The History of the Abel Prize and the Honorary Abel Prize -- The History of the Abel Prize -- 2002—an Honorary Abel Prize to Atle Selberg -- 2003 Jean-Pierre Serre -- Jean-Pierre Serre: Mon premier demi-siècle au Collège de France / Jean-Pierre Serre: My First Fifty Years at the Collège de France -- Jean-Pierre Serre: An Overview of His Work -- List of Publications for Jean-Pierre Serre -- 2004 Sir Michael Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer -- Autobiography -- Autobiography -- The Atiyah–Singer Index Theorem -- List of Publications for Sir Michael Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer -- 2005 Peter D. Lax -- Autobiography -- A Survey of Peter D. Lax’s Contributions to Mathematics -- List of Publications for Peter D. Lax -- 2006 Lennart Carleson -- Reflections on My Life as a Mathematician -- Carleson for Beginners -- List of Publications for Lennart Carleson -- 2007 S.R. Srinivasa Varadhan -- Autobiography -- A Personal Perspective on Raghu Varadhan’s Role in the Development of Stochastic Analysis -- List of Publications for S.R. Srinivasa Varadhan.

The book presents the winners of the first five Abel Prizes in mathematics: 2003 Jean-Pierre Serre; 2004 Sir Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer; 2005 Peter D. Lax; 2006 Lennart Carleson; and 2007 S.R. Srinivasa Varadhan. Each laureate provides an autobiography or an interview, a curriculum vitae, and a complete bibliography. This is complemented by a scholarly description of their work written by leading experts in the field and by a brief history of the Abel Prize.