Argentinian mathematician Luis Caffarelli is the first person born in South America to win the Abel Prize
, and Robert Kohn, who is at New York University, to attack one of the most notorious problems in mathematical physics — the regularity of the motion of fluids, as described by the standard theory of fluid dynamics, known as the Navier–Stokes equations.
The trio proved a partial result, which is still essentially the best known solution to this day — and remains Caffarelli’s proudest achievement, he says. But the full regularity is still an open question, and in 2000 it was included as one of the sevenby the Clay Mathematics Institute — which offers a prize of US$1 million to the first person to solve it.
“People say, ‘How did he come up with that one?’ He can come up with results that people didn’t anticipate,” says Holden. Caffarelli describes his style of doing maths as “joyful”. “I enjoy collaborations, creativity, long-lasting friendship,” he says.The fact that Caffarelli was raised and educated in Argentina gives the prize special significance, Holden adds. “I think this will have a great impact in the region,” he says. “It shows that talent comes from everywhere.”
Caffarelli will receive a medal and 7.5 million Norwegian kroner on 23 May at a ceremony in Oslo. Although it is modelled in part after the Nobel Prizes, which cite specific discoveries, the Abel Prize is seen by many as a ‘career award’. Of the 26 laureates so far,
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