Hendrik Lenstra is Professor of Mathematics at the Universiteit Leiden, and the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include Algebra, number theory, and algorithms. He is responsible for two of the most famous algorithms in 20th century number theory: the LLL lattice basis reduction algorithm (along with his brother, Arjen Lenstra, and Laszlo Lovasz) and the elliptic curve factoring algorithm. His work has important applications in the areas of cryptography and computer security.

Professor Lenstra was born in the Netherlands. He received his PhD in 1977 from the University of Amsterdam. His many honours include the award in 1998 of the Spinoza Prize. This prize, given by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research, is the highest scientific award in the The Netherlands. Lenstra is a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during the year 1990/1991, and a Hewlett-Packard Visiting Research Professor at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley during the year 2000/2001.

The Society is delighted that Professor Lenstra has agreed to be the 2003 AustMS Mahler Lecturer. Professor Lenstra has a well deserved reputation as an excellent lecturer (as evidenced by the fact that there are even web sites dedicated to The Wisdom of Hendrik W. Lenstra, Jr.).