It carries a cash award of NOK 6,000,000 (about $950,000). Gromov will receive the Abel Prize from King Harald at an award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, later on Tuesday.
"Mikhail Gromov is always in pursuit of new questions and is constantly thinking of new ideas for solutions to old problems. He has produced deep and original work throughout his career and remains remarkably creative," the committee said.
Gromov, born in 1943 the Soviet Union, has been a permanent professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, France, since 1982. He has been a French citizen since 1992.
Gromov is also Jay Gould Professor of Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, at New York University.
He has previously received many awards, including the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (2002), the Balzan Prize (1999), the Leroy P. Steele Prize (1997), the Lobatchewski Medal (1997) and the Wolf Prize (1993).
The Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund was set up in 2002 to award the Abel Prize for outstanding scientific achievements in mathematics.
