Michael Howard Harris (born 1954) is an American mathematician known for his work in number theory. He is a professor of mathematics at Columbia University and professor emeritus of mathematics at Université Paris Cité.

Harris was born in Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania^[1] and is of Jewish descent.^[2] He received his B.A. in mathematics from Princeton University in 1973.^[3] He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University under the supervision of Barry Mazur in 1976 and 1977 respectively.^[3][4]

Harris was a faculty member at Brandeis University from 1977 to 1994.^[3] In 1994, he became a professor of mathematics at Paris Diderot University and the Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu – Paris Rive Gauche, where he has been emeritus since 2021.^[3][5] He became a professor of mathematics at Columbia University in 2013.^[3]

He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study from 1983 to 1984 and in the fall of 2011.^[6] He has held visiting positions at various institutions, including Bethlehem University, the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Oxford University, and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.^[3]

His former doctoral students include Laurent Fargues and Gaëtan Chenevier.^[4]

He has organized or co-organized more than 20 conferences, workshops, and special programs in his field of number theory^[7].

Harris's research focuses on arithmetic geometry, automorphic forms, L-functions, and motives.^[8] He has developed the theory of coherent cohomology of Shimura varieties and applied it to number theoretic problems on special values of L-functions, Galois representations, and the theta correspondence.^[1] His later work focuses on geometric aspects of the Langlands program.^[1]

In 2001, Harris and Richard Taylor proved the local Langlands conjecture for GL(n) over a p-adic local field ^[9] The Sato–Tate conjecture and its generalization to all totally real fields was proved by Laurent Clozel, Harris, Nicholas Shepherd-Barron, and Richard Taylor under mild assumptions in 2008,^[10][11][12] and completed by Thomas Barnet-Lamb, David Geraghty, Harris, and Taylor in 2011.^[13]

Harris wrote the book Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation, published in 2015.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Since 2021, Harris has written the newsletter Silicon Reckoner exploring questions and issues related to the mechanization of mathematics and artificial intelligence.^[18]

Beyond his contributions to mathematics, Michael Harris has been actively engaged in various social and political causes.

Harris began activism in the 1980s. While a faculty member at Brandeis University, he was involved with the SftP (Science for the People), a grassroots organization of scientists, engineers and activists that advocated for socially responsible science^[19], where he was an organizer of the Science for Nicaragua program^[20].

Harris is an active supporter of the Palestinian movement and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), which advocates for economic and political pressure on Israel concerning its policies towards the Palestinians. His support includes both public and published endorsements and participation in events. While teaching in France at the Université Paris-Diderot, Harris co-founded AURDIP (Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine), a French organization of academics supporting the academic and cultural boycott of Israel^[21]. In a 2016 article he authored, Harris wrote about the responsibilities of scientists concerning the BDS movement, emphasizing the ethical considerations of academic collaborations with Israeli institutions.^[22] He has contributed to the discussions on the role of scientists in supporting Palestinian rights, and highlighted the significant role scientists played specifically in garnering international support for the BDS campaign^[20]. In April 2024, Harris participated in the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" at Columbia University, where he was photographed forming a human barricade in support of the encampment with other faculty members. The event called for the university to divest from companies allegedly complicit in actions against Palestinians^[23].

Harris has also been vocal in discussions about the social responsibilities of mathematicians in general. In his essay "Do Mathematicians Have Responsibilities?" he explores the ethical implications of mathematical work and the importance of considering the societal impact of mathematical research^[24].

Harris received the Sophie Germain Prize (2006),^[3] the Clay Research Award (joint with Richard Taylor, 2007),^[1][25] the Grand Prix Scientifique de la Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca (2009),^[3] He is a three-time invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians (2000, 2002, 2014).^[3]

Harris was a Sloan Research Fellow (1983–1985) and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France (2001–2011)^[3][1] He has been elected a Member of the Academia Europaea (2016),^[3] Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2019),^[3][8] Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019),^[3] and Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2022).^[1][3]

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• Michael Harris's web page