Nationality American Name Aaron Pixton | ||
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Born January 13, 1986 (age 38) Binghamton, New York ( 1986-01-13 ) | ||
Aaron pixton
Aaron C. Pixton (born January 13, 1986) is an American mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently an assistant professor. He works in enumerative geometry and has been appointed as a Clay Research Fellow for a term of five years beginning September 2013.
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Born in Binghamton, New York, Pixton grew up in Vestal, New York. While a student at Vestal Senior High School, he scored a perfect score on the American Mathematics Competition three times from 2002–2004. He went on to the International Mathematical Olympiad in 2003 and 2004 to win consecutive gold medals.
While an undergraduate at Princeton University, Pixton was a three-time Putnam Fellow. For his research conducted as an undergraduate, he was awarded the 2009 Morgan Prize. In 2008, he received a Churchill Scholarship to the University of Cambridge. Pixton received his Ph.D. in 2013 from Princeton under the supervision of Rahul Pandharipande.
His father, Dennis Pixton, is a retired professor of mathematics at Binghamton University.
Chess prodigy
Pixton is also a former child prodigy in chess. When he was 12 years old, he defeated the chess master Eugene Levin at the World Open. Pixton himself became a master at the age of 13. He was the 2001 U.S. Cadet Champion, the 2002 US Junior Chess Champion, and had a win against the former US Champion Joel Benjamin in 2003. He is also a FIDE-titled chess player, with a FIDE rating of 2465.