To all those who have so kindly written to me since the Prize announcement:

I would like to apologise for my belated reply; in the whirlwind following October 13's surprise announcement, I am only started recently to look at my inbox and other mail. It has been an emotional but, as I’m sure you can imagine, somewhat hectic time.

My apologies also for this collective response. I now have read all, and am very touched by, your mails and congratulations. I would love to be able to respond to each of you “personally in person”, as Catarella in Inspector Montalbano would say. But the sheer number of messages received makes this impossible, unfortunately.

I am over the moon, and haven’t quite touched back down to Earth yet. With my upcoming schedule, this is likely to remain so for a couple of weeks. After these absolutely wonderful moments, I will try to return to what we enjoy most - doing research and interacting with friends, colleagues and students.

With my best wishes, 

Jean