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1995 Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics prize-wiener.qxp 4/24/98 1:38 PM Page 1 1995 Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics The Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathe- appearance of a critical shock speed, discov- matics was established in 1967 in honor of Pro- ered earlier by Holian through numerical calcu- fessor Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) and was en- lation. He helped show how to derive averaged dowed by a fund from the Department of equations for multiphase oscillations for solu- Mathematics of the Massachusetts Institute of tions of the KdV equation. His recent work brings Technology. Since 1970, the prize has normally the methods of modern differential geometry been awarded every five years jointly by the and algebra to bear on the study of completely AMS and the Society for Industrial and Applied integrable systems, as in his infinite-dimensional Mathematics (SIAM). The $4,000 prize honors extension of the Schur-Horn-Kostant convexity outstanding contributions to applied mathe- theorem. matics in the highest and broadest sense. Pre- Response vious recipients of the Wiener Prize are Richard This award came as a great surprise. I thank the E. Bellman (1970), Peter D. Lax (1975), Tosio Societies for complimenting my work—but the Kato (1980), Gerald B. Whitman (1980), Clifford prize really recognizes a rich area more than any- S. Gardner (1985), Michael Aizenman (1990), and thing I might have added to it. It is difficult to Jerrold E. Marsden (1990). ask a question about the Toda lattice that has a The 1995 Wiener Prize is awarded to Her- boring answer. Professor Morikazu Toda has mann Flaschka of the University of Arizona made a wonderful contribution to mathematics. and to Ciprian Foias of Indiana University. The His “Toda chain” reaches back to the great clas- prize was presented at the 101st Annual Meet- sic studies of Jacobi and Stieltjes, while con- ing of the AMS in San Francisco in January 1995. stantly making contact with the newest ideas. It The prize is awarded by action of the Councils led me to think about such diverse topics as dis- of the AMS and of SIAM on recommendation of crete shock waves, modulation equations, Rie- a selection committee consisting of Thomas mann surfaces, theta divisors, toric varieties, Kailath, Peter D. Lax, and Jerrold E. Marsden. momentum maps, semisimple and affine Lie al- The following text contains the committee’s gebras, Szegö’s theorem, and measurable re- citations for the prize, the recipients’ responses arrangements; as an interested spectator, I have upon receiving the prize, and a brief biograph- seen the Toda chain appear in many more math- ical sketch of each recipient. ematical settings too numerous to try to list. I have enjoyed using integrable systems as the ve- Hermann Flaschka hicle to learn a little about interesting fields Citation with which I was not familiar. Hermann Flaschka has made deep and original It was pure chance that I drifted into this contributions to our understanding of com- area and then my good fortune to have been able pletely integrable systems. Starting with his dis- to work with so many creative colleagues. I can’t covery of the complete integrability of the Toda mention them all, but at least I want to thank chain, Flaschka furnished an explanation for the the ones with whom I have collaborated over pe- APRIL 1995 NOTICES OF THE AMS 457 prize-wiener.qxp 4/24/98 1:38 PM Page 2 riods of many A. Tannenbaum, G. Zames (applied operator the- years: Tony Bloch, ory), G. Prodi, P. Constantin, O.P. Manley, G. Sell Nick Ercolani, Luc and R. Temam (dynamical systems in partial Haine, Dave differential equations), and R.E. Becker (mathe- McLaughlin, Alan matical economics). As for me, this world has a Newell, and Tudor purely mathematical texture, and, as many a Ratiu. Thank you mathematician, I was happier when I felt that my for up to twenty contribution was a mathematical discovery years of fun with rather than a mathematical invention. Regard- mathematics, and less, I am now very happy, and I thank all of you again, thank you, for that. AMS and SIAM, for Biographical Sketch the honor. Ciprian Foias, a graduate of the University of Biographical Bucharest, received his Ph.D. at the Institute of Sketch Mathematics of the Romanian Academy (1962) Hermann Flaschka and Doctor-Docent title at the University of was born on Bucharest (1968). He was a tenured professor at March 25, 1945, in the University of Bucharest (1966–1978) and the Oeblarn, Austria. University of Paris at Orsay (1979–1983). In 1979 He received his he joined the faculty at Indiana University, where Ph.D. from the he has held the title of Distinguished Professor Massachusetts In- of Mathematics since 1983. While Foias’s work stitute of Technol- has involved many collaborators, he is best ogy (1970) under known for his long scientific collaboration with the direction of Bela Sz.-Nagy and for their monograph Har- Gilbert Strang. He monic analysis of operators on Hilbert space. was a cofounder Foias was elected a fellow of the American As- Hermann of and now is co-coordinating editor of Physica sociation for the Advancement of Science (1987) Flaschka (above) D: Nonlinear Phenomena (1980–). He was a vis- and an honorary member of the Hungarian Acad- and Ciprian Foias iting professor at the Research Institute for emy of Science (1993) and of the Romanian (right) Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto (1980–1981). Academy (1994). Ciprian Foias Citation Ciprian Foias’s basic contributions to operator theory, analysis, and dynamics and their appli- cations have had a large impact in pure and ap- plied mathematics. His fundamental investiga- tions include important contributions to dilation and interpolation theory, skew Toeplitz opera- tors, and dynamical systems methods in partial differential equations. The applications are both deep and remarkably broad-ranging, including control theory, geophysical signal processing, Ramsey equilibria in economics, welfare eco- nomics, statistical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations, and dimension estimates for attrac- tors in fluid dynamics. Response I am highly honored to be one of the recipients of the Norbert Wiener Prize of the American Mathematical Society and the Society of Indus- trial and Applied Mathematics, and I am very grateful to these learned Societies as well as to the Norbert Wiener Prize Committee. Most of the work referred to in the citation was done in col- laboration. Therefore I share, at least in spirit, this award with all my collaborators, among whom I cite B. Sz.-Nagy, H. Bercovici, A.E. Frazho, 458 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 42, NUMBER 4.
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