Armand Borel (1923-2003) was an internationally recognized mathematician whose work was fundamental to the development and formation of modern mathematics.

Armand Borel was born May 21, 1923 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He received his diplome from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1947 and his doctorat d’etat from the University of Paris in 1952. He served as an assistant (1947-49) and professor (1955-57; 1983-86) at the Swiss Federal Institute. He went to the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris in 1949, and then to the University of Geneva as a Professor of Algebra in 1950. From 1952-54, he was a member in the School of Mathematics at the Institute, and, in 1957, was appointed a professor at the Institute. He became professor emeritus in 1993.

In 1992, Professor Borel received the International Balzan Prize for Mathematics "for his fundamental contributions to the theory of Lie groups, algebraic groups and arithmetic groups, and for his indefatigable action in favor of high quality in mathematical research and of the propagation of new ideas."

A passionate music lover with broad-ranging musical interests, Professor Borel initiated a concert series at the Institute in 1985, and directed the program through 1992.

Professor Borel served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago (1954-55), and as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1958, 1969), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay (1961, 1983, 1990), the University of Paris (1964), the University of California at Berkeley (1975), the University of Chicago (1976), Yale University (1978) and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan (1990).

Armand Borel was the main organizer of the multi-year Summer Program at the Center of Mathematical Science at Zhejiang University, Hong Kong. Professor Borel spent four months of three academic years, from 1999-2001, at Zhejiang University in order to set up the program.

In 1972, Professor Borel received an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva, and in 1978 was awarded the Brouwer Medal of the Dutch Mathematical Society. A member of a number of scientific societies, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1987. He was also a foreign member of the Finish Academy of Sciences and Letters, the French Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Academia Europaea. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

Professor Borel was an editor of Annals of Mathematics from 1962 to 1979. He was an editor of Inventiones mathematicae from 1979-93 and of Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici. He presented a Plenary Address at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Stockholm (1962); served as a member of the Consultative Committee of the ICM in Moscow (1966); gave an Invited Address at the ICM in Vancouver (1974); and served as Chariman of the Consultative Committee of the ICM in Helsinki (1978). In addition, he gave invited lectures at numerous conferences all over the world.