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Peter Lax wins Abel Prize

Posted by timothy on from the the-ex-gets-half dept.

otisaardvark writes "The prestigious Abel Prize, awarded annually for lifetime contributions to mathematics, has been awarded to Peter Lax [pdf]. Professor Lax, born in Hungary and currently at New York University, has made profound contributions to the theory of partial differential equations, most famously his reformulation of a large class of important PDES (so-called "integrable systems") in terms of Lax pairs of coupled, simplified equations. Read a summary of his achievements here [pdf]."

3 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Wiles? by Alomex · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Question is, how much longer are they going to hold the award from Andrew Wiles of Fermat fame?

  2. Re:The Abel Prize by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't hate Nobel, or the Chinese, for their contributions to mass killings. I don't really hate anyone who doesn't directly affect my life personally, and that excludes the dead. I'm even more disappointed by people who have used energy science (including explosives) to kill, rather than to build. Nobel's explosives inventions contributed to the rapid increases in slaughter that culminated first in WWI. And he was certainly in the business of promoting killing: he made his first inventions in his family's torpedo factory. I just see through the glorifications of violence, and feel strongly about whitewashes. I find the notion that destruction can be paid off by charity to be shallow, false and repugnant. We can forgive, we can move on, but gambits to get us to forget are offensive.

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    make install -not war

  3. Mathematics is not a science (neither is medicine) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Why is this posted on Slashdot Science? Although a very important branch of human knowledge, matehematics is not a science because it does not use the scientific method. Scientific method is based on asking nature questions (through observation or experimentation)and building theories which explain nature's answers. Based on theories new experiments are suggested, which lead to new theories etc. Since mathematics DOES NOT STUDY nature, such a cycle does not exist in mathematics. Mathematical theories are not built in order to explain natural phenomena. Mathematicians just explore the logical implications of various sets oh non-contradictory hypotheses, this is all. They do not suggest or make experiments, they do not confront their results with experiments or observations.

    Medicine is is not a science for a different reason. Its purpose is not understanding nature or acquiring knowledge but healing people. A healing method is accepted by the medical community whether there is a scientific explanation for it or not. Understanting the way a healing method works is irrelevant as long as it works and it does not do collateral damage. In a sense medicine is some kind of engineering. Both medicine and engineering use science and scientific method at times, although they are not sciences themselves.

    I am a theoretical physicist myself and I use mathematics every day. However I am always surprised when I hear people calling mathematics, engineering or medicine sciences. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology and even economics are sciences. Mathematics, engineering and medicine ARE NOT SCIENCES.