Luis Caffarelli is the 1st South American to win the Abel award – 03/22/2023 – Science

The Argentine-American mathematician Luis Caffarelli won this Wednesday (22) the prestigious Abel prize for his work with “partial differential equations”, which make it possible to describe phenomena as diverse as the flow of water or population growth.

He is the first South American mathematician to win the Norwegian prize, first awarded in 2003.

Professor at the University of Texas (USA), Caffarelli, 74 years old, was rewarded for his “fundamental contributions to the theory of the regularity of nonlinear differential equations”, announced the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

“It is an honor to receive this award, which highlights a lifetime of work,” said the laureate, who declared himself “surprised and happy,” to the Norwegian news agency NTB.

Differential equations are tools used by scientists to predict the behavior of the physical world and relate one or more unknown functions and their derivatives, highlighted the academy in its statement.

They play an important role in several disciplines, including Physics, Economics and Biology.
The academy in the Nordic country highlighted, in particular, the prizewinner’s contributions for more than 40 years to the theory of regularity.

“By combining his brilliant geometric knowledge with ingenious analytical tools and methods, he had and continues to have a very important impact on the field”, said Helge Holden, chair of the Abel committee.

The University of Texas congratulated its professor in a statement on receiving “the highest honor in the field of mathematics.”

“Luis Caffarelli introduced ingenious new techniques that show brilliant geometric acumen,” said Austin-based university president Jay Hartzell.

“Changing the world starts with understanding the world and Luis has helped advance humanity’s understanding of some of the most formidable problems in mathematics,” he added.

Caffarelli succeeds American Dennis Parnell Sullivan, winner of the Abel Prize in 2022 for his work in the areas of topology and chaos theory.

Named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829), the prize is financed by the Norwegian government and awards 7.5 million Norwegian kroner (R$ 3.76 million) to the winner.
Caffarelli will receive the award in Oslo on May 23.

A prolific mathematician, Caffarelli participated in more than 130 collaborations and supervised more than 30 doctoral students over a 50-year period.

He has received numerous awards, including the Leroy Steele Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Mathematical Society, the Wolf Prize, and the Shaw Prize.