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Luis Caffarelli
Caffarelli en el Predio del CONICET Santa Fe.jpg
Caffarelli in 2014
Born
Luis Ángel Caffarelli

(1948-12-08) December 8, 1948 (age 76)
Education University of Buenos Aires (MS, PhD)
Spouse(s) Irene M. Gamba
Awards Bôcher Memorial Prize (1984)
Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1994)
Rolf Schock Prize (2005)
Leroy P. Steele Prize (2009)
Wolf Prize (2012)
Shaw Prize (2018)
Abel Prize (2023)
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics
Institutions University of Texas at Austin
Institute for Advanced Study
University of Chicago
CIMS
University of Minnesota
Thesis Sobre Conjugación y Sumabilidad
de Series de Jacobi
(On Conjugation and Summability
of the Jacobi Series)
 (1971)
Doctoral advisor Calixto Calderón
Doctoral students Guido De Philippis
Ovidiu Savin
Luis Silvestre
Eduardo V. Teixeira

Luis Ángel Caffarelli (born December 8, 1948) is a famous Argentine-American mathematician. He is known for his important work on partial differential equations. These are special math problems that help us understand how things change in the world.

Caffarelli is a professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2023, he won the Abel Prize, which is one of the highest honors in mathematics.

A Mathematician's Journey

Luis Caffarelli was born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He loved math from a young age. He earned his master's degree in 1968 and his PhD in 1972 from the University of Buenos Aires.

After his studies, he moved to the United States. He has taught at many top universities. These include the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago. He also worked at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in New York.

From 1986 to 1996, he was a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Today, he holds a special teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin.

Understanding Complex Problems

Caffarelli's research focuses on partial differential equations (PDEs). These equations are like powerful tools. They help scientists describe and predict how things behave. For example, they can explain how heat spreads or how fluids like water and air move.

One of his most important discoveries was in 1977. He published a paper about "free boundaries." Imagine a block of ice melting. The edge where the ice turns into water is a "free boundary." Caffarelli's work helped us understand how these boundaries behave in complex situations.

In 1982, he worked with other mathematicians on the Navier–Stokes equations. These equations describe how liquids and gases flow. His work helped explain how these flows behave, even in turbulent (choppy) conditions.

Awards and Special Honors

Luis Caffarelli has received many awards for his amazing work. These awards show how much his contributions have helped the world of mathematics.

  • In 1984, he received the Bôcher Memorial Prize.
  • In 1991, he was chosen to be part of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. This is a very high honor for scientists.
  • He has also received special degrees from many universities around the world.

In 2005, he won the Rolf Schock Prize. This award recognized his important work on non-linear partial differential equations. These are equations where the changes are not always in a straight line.

He also received the Leroy P. Steele Prize in 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Mathematics. This is another very important award for mathematicians.

In 2018, he received the Shaw Prize in Mathematics. This prize is sometimes called the "Nobel Prize of the East."

His biggest award came in 2023. He was given the Abel Prize. This prize is like the Nobel Prize for mathematics. He won it for his major contributions to understanding how solutions to partial differential equations behave. This includes his work on free-boundary problems and the Monge–Ampère equation, which helps understand shapes and surfaces.

See also

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