Alexander Schrijver

Alexander Schrijver is a Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Amsterdam since 1990 and a CWI-Fellow at the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI) in Amsterdam since 2005. He previously held roles such as Leader of the Scientific Cluster PNA1 at CWI and Group Leader of the Department of Combinatorial Optimization and Algorithmics. His academic career includes professorships at the University of Tilburg (1983–1989) and early research roles at CWI.

He earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1977 with a thesis on 'Matroids and Linking Systems.' His research focuses on discrete mathematics, optimization, and algorithms, particularly applying classical mathematical methods—such as algebra, geometry, and invariant theory—to modern problems in combinatorics and optimization. Notable contributions include algorithms for railway planning and theoretical work linking representation theory to code bounds and statistical physics partition functions.

His awards include the Spinoza Prize (2005), John von Neumann Theory Prize (2006), Franz Edelman Award (2008), and SIGMA Prize (2008). He is a member of prestigious academies, including the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (since 1995) and Academia Europaea (2008).

His academic activities include editorships of journals like Combinatorica and Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, and leadership roles in conferences such as the 5th European Congress of Mathematicians (2006). His work bridges foundational mathematics with applied optimization, impacting both theoretical and practical domains.