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AMS Presidents
Cathleen Synge Morawetz

53. Cathleen Synge Morawetz

President 1995–1996

Ph.D. New York University, New York, New York, 1951

Morawetz was born in Toronto, Canada. She was appointed director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1984 and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1998 "for pioneering advances in partial differential equations and wave propagation resulting in applications to aerodynamics, acoustics and optics."

Morawetz has received many honors: she was was the first woman member of the Applied Mathematics Section of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Morawetz was awarded the AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2004 for her deep contributions to partial differential equations, transonic flow, and other areas of applied mathematics, for her guidance and inspiration to colleagues and students alike, and for her remarkable service to the mathematical community through her membership on many AMS committees and through her term as AMS President. Morawetz was a Fellow of the AMS.

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