Thank you for the September article (On the Campus) on June Huh, a fresh young faculty member who has just been awarded a Fields Medal, said to be equivalent in mathematics to the Nobel Prize. It is wonderful to see that Princeton remains a vibrant center of mathematics research.

The article names other top mathematicians with Princeton connections who have won prestigious prizes this year. An important omission in this list was Dennis Sullivan *66, who in March 2022 won the Abel Prize, also bracketed with the Nobel. You can read about other Princetonians who have won the Abel Prize in PAW’s March 23, 2011 [7], issue and about Sullivan’s award at abelprize.no [8].

Dennis Sullivan’s Princeton connection was brief, but for this undergraduate it was life-altering. Following his Princeton Ph.D., Sullivan taught a small course in multivariable calculus. It was the most exciting course I took at Princeton, sweeping me into mathematics, first as a major and then as a career. It was Sullivan’s now-famous charisma that brought me into the field, a decision that I’ve never regretted. It seems a shame that his connection to Princeton should have gone unnoticed as he receives such a prestigious award.

In any case, it is a great pleasure to see that Princeton continues to recruit young mathematical stars like Professor Huh. I wish him the best, both in his research and in the classroom.

Editor’s note: The author is a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of California at Santa Barbara.