Jean-Pierre Serre is a French mathematician in the fields of algebraic geometry, number theory and topology. He has received numerous awards and honors for his mathematical research and exposition, including the Fields Medal in 1954 and the Abel Prize in 2003. Born in Bages, Pyrénées-Orientales, France, Serre was educated at the Lycée de Nîmes and then from 1945 to 1948 at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He was awarded his doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1951. From 1948 to 1954 he held positions at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. In 1956 he was elected professor at the Collège de France, a position he held until his retirement in 1994.