After being awarded the prestigious Artbel Prize,
Professor Lax demonstrates some of his prize-winning equations.
Posted on 03/18/2005 6:09:24 AM PST by knighthawk
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awarded its Abel Prize in mathematics to an American professor at New York University on Thursday. The prize honors the memory of Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. Peter D Lax, age 78, won the prize "for his groundbreaking contributions to the theory and application of partial differential equations and to the computation of their solutions," according to the academy.
The Hungarian-born professor has been called the most versatile mathematician of his generation. The academy said he has had "a profound influence" through his research, writings, a lifelong commitment to education and generosity to younger mathematicians.
Lax will receive the prize from Norway's King Harald at a ceremony on May 24 in the University of Oslo's Aula on the downtown campus, a tradition-rich auditorium featuring murals by artist Edvard Munch. The Aula was formerly the site of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, but it was later moved to Oslo's City Hall.
The prize ceremony will be followed by a banquet at the Akershus Castle and Fortress, which will also be attended by King Harald.
Cool.
I'm vying for the Cain Award.
One could say that Professor Lax is now a member of an Abelian group.
Actually, now that they've given out the Nobel and Abel prizes, I can't wait to see who gets the Dumbel award...
e=mc2 > ex-lax
Does he commute?
2 + 2 = 5, for 2 very large.
After being awarded the prestigious Artbel Prize,
Professor Lax demonstrates some of his prize-winning equations.
But, that's interesting: would the phrase be, ''Does he commute'' or ''Does he commutate''? Or is the language simply incomplete in the Godelian sense?
(whoo, boy, I've got to cut back on the high-caffeine coffee...)
If the Reimann Hypothesis is true, he is purple, with probability 1.
Come to think of it, didn't his cousin Millard F. Lax win the Nobel in Economics for his treatise on the insurance industry?
Hmmm. And here I'd always thought that Millard F. Lax was the chap who popularised the term 'canola' in place of 'rapeseed' (l'il Winnipeg futures gag, there...).
Yabbut only because bananas can't swim.
This is interesting. Lax is very famous in methods to solve systems of hyperbolic equations (Equations describing wave motion.) He was also the advisor of Alexandre Chorin who was the advisor of Philip Colella who was my out of department thesis committee member. I would say that most of his methods are reasonably dated at this point (Lax-Friedrichs upwinding for example), but are fundamental to computational fluid dynamics. His fundamental theorem in CFD is the one that says that if a method of solving a wave equation is both consistent and stable, then you are getting the right answer.
We couldn't solve fluid flows with computers without him, so everytime we get in a modern airplane, Lax had a considerable amount to do with the design.
He's still got his office at New York University Department of Mathematics, so I would assume that he does commute occasionally. :)
:^)
I would also assume that, while he is theoretically invertable, at his age he wouldn't really appreciate it.
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