Ralph Kenna facts for kids
Professor Ralph Kenna (born August 27, 1964 – died October 26, 2023) was an Irish mathematician and theoretical physicist. He led a research group at Coventry University that studied statistical physics. He was an expert in how complex systems work and also studied Irish mythology.
Quick facts for kids
Professor Ralph Kenna
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Ralph Jude Kenna
27 August 1964 Athlone, Ireland
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| Died | October 26, 2023 (aged 59) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Citizenship | Ireland |
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Contents
Early Life and Education
Ralph Kenna was born in Athlone, Ireland, on August 27, 1964. He went to Marist College, Athlone. He then studied Theoretical Physics at Trinity College Dublin, getting his first degree in 1985 and a master's degree in 1988. He earned his PhD from the University of Graz in 1993.
Career Journey
From 1994 to 1999, Kenna was a special research fellow at the University of Liverpool and Trinity College Dublin. He taught at Trinity College until 2002. After that, he moved to Coventry University.
At Coventry, he helped start the Applied Mathematics Research Centre in 2005. He also created the Statistical Physics Group there. Later, these groups joined the Fluid and Complex Systems Research Centre. Kenna became the Deputy Director of this center.
Amazing Research
Professor Kenna's research looked at how things change in physics, especially at "phase transitions." He also studied how complex systems work, like groups of people or characters in stories. He even used his math skills to understand Irish mythology and other old stories.
Statistical Physics Discoveries
In statistical physics, Kenna was known for his work on "scaling relations." This means he found rules for how things behave when they get very big or very small, especially at important points called "critical points." He introduced new ideas about how these systems change.
His work helped explain how different parts of a system can act in different ways. He also studied how these ideas apply to things like percolation theory (how liquids flow through materials) and spin models (how tiny magnets behave).
Understanding Complex Systems
In 2010, Kenna studied the idea of "critical mass" for research groups. This is like finding the right size for a team to do its best work. He looked at data from universities in the UK and France. He found that the quality of a research group often got better as it grew, up to a certain point. He suggested that the "critical mass" – the smallest size a group needs to be successful – is about half of that ideal size.
He also used data to try and predict how well research groups would do in reviews. He found that just using numbers didn't always show the true quality. He believed that having experts review the work was still very important. His findings helped make sure that numbers weren't the only way to judge research.
Exploring Mythology with Math
Kenna was a pioneer in using complex networks to study myths. He used math to look at the connections between characters and events in stories. His first paper on this topic was very popular, showing how physics could help understand old tales.
He studied the Sagas of Icelanders, which are old stories from Iceland. His team found that even if the sagas weren't perfectly true, the social connections in them were similar to real-life social networks. He also looked at the epic poems of Ossian and the Viking Age in Ireland, as described in the book Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh. His research helped confirm traditional ideas about the Viking Age being a time of international conflict.
Kenna's team also studied the character Fraoch from Irish mythology. They found differences in his story that suggested it might have been written by two different people. He also explored Ukrainian mythology and compared it to other European epics.
One of his most famous projects involved the modern fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Kenna's team used math to understand how these complex stories became so popular without being too simple. This work got a lot of attention from the media.
Awards and Honours
Ralph Kenna received many awards and grants for his work. He had a scholarship from the Council of Europe and his PhD studies were funded by the Austrian Science Fund. He also held special research fellowships from the European Union and Enterprise Ireland.
In 2004, he became a Member of the Institute of Physics. In 2011, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. He received grants from organizations like the Leverhulme Trust and the European Science Foundation to support his work on mythology.
In 2019, Kenna was given the special title of Doctor honoris causa by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. This honorary degree recognized his studies in complex systems, his new ways of using statistical physics, and his efforts to work with Ukrainian scientists and help young researchers.
In 2023, he was chosen to be a Member of the London Mathematical Society Research Policy Committee.
Personal Life
Ralph Kenna was the first child of Pat and Irene Kenna.
In 2017, he had a serious cardiac arrest (when the heart stops). Even though it was a very difficult situation, he made a full recovery. After this, he became a fundraiser for the air ambulance service that helped save his life.
He married Claire Dutton in 2015. Claire is also a scientist, specializing in medical statistics. She published papers about out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in 2018. They had one child together.
Selected Publications
- Universal scaling relations for logarithmic-correction exponents, in "Order, Disorder, and Criticality: Advanced Problems of Phase Transition Theory". World Scientific, 2012 pp 1–46. Yu. Holovatch (editor) https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814417891_0001
- A new critical exponent ϙ and its logarithmic counterpart. Condensed Matter Physics, Vol. 16, 23601 March 11, 2013. (With Bertrand Berche) http://www.icmp.lviv.ua/journal/zbirnyk.74/23601/art23601.pdf
- Maths meets myths: Quantitative approaches to ancient narratives. Springer, 2016. (Editor with Máirín MacCarron & Pádraig MacCarron) ISBN: 978-3-319-39445-9
- Narrative structure of A Song of Ice and Fire creates a fictional world with realistic measures of social complexity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 117 No. 46 November 17, 2020. (With Thomas Gessey-Jones, Robin Dunbar, Pádraig MacCarron, Cathal O’Conchobhair & Joseph Yose) https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2006465117
