# Dustin Clausen
**Dustin Clausen** (full name Dustin Tate Clausen) is an American mathematician working in algebraic K-theory, number theory, analytic geometry, functional analysis, and homotopy theory. He is known for his work connecting number theory with homotopy theory and, jointly with [Peter Scholze](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-scholze), for developing condensed mathematics, a new foundational framework for analytic geometry that combines algebra and topology.[1](https://www.ihes.fr/~dustin/) • [2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) Since April 2023 he has been a permanent professor at the [Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques](https://www.edgepedia.org/institut-des-hautes-etudes-scientifiques) (IHES) near Paris, holding the Jean-Pierre Bourguignon chair.[3](https://www.ihes.fr/professeur/dustin-clausen/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Dustin Tate Clausen[4](https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/a2d5a107-7c94-4812-a58c-354e020d17ca) |
| Education | Undergraduate studies at Harvard University; PhD from MIT in 2013 under Jacob Lurie, thesis *Arithmetic Duality in Algebraic K-theory*[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) • [4](https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/a2d5a107-7c94-4812-a58c-354e020d17ca) |
| Career | Five years as a postdoc in Copenhagen; two years in Bonn (University of Bonn postdoc, then research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics); associate professor at the University of Copenhagen from 2020; permanent professor at IHES from April 17, 2023[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) • [3](https://www.ihes.fr/professeur/dustin-clausen/) |
| Signature collaboration | Condensed mathematics with Peter Scholze, a general theory of analytic geometry combining algebra and topology[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) |
| Notable result | A K-theoretic construction of Artin maps giving a new proof of the Artin reciprocity law (2017)[5](https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.07842) |
| Awards | NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2008), David Mumford Prize (2008), Hoopes Prize (2008), Hartmann Foundation diploma prize (2022)[3](https://www.ihes.fr/professeur/dustin-clausen/) |
| Other role | Principal Investigator of the Simons Collaboration on Perfection in algebra, geometry and topology[3](https://www.ihes.fr/professeur/dustin-clausen/) |
## Education and career
Clausen studied mathematics at Harvard University and then moved to the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](https://www.edgepedia.org/massachusetts-institute-of-technology), where he completed his doctorate in 2013 under the supervision of [Jacob Lurie](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacob-lurie), a specialist in higher category theory, with a thesis on arithmetic duality in algebraic K-theory.[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) • [4](https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/a2d5a107-7c94-4812-a58c-354e020d17ca) In interviews he has said that he came to K-theory as a PhD student after finding a new proof of the quadratic reciprocity law and realizing that K-theory was the right language for it; he then extended the method to the [Artin reciprocity law](https://www.edgepedia.org/artin-reciprocity-law).[6](https://www.ihes.fr/en/interview-dustin-clausen/)
Following his doctorate, Clausen held a five-year postdoctoral position in Copenhagen; he then spent two further years in Bonn, where he was initially a postdoc at the [University of Bonn](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-bonn) before becoming a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics. In 2020 he returned to Denmark as an associate professor (lektor) at the [University of Copenhagen](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-copenhagen), in the section for algebra and geometry, and became a member of the Copenhagen Centre for Geometry and Topology.[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) • [7](https://www.math.ku.dk/Nyheder/nye-navne/dustin-clausen-lektor/) On April 17, 2023 he joined IHES as a permanent professor, and one of his first projects there was to write up his latest results with Scholze.[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf)
## Research
A common thread through Clausen's research is algebraic K-theory, a machine that extracts invariants from algebraic and geometric structures such as rings, schemes, and, in his more recent work, looser objects like analytic spaces and manifolds.[8](https://www.math.ku.dk/dokumenter/my-research/myresearch_dc.pdf) His stated interest is less in classifying vector bundles than in what K-theory reveals about other invariants of geometric objects, for example in intersection theory, where intersection multiplicity corresponds to the linear-algebraic operation of tensor product.[8](https://www.math.ku.dk/dokumenter/my-research/myresearch_dc.pdf)
**Reciprocity laws.** His 2012 paper *p-adic J-homomorphisms and a product formula* gave a new proof of the quadratic reciprocity law, and his 2017 paper *A K-theoretic approach to Artin maps* defines a functorial Artin map attached to any small \( \mathbb{Z} \)-linear stable \( \infty \)-category; for perfect complexes over a global field it recovers the usual Artin map from the idèle class group to the abelianized absolute [Galois group](https://www.edgepedia.org/galois-group), giving a new proof of the Artin reciprocity law.[9](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11950) • [5](https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.07842) In a 2023 IHES interview he described understanding the [Langlands program](https://www.edgepedia.org/langlands-program) the way he understood Artin reciprocity as his greatest goal.[6](https://www.ihes.fr/en/interview-dustin-clausen/)
**K-theory and homotopy.** With Akhil Mathew, Niko Naumann, and Justin Noel he proved descent and vanishing results in chromatic algebraic K-theory, including cases of the Ausoni–Rognes conjecture, in papers of 2017, 2020, and 2022.[10](https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.03328) • [11](https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.08233) With Mathew he studied étale K-theory and its relation to Selmer K-theory.[12](https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.06611) Later single-author work includes *Duality and linearization for p-adic Lie groups* (2025), which promotes Lazard's Poincaré duality for p-adic Lie groups to spectrum coefficients, and *Weil-Moore anima* (2026), which constructs a refinement of the [Weil group](https://www.edgepedia.org/weil-group) of a number field with nontrivial higher homotopy groups.[13](https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18174) • [9](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11950)
## Condensed mathematics
Since 2019 Clausen has worked with Peter Scholze, a Fields medalist at Bonn, on condensed mathematics, a general theory of analytic geometry that combines algebra and topology.[2](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf) The framework replaces topological spaces with condensed sets, sheaves on profinite sets, which are simple to describe algebraically while still building continuous objects; Scholze's 2019 Bonn lecture notes present the material as joint work with Clausen.[14](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.03658) A central theorem of the theory, the main theorem on liquid vector spaces, was subtle enough that Scholze publicly posed the Liquid Tensor Experiment in December 2020, asking for computer-verified formalization; the challenge was completed in the Lean proof assistant in July 2022.[15](https://github.com/leanprover-community/lean-liquid/blob/master/src/challenge.lean) • [16](https://hongruzhao.github.io/blog/2026-09-14-lean-and-the-future-of-mathematics/)
The pair's 2022 lecture course, taught jointly between Bonn and Copenhagen and published as *Condensed Mathematics and Complex Geometry*, applies the framework to classical complex analysis: rather than developing new kinds of geometry, it redevelops the classical theory from a different point of view, reproving finiteness of coherent cohomology, [Serre duality](https://www.edgepedia.org/serre-duality), GAGA, and the (Grothendieck–)Hirzebruch–[Riemann–Roch theorem](https://www.edgepedia.org/riemann-roch-theorem) for compact complex manifolds.[17](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11731) They have since lectured on analytic stacks at IHES and defined further objects such as analytic stacks and gestalten.[18](https://www.classcentral.com/course/youtube-dustin-clausen-and-peter-scholze-analytic-stacks-514107) • [19](https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-researchers-are-rebuilding-mathematics-from-the-ground-up-20260520/)
## References
1. [Dustin Clausen, personal page, IHES](https://www.ihes.fr/~dustin/)
2. [Press release, 17 April 2023: Dustin Clausen joins IHES as a permanent professor (PDF)](https://www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/230417_PR_Dustin_Clausen_en.pdf)
3. [Dustin Clausen, Permanent Professor since 2023, IHES](https://www.ihes.fr/professeur/dustin-clausen/)
4. [Arithmetic duality in algebraic K-theory, MIT DSpace thesis record](https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/a2d5a107-7c94-4812-a58c-354e020d17ca)
5. [Dustin Clausen (2017). A K-theoretic approach to Artin maps. arXiv:1703.07842.](https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.07842)
6. [Interview with Dustin Clausen, IHES](https://www.ihes.fr/en/interview-dustin-clausen/)
7. [Dustin Clausen, lektor, University of Copenhagen](https://www.math.ku.dk/Nyheder/nye-navne/dustin-clausen-lektor/)
8. [Dustin Clausen, My research (University of Copenhagen)](https://www.math.ku.dk/dokumenter/my-research/myresearch_dc.pdf)
9. [Dustin Clausen (2026). Weil-Moore anima. arXiv:2605.11950.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11950)
10. [Clausen, Mathew, Naumann, Noel. Descent in algebraic K-theory and a conjecture of Ausoni-Rognes. arXiv:1606.03328.](https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.03328)
11. [Clausen, Mathew, Naumann, Noel (2022). Descent and vanishing in chromatic algebraic K-theory via group actions. arXiv:2011.08233.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.08233)
12. [Dustin Clausen, Akhil Mathew. Hyperdescent and étale K-theory. arXiv:1905.06611.](https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.06611)
13. [Dustin Clausen (2025). Duality and linearization for p-adic lie groups. arXiv:2506.18174.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18174)
14. [Peter Scholze (with Dustin Clausen). Lectures on Condensed Mathematics. arXiv:2605.03658.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.03658)
15. [lean-liquid repository, Liquid Tensor Experiment challenge theorem (Clausen–Scholze)](https://github.com/leanprover-community/lean-liquid/blob/master/src/challenge.lean)
16. [Hongru Zhao, Lean and the Future of Theoretical Research](https://hongruzhao.github.io/blog/2026-09-14-lean-and-the-future-of-mathematics/)
17. [Dustin Clausen, Peter Scholze. Condensed Mathematics and Complex Geometry. arXiv:2605.11731.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11731)
18. [Analytic Stacks lecture series by Dustin Clausen and Peter Scholze, IHES, on Class Central](https://www.classcentral.com/course/youtube-dustin-clausen-and-peter-scholze-analytic-stacks-514107)
19. [Two Researchers Are Rebuilding Mathematics From the Ground Up, Quanta Magazine](https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-researchers-are-rebuilding-mathematics-from-the-ground-up-20260520/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Mathematics and statistics › Numbers and algebra › Advanced algebraic structures › Homological algebra and K-theory › History and context of homological methods*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license