American Mathematical Society

From Notices of the AMS

Abel Interview 2023: Luis Ángel Caffarelli

Pen and ink illustration by Caffarelli showing a light blue line with an ascent from baseline, a plateau, and a descent to baseline; a black line showing an ascent from baseline, some variance lower than the blue line, and a descent to meet with the blue line; and a brown line showing a descent from topline, some variance, and a further descent but still finishing above the baseline. Top of blue line's descent labeled $S_2=\partial\Omega_2. End of brown line labeled S_1=\partial\Omega_1. Area between blue and brown/black lines is labeled \Omega_2. Area between black line and baseline is labeled \Omega_1\cap\Omega_2\Omega_1. Area between brown line and baseline after blue and black have returned to baseline is labeled \Omega_1. Caption reads: \operatorname{PER}(\Omega_1\cap\Omega_2) + \operatorname {PER}(\Omega_1\cup\Omega_2)=\operatorname {PER}(\Omega_1) + \operatorname {PER}(\Omega_2)\Rightarrow \partial(\Omega_1\cap\Omega_2) and \partial(\Omega_1\cup\Omega_2) are also minimize. This allows us to consider the smallest minimizer in the sense that \Omega_S\subset\ for any other minimizer. — Illustration created by Luis Ángel Caffarelli

This is a reprint of an article that appeared in the EMS Magazine. Reprinted with their permission.

Bjørn Ian Dundas/Christian F. Skau: Professor Caffarelli, firstly we want to congratulate you on being awarded the Abel Prize for 2023 for your "seminal contributions to regularity theory for nonlinear partial differential equations, including free boundary problems and the Monge-Ampère equation." You will receive the prize tomorrow from His Majesty the King of Norway.

We will return to your mathematics, but first it might be a good idea to know something about your background. You were born in Buenos Aires in 1948. How would you describe your childhood?

Luis Ángel Caffarelli: We lived in a nice middle-class area of Buenos Aires. At the time when I was a kid I would play soccer a lot with my friends. Another game we enjoyed a lot was to throw a ball, or something else, and see who got it closest to a wall or to a line.

Also in Notices: On the Importance of Illustration for Mathematical Research; Baguenaudy, Baguenaudier, Baguenaudiest

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