Alain Goriely facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alain Goriely
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| Born |
Brussels, Belgium
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| Alma mater | Université libre de Bruxelles (1989 – 94) |
| Occupation | Mathematician |
| Spouse(s) | Nita Goriely |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Engineering Medal from the Society of Engineering Science (2024) Cozzarelli Prize (US National Academy of Sciences) (2019) Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (2018) Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2010) Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1999) |
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| Institutions | University of Oxford University of Arizona Université libre de Bruxelles |
| Thesis | Integrability and Nonintegrability of Dynamical Systems: A Singularity Analysis Approach. |
| Doctoral advisor | Radu Bălescu |
Alain Goriely is a mathematician from Belgium. He is a professor at the University of Oxford in the Mathematical Institute. He leads the Oxford Centre for Industrial Mathematics (OCIAM) and the International Brain and Mechanics Lab (IBMTL).
Professor Goriely helps people understand math better. From 2013 to 2022, he organized public talks about math at Oxford. In 2022, he became a member of the Royal Society, which is a very important science group. In 2024, he was also chosen as the Gresham Professor of Geometry in London.
Contents
Education and Early Life
Alain Goriely was born and grew up in Brussels, Belgium. He earned his first degree in 1989 and his Ph.D. in 1994 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. After that, he taught math there.
Later, he moved to the University of Arizona in the United States. He worked there as a professor for many years, from 1994 to 2010. In 2010, he came to Oxford to become a professor of mathematical modelling. He also became the director of the Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics (OCCAM). He has also been a visiting professor at other famous universities around the world.
Research and Career
Professor Goriely works in a field called applied mathematics. This means he uses math to solve problems in the real world. He is interested in many different areas, including:
- How things grow and change in nature.
- How the brain works.
- The science of how things move and bend.
- How to model diseases like cancer.
- Developing new ways to make solar panels and batteries.
Understanding Growth and Shapes
Professor Goriely has done important work on how living things grow and change shape. He helped create a theory called morphoelasticity. This theory uses math to explain the physical forces that create shapes in living things. For example, it can show how patterns form in fungi, bacteria, and even seashells. He showed that growth itself can cause new shapes and patterns to appear.
Studying Curves and Filaments
He has also studied how thin, flexible things like strings or rods behave. He looked at how they bend, twist, and stretch. For example, he discovered a new way that thin filaments can become unstable and twist into different shapes. This can be seen in things like twisting vines or even how some proteins fold. He also studied how plants grow their stems and how seeds are pushed out.
Math for Energy and Materials
Professor Goriely has worked on new materials and energy sources. He helped develop a new type of solar cell called a perovskite solar cell. He created a math model to predict how these cells form. This model helps scientists make sure the solar cells are the right thickness and work as well as possible. He also studies things like lithium-ion batteries.
Modeling the Brain
Since 2012, Professor Goriely has used math to understand the brain. He has created models to show how brain cells grow. He also developed models to understand how brain tissue behaves. This helps explain things like brain swelling and how diseases like dementia might spread. His work helps us understand the amazing complexity of the brain.
Publications
Professor Goriely has written three books to share his knowledge:
- Integrability and Nonintegrability of Dynamical Systems (2001)
- The Mathematics and Mechanics of Biological Growth (2017)
- Applied Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (2017)
He has also written many important scientific papers. Some of his most well-known papers are about perovskite solar cells and the mechanics of biological growth.
