The Argentine mathematician Louis Caffarelli became the first Latin American to receive the Abel Prizeconsidered as “the Nobel Prize in Mathematics”, to discover what happens in a glass with ice.
According to a report published on the website of Profilethe 74-year-old from Buenos Aires He received 660,000 euros for the award and earned it for his contribution linked to the interactions between solids and liquids, which opens new doors to medicine, the automotive industry and knowledge of the universe.
In an interview with El País, Caffarelli told why his object of study is so complex, starting from the new world that is created in the interaction of ice in water, a microcosm in which he has been working for more than four decades.
“Mathematics linked to physics are the most interesting. I am not very much in favor of doing super-abstract investigations, which can only be understood by half a dozen mathematicians. You can’t reach the truth, but at least you can get closer to itto the complexity of reality”, affirmed the mathematician.
The president of Argentina spoke
The President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, greeted the awardee via Twitter: “I greatly congratulate the mathematician Luis A. Caffarelli for this Abel Prize, another example of infinite Argentine talent. Our public education makes us proud”.
I greatly congratulate the mathematician Luis A. Caffarelli for this #AbelPrize, another example of infinite Argentine talent. Our public education makes us proud 🇦🇷 https://t.co/q6TrF43RQa
– Alberto Fernandez (@alferdez) March 22, 2023
Luis Caffarelli trained at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), where he received his doctorate and honorary doctorate in 2012. He emigrated to the United States with a scholarship, where he lives. There he went through the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, where the German physicist Albert Einstein ended up fleeing from the Nazis.
The mathematician received the news through a video call, in which he was accompanied by his wife Irene Gamba. The Argentine said he felt “surprised” and “happy” and declared that it was “an honor to receive this distinction, which highlights a lifetime of work.”