Lenny Taelman researches arithmetic algebraic geometry as a branch of mathematics. Arithmetic algebraic geometry – a lively area of research at the interface of geometry and number theory – uses geometric and topological techniques to achieve a better understanding of challenges in higher arithmetic, such as those related to prime numbers, or integral solutions to polynomial equations. Taelman’s research is particularly focused on L-functions and motives for function fields. 

Taelman has been an assistant professor at the Mathematical Institute of Leiden University since 2010. Prior to that he was a postdoc at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland). Taelman has also worked as a visiting researcher at various institutions abroad, including the Max Planck Institut für Mathematik in Bonn and the Morningside Center of Mathematics in Beijing. In 2015 he will visit the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as a von Neumann fellow. He has been awarded several grants including a Veni and Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).