From the time that she was awarded a Bachelor's degree, Daubechies became a Research Assistant in the Department for Theoretical Physics at the Free University Brussels. She held this post from 1975 until 1984 and, midway through this period, in 1980 she was awarded her Ph.D. in physics for a thesis entitled Representation of quantum mechanical operators by kernels on Hilbert spaces of analytic functions. By this time she had already published quite a number of papers, having written around ten articles.
In 1981 Daubechies went to the United States, although she continued to hold her Research Assistant position at the Free University Brussels, spending two years there undertaking postdoctoral work. Returning to Belgium she was then appointed to the tenured position of Assistant Professor in the Department for Theoretical Physics at the Free University Brussels in 1984. In fact she received her first major prize in 1984 when she was awarded the Louis Empain Prize for Physics. This prestigious prize is awarded once every five years to a Belgium scientist on the basis of work done before age 29.
In 1987 Daubechies returned to the United States to take up the post of Technical Staff Member at the Mathematics Research Center of AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. In the same year she married Robert Calderbank, who is also a mathematician.
Although she still remained on the staff at the Bell Laboratories, Daubechies took leave to take university posts. In 1990 she spent six months at the University of Michigan, and in the following year she was appointed Professor in the Mathematics Department at Rutgers University, spending two years there. While at Rutgers, she published Ten lectures on wavelets in 1992. This important book led to her being awarded the Steele Prize for mathematical exposition by the American Mathematical Society in 1994.
In 1981 Daubechies went to the United States, although she continued to hold her Research Assistant position at the Free University Brussels, spending two years there undertaking postdoctoral work. Returning to Belgium she was then appointed to the tenured position of Assistant Professor in the Department for Theoretical Physics at the Free University Brussels in 1984. In fact she received her first major prize in 1984 when she was awarded the Louis Empain Prize for Physics. This prestigious prize is awarded once every five years to a Belgium scientist on the basis of work done before age 29.
In 1987 Daubechies returned to the United States to take up the post of Technical Staff Member at the Mathematics Research Center of AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. In the same year she married Robert Calderbank, who is also a mathematician.
Although she still remained on the staff at the Bell Laboratories, Daubechies took leave to take university posts. In 1990 she spent six months at the University of Michigan, and in the following year she was appointed Professor in the Mathematics Department at Rutgers University, spending two years there. While at Rutgers, she published Ten lectures on wavelets in 1992. This important book led to her being awarded the Steele Prize for mathematical exposition by the American Mathematical Society in 1994.