the undergraduate-level classes. While at Harvard, he was a three-time Putnam fellow.[13] (His first Putnam was as a high school student.) After graduating summa cum laude,[2] in 2015–16 he studied Part III of the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge,[14] on a Churchill Scholarship.[15][16] In 2016 he received honorable mention for the Morgan Prize in mathematics.

In 2021, he earned a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University,[2] with a dissertation titled "Reflection theorems for number rings".[17]

Career

He held a two-year post-doctoral position at the University of Notre Dame[18] and then took up a similar appointment at Carnegie Mellon University.[2] His specialization is number theory.[2]

Other interests

Although his primary interest is mathematics, O'Dorney has had a strong interest in music. In 2007, he composed a song to help memorize the digits of π.[19] At Harvard, he studied music as well as mathematics,[12] and continued to compose music, as well as singing in a chamber music group and playing the organ and piano. He has absolute pitch.[15]

References

  1. ^ National Research Council, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications, Committee on the Mathematical Sciences in 2025 (2013). The Mathematical Sciences in 2025. National Academies Press. p. 142. ISBN 9780309284578.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e Tucker, Jill (June 4, 2024). "He solved a math problem that stumped Stanford profs. Here's what became of a Bay Area prodigy". San Francisco Chronicle.
  3. ^ Texas Math Mundo (April 7, 2023). "Evan O'Dorney PH.D., 4-Time IMO Medalist, Scripps Spelling Bee Champion, 3-Time Putnam Fellow". YouTube. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  4. ^ Tucker, Jill (March 5, 2011). "Evan O'Dorney already has formula for success". San Francisco Chronicle.
  5. ^ Jaworski, Michelle (May 31, 2013). "The top 8 moments in Scripps National Spelling Bee history". The Daily Dot.
  6. ^ Ross, Terrance F. (May 19, 2015). "The spelling-bee obsession". The Atlantic.
  7. ^ Evan O'Dorney's results at International Mathematical Olympiad
  8. ^ "A National Who Wants to Be a Mathematician at the 2010 Joint Mathematics Meetings". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  9. ^ "Danville's Evan O'Dorney wins Intel Science Talent Search". San Jose Mercury News. 2011-03-15.
  10. ^ "Danville HS senior named top winner in Intel competition". ABC7. March 15, 2011.
  11. ^ "American Morning: Crisis in Japan; Americans Living Longer Than Ever; SAT Question Stumps Students; America's Next Top Student; Honoring Math & Science" (transcript). CNN. March 17, 2011.
  12. ^ a b Reston, Laura K. (January 27, 2012). "Freshman O'Dorney Juggles Math and Music". The Harvard Crimson.
  13. ^ "Harvard Mathematics Department Putnam Competition". Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  14. ^ "Evan O'Dorney: Reading Part III Mathematics". Student Stories. Churchill College, Cambridge. December 4, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Kacoyanis, Stephanie (March 30, 2015). "Senior named Churchill Scholar". Harvard Gazette.
  16. ^ Harrington, Theresa (February 23, 2015). "Danville whiz-kid heads to University of Cambridge as Churchill Scholar". Chico Enterprise-Record.
  17. ^ O'Dorney, Evan Michael (2021). "Reflection theorems for number rings". Princeton University Doctoral Dissertations, 2011–2024: Mathematics. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  18. ^ "Evan O'Dorney". Department of Mathematics, University of Notre Dame. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023.
  19. ^ Benca, Jeanine (July 7, 2007). "Spelling champ using music to memorize pi". East Bay Times.