The collector coin series to honour Wolf Prize-winning Hungarian-born mathematicians continues

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) will continue the collector coin series presenting Wolf Prize-winning mathematicians of Hungarian origin and their work, launched in 2022. This year, two collector coins are scheduled to be issued on 24 March 2023, one in honour of Pál Erdős, who was awarded the Wolf Prize 40 years ago, and his work, while the other to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Raoul Bott’s birth, a Wolf Prize winner of Hungarian-Austrian of descent. Both collector coins are produced in silver and non-ferrous metal versions with face values of 7,500 forints and 3,000 forints. The ‘Erdős Pál’ collector coins were designed by sculptor Zoltán Kovács, while the ‘Raoul Bott’ collector coins by applied artist István Holló.

Pál Erdős is one of the most outstanding mathematicians of the 20th century. As a child prodigy, he was already able to do multiplications with three-digit numbers and explored the realm of negative numbers on his own at the age of 4. At an early age, he became world famous for proposing a remarkably simple and elegant proof of the Chebyshev's theorem, i.e. every number greater than one and twice is a prime number. He is one of the most distinguished figures in the research and application of combinatorics, both nationally and internationally. In 1983, in the 70th year of his life, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Mathematics for his many achievements in number theory, combinatorics, probability theory, set theory and analysis, and for his influence on mathematicians around the world. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of receiving the prize, the MNB is issuing the second piece in a series of collector coins named ‘Wolf Prize-Winning Mathematicians of Hungarian Descent’.

Raoul Bott was an American mathematician of Hungarian-Austrian origin, best known for his achievements in several areas of geometry, and many mathematical principles bear his name. In 2000, in the 77th year of his life, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Mathematics for his discoveries in deep topology and differential geometry. To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, the MNB issues commemorative coins as the third addition to the 'Wolf Prize-Winning Mathematicians  of Hungarian Descent' series.

The primary role of the commemorative coins issued in honour of Pál Erdős and Raoul Bott is to raise awareness and pay tribute to the achievements of the Hungarian-born mathematicians, without any roles in cash circulation. Featuring the same theme, the silver and non-ferrous metal coins have the same design, the only difference being their denominations.

On the obverse of the ‘Erdős Pál’ coins, there are references to the mathematician's accomplishments: the central motif shows the formula ‘n < p < 2n’, which describes Chebyshev's theorem, i.e. there is always a prime between n and the double of n, if n is a positive integer, for which the mathematician presented a short and elegant proof. This proof launched the career of Pál Erdős as a mathematician. In the background, a representation of a prime spiral is seen. The compulsory design elements of collector coins are also featured on the outer rim on the obverse: at the top, in a semi-circular legend the lettering ‘MAGYARORSZÁG’ (Hungary) is seen, at the bottom, the denominations ‘7500’ and ‘3000’ as well as the inscription ‘FORINT’ are placed with the mint mark ‘BP.’ on the left and the mint year ‘2023’ on the right.

The obverse of the ‘Erdős Pál’ collector coin

The reverse of the ‘Erdős Pál’ coins features a distinctive half-length portrait of the world-famous mathematician. Linking the pieces of the collector medal series, the inscription ‘WOLF-DÍJ • 1983’ (Wolf Prize - 1983) is found to the right of the depiction, which refers to the year in which the prestigious mathematical prize was awarded. Below there are two lines showing the name of the mathematician and the years of his birth and death ‘1913-1996’. The master mark of the designer, sculptor Zoltán Kovács, is placed to the right of the portrait.

The reverse of the ‘Erdős Pál’ collector coins

The obverse of the ‘Raoul Bott’ collector coins features a representation of a spatial component suggestive of the differential geometry of a surface, which refers to Raoul Bott's research conducted in this area. The compulsory design elements of the coins are placed on the obverse: at the top, in a semi-circular legend the inscription ‘MAGYARORSZÁG’ (Hungary), in two lines the denominations ‘7500’ and ‘3000’ and the lettering ‘FORINT’, at the bottom right, the mint year ‘2023’ with the mint mark ‘BP.’ below. The master mark of applied artist István Holló, the designer of the coins, is shown below the mint mark.

The obverse of the ‘Raoul Bott’ collector coins

The reverse of the ‘Raoul Bott’ collector coins bears an elderly portrait of the mathematician. To the right of the portrait the formula „?_n(0(?))??_n+8(0(?))” appears, describing Raoul Bott's periodicity theorem. At the top, in a circular legend, separated by a decorative dot, the inscription ‘RAOUL BOTT’ and ‘WOLF PRIZE 2000’ is seen on the edge of the reverse, which indicates the year and the prize awarded to the mathematician.

The reverse of the ‘Raoul Bott’ collector coins

Issued as a part of the series, the technical specifications of both coins are identical, i.e. they are 30 mm in diameter with reeded edges. The 7,500-forint collector coins are struck in .925 fine silver, while the 3,000-forint non-ferrous version is minted from an alloy of copper (75%) and nickel (25%), weighing 12.50 grams each. Of the ‘Erdős Pál’ and ‘Raoul Bott’ collector coins, to be issued shortly, 4,000 pieces can be made of the silver coin in proof finish and also 4,000 pieces of the non-ferrous version in BU finish.

In order to promote the role of these collector coins to transfer value and raise awareness as widely as possible, the silver coin ‘Erdős Pál’ and ‘Raoul Bott’ will be available for purchase for three months, while stocks last, and the non-ferrous version for one year from the date of issuance, at face value in the webshop (https://www.penzvero.hu/) and coin shop of the Hungarian Mint Ltd. (Budapest, distr. V, 7 Báthory street), the producer and the distributor of the coins, starting from 24 March 2023.