15/03/2021

Mathematician Andrew Majda dies at age 72.

Foto: Oberwolfach Photo Collection/ George M. Bergman

American mathematician Andrew Majda died last Friday (12), aged 72, from Parkinson's disease. Professor Emeritus at the Courant Institute (New York), his research was based on the synergy between asymptotic methods, computational modeling, physical understanding and rigorous mathematical analysis. Majda became known for his fundamental contributions to shock wave theory, incompressible fluid dynamics, turbulence theory and, more recently, to atmospheric and ocean science.

The mathematician began his scientific career as an instructor at the Courant Institute, where he remained between 1973 and 1975. Before returning to the institute in 1994, he was a professor at Princeton University (1984-1994), the University of California – Berkeley (1978-1984), and the University of California – Los Angeles (1976-1978).

A member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the United States Academy of Arts and Sciences, the researcher was awarded the John von Neumann Prize from SIAM, the National Academy of Sciences Prize in Applied Mathematics, and the Lagrange Prize from ICIAM. He also received the Medal of the Collège de France twice. He was a plenary speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in 1990 in Kyoto, Japan, and at the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) in 1987 in Paris, France.

“I attended Majda’s plenary lecture at the ICM (International Congress of Mathematicians) 1990 in Kyoto. I remember being very impressed by his comprehensive vision of the applications of mathematics, particularly in aviation that day, which opened my eyes to a dimension I was unaware of,” recalled Marcelo Viana, Director-General of IMPA.