Benedict Gross


Benedict Hyman Gross is an American mathematician who is a professor at the University of California San Diego, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Mathematics Emeritus at Harvard University, and former Dean of Harvard College.
He is known for his work in number theory, particularly the Gross–Zagier theorem on L-functions of elliptic curves, which he researched with Don Zagier.

Professional career

In 1971 he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University. He then received an M.Sc. from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar in 1974 before returning to Harvard and completing his Ph.D. in 1978, under John Tate.
After holding faculty positions at Princeton University and Brown University, Gross became a tenured professor at Harvard in 1985 and remained there subsequently, as Dean of Harvard College from 2003 to 2007.
Benedict Gross was the mathematical consultant for the 1980 film It's My Turn containing the famous scene in which Jill Clayburgh impeccably proves the snake lemma.
In 2013, while serving as the Chair of the mathematics department at Harvard University, Gross was involved as part of an internal effort to arrange for Martin Nowak, an affiliate of the mathematics department, to receive funding from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to an internal email contained in a report commissioned by the university,
As noted by the editorial board of the Harvard Crimson, this was during a time when Epstein was using his philanthropy and relationship with Nowak to rehabilitate his public image. According to the report, the efforts of Gross, Bloxham, and Nowak were blocked by Michael Smith, who was then the Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Previous efforts by Gross and Nowak to obtain Epstein's funding, around the time of his conviction, had been blocked by Drew Faust, then the president of Harvard College.

Awards and honors

Gross is a 1986 MacArthur Fellow.
Gross, Zagier, and Dorian M. Goldfeld won the Cole Prize of the American Mathematical Society in 1987 for their work on the Gross–Zagier theorem. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Gross was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992 and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004.
He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2017.
He was named as a Harvard University Professor from 2011 to 2016 for his distinguished scholarship and professional work.

Major publications