[HN Gopher] 2023 Abel Prize: Luis A. Caffarelli
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       2023 Abel Prize: Luis A. Caffarelli
        
       Author : sohkamyung
       Score  : 71 points
       Date   : 2023-03-22 11:21 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (abelprize.no)
 (TXT) w3m dump (abelprize.no)
        
       | uptownfunk wrote:
       | >> Not only is Caffarelli remarkable for the depth of his work,
       | he is also extraordinarily prolific. He has published 320 papers
       | and, aged 74, continues to publish several papers a year. He is
       | much loved within the community and has co-written papers with
       | more than 130 people, his most frequent collaborator being Avner
       | Friedman. Caffarelli's papers have had 19,000 citations, a number
       | that testifies to his influence in shaping the field. He has
       | advised more than 30 PhD students.
        
       | wslh wrote:
       | Argentina has won another world cup. The Guardian reflects it as
       | "The Messi of maths: Argentinian Luis Caffarelli wins Abel prize"
       | [1]
       | 
       | [1] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/22/the-messi-
       | of...
        
         | enriquto wrote:
         | ...showing again that the guardian is frivolous anti-
         | intellectualism just like the daily mail. They would never name
         | a sports player "the Caffarelli of that game".
        
           | borroka wrote:
           | I do not read any "frivolous anti-intellectualism" in this
           | context. Caffarelli is, for all intents and purposes, unknown
           | to the public (unknown even to me, who has a PhD in a field
           | adjacent to applied mathematics). Messi is well known (I know
           | about him). Both are from Argentina.
           | 
           | Newspapers need people who read articles. It was neither a
           | click-baity title (Caffarelli played soccer with Messi!) nor
           | an inaccurate one.
        
       | enriquto wrote:
       | Genius mathematician and an excellent expositor as well!
       | 
       | One year, he was invited to give the inaugural lecture for
       | undergraduate math in my university. The title of the talk was
       | something like "four derivations of the heat equation". And it
       | was really that, he explained some _independent_ physical models
       | to reach the same mathematical formulation. One of them was
       | particles moving in random walks, another an out-of focus lens,
       | etc. At the end he said that it was important for mathematicians
       | to understand the connections between these interpretations
       | because they lead to many new insights into the equation. For
       | linear equations the story was already pretty well-known, but
       | developing the corresponding methods for nonlinear equations was
       | an ongoing story on which he was actively participating.
       | 
       | It's not an exaggeration to say that most undergrads could follow
       | most of the talk, which may be a unique occurrence as inaugural
       | lessons go. Typically lower-level mathematicians that give these
       | talks tend to explain complicated proofs; but he did just the
       | opposite: only talk about modelling, with subtle side hints at
       | methods of proof. The talk was so engaging that many attendees
       | became extremely excited to work on nonlinear PDE. (And some of
       | them did, to great success!)
        
         | telotortium wrote:
         | I'm guessing it's not recorded?
        
       | uptownfunk wrote:
       | >> The Abel Prize (/'a:b@l/ AH-b@l; Norwegian: Abelprisen
       | ['a:bl,pri:sn]) is awarded annually by the King of Norway to one
       | or more outstanding mathematicians.[1] It is named after the
       | Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829) and
       | directly modeled after the Nobel Prizes.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] It
       | comes with a monetary award of 7.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK;
       | increased from 6 million NOK in 2019).
        
       | racl101 wrote:
       | Abel prize? Never heard of it. Heard of the Fields Medal.
       | 
       | So is that like Abel... like the guy who Abelian groups are named
       | after, or Abel from Abel and Cain?
        
         | enriquto wrote:
         | > So is that like Abel... like the guy who Abelian groups are
         | named after, or Abel from Abel and Cain?
         | 
         | Heh. Who do you think a math prize would be named for?
         | 
         | There are two first-rate great prizes in math, roughly
         | equivalent in prestige to the Nobel prize in other scientific
         | disciplines. The Fields medal [0] is awarded every 4 years
         | since 1950 to young mathematicians who have done outstanding
         | work, typically a concrete ground-breaking contribution. The
         | Abel prize [1] is awarded every year since 2003 to older
         | mathematicians as recognition for an extremely productive and
         | influential career. Some mathematicians, like Jean-Pierre Serre
         | have won both prizes.
         | 
         | Notice that, as happens with the Nobel prize, some
         | extraordinary mathematicians were never awarded either prize,
         | even if they clearly merited both. For example V.I. Arnold, who
         | at least got the Wolf prize.
         | 
         | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_Medal
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Prize
        
           | racl101 wrote:
           | Yeah, that second part of the statement was a dumb joke from
           | me. But maybe it was a different Abel from the ones I listed.
        
         | passion__desire wrote:
         | Michael J. Hopkins: The great wild manifold rodeo: Dennis
         | Sullivan in algebraic topology (Abel Exposition Lecture)
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyBjMY2sDdE
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-22 23:02 UTC)