Athanassios S. Fokas

Athanassios Spyridon Fokas (Greek Αθανάσιος Σπυρίδων Φωκάς, * June 30, 1952 on Cephalonia ) is a Greek mathematician who deals with nonlinear partial differential equations.

Fokas studied aeronautics at Imperial College with a bachelor's degree in 1975 and in 1979 at Caltech at Paco Lagerstrom doctorate ( Invariants, Lie - Backlund operator and Backlund Transformations). He then studied medicine at the University of Miami with the MD degree in 1986. During the same year he became professor of mathematics and director of mathematics faculty at Clarkson University. In 1996 he went to Imperial College as Professor of Applied Mathematics and he became professor of Nonlinear Mathematics at Cambridge University, a then newly established Chair in 2002. He was a Fellow of Clare Hall College, 2005.

It deals with integrable nonlinear partial differential equations ( such as KdV equation and nonlinear Schrödinger equation) and Solitons, boundary value problems of two-dimensional nonlinear partial differential equations, applications of inverse problems in medicine (especially in the brain), protein folding (where he with Israel Gelfand worked ) and hydrodynamics. A special Solitonengleichung is named after him, and Francesco Calogero Desgasperos.

In 2004 he became a member of the Athens Academy of Sciences ( at that time the youngest member and first applied mathematician ) and received their 2004 Aristeion price. In 2000 he was awarded the Naylor Prize of the London Mathematical Society. 2009 he was a Guggenheim Fellow. He is an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Crete, the Technical University of Athens, the University of Patras (all awarded in 2004 ) and the University of Athens (2006). He is commander of the Greek phoenix Order.

He is co-editor of the Journal of Nonlinear Science.

He is married and has three children.

Writings

  • Mark J. Ablowitz: Complex Variables: Introduction and Applications, Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 2003
  • With A. R. Its, A. A. Kapaev, V. Yu. Novokshenov: Painlevé Transcendents: A Riemann - Hilbert Approach, AMS 2006
  • A Unified Approach to Boundary Value problem, CBMS - SIAM, 2008
  • Publisher with VE Zakharov Important Developments in Soliton Theory, Springer- Verlag, 1993
  • Publisher with DJ Kaup, Alan C. Newell, VE Zakharov Nonlinear Processes in Physics, Springer- Verlag 1993
  • Publisher with Israel Gelfand Algebraic Aspects of Integrable Equations, Birkhäuser 2006
Greece Academy of Athens (modern) Naylor Prize and Lectureship Integrated Authority File
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