<p>Im not a mathematician, but I do know that the Putnam ranks each individual who took the exam in addition to ranking college teams. The top five individual performers are identified as Putnam Fellows. This year, though its team came in second, Princeton had no individual finishers in the top five. The Putnam Fellows for the 2008 competition came from MIT (which had two) and then one each from CalTech, Harvard and Stanford. Often brilliant individuals will be named Putnam Fellows multiple times. Aaron Pixton from Princeton won three out of his four years in college. Two particularly impressive mathematicians from MIT (Reid Barton and Daniel Kane) were named Putnam Fellows in each of their four years in college. Expect to read about them in the future!</p>