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Florin
Diacu
Professor of Mathematics
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Florin Diacu
Professor of Mathematics
Featured on Year of Science Website -- The Province of BC
- Address:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Victoria
P.O. Box 3060 STN CSC
Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3R4
- Office: SSM Building
A-543
- Phone: (250) 721-6330
- Fax: (250) 721-8962
- Email:
Degrees:
- Diploma in Mathematics---University
of Bucharest, Romania, 1983
- Ph.D. in Mathematics---University
of Heidelberg, Germany, 1989
- My
mathematical genealogy
Positions:
Research Interests:
- celestial mechanics
- dynamical systems
- chaos
- mathematical physics
- history and philosophy of mathematics
- mathematical, statistical, and astronomical methods in the
study of historical chronology
Graduate Students:
- Lennard Bakker, M.Sc. 1993, Arnold Diffusion
in the Elliptic Restricted Planar Three-Body Problem.
- Mona Popescu, M.Sc. 1994, The Theorem of Von
Zeipel for Quasihomogeneous Potentials.
- Cristina Stoica, Ph.D. 2000, Particle Systems
with
Quasihomogeneous Interaction.
- Manuele Santoprete, Ph.D. 2003, Qualitative
Properties of
the Anisotropic Manev Problem (awarded the Governor
General's Gold Medal in 2004 at the University of
Victoria).
- Bogdan Verjinschi, M.Sc. 2003, The Sitnikov
Problem
for Manev-type Potentials.
- Robert Jones, M.Sc. 2006, The N-Body Problem
with Repulsive-Attractive Quasihomogeneous Potential Functions.
- Victor Paraschiv, M.Sc., 2011, Homographic
Solutions of the Quasihomogeneous n-Body Problem.
- Victor Paraschiv, Ph.D., in progress.
- Shima Kordlou, M.Sc., in progress.
Teaching
- Math 151 A03 (Spring 2013), Course Outline, Policy Statement
- Math 367 A01 (Spring 2012), Course Outline, Policy Statement, Assignment 1, Assignment 2
Recent research
- F. Diacu, The non-existence of
centre-of-mass and linear
momentum integrals in the curved N-body problem
(12 pages).
- F. Diacu, R. Martinez, E. Perez-Chavela, and C. Simo, On the stability of tetrahedral relative equilibria in the positively curved 4-body problem
(34 pages).
Publications:
Books:
- F. Diacu, Relative
Equilibria
of the Curved N-Body Problem, Atlantis Studies in Dynamical Systems, vol. 1, Atlantis Press, Amsterdam,
2012.
- F. Diacu,
The Lost Millennium---History's Timetables Under Siege (second edition),
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.
- F. Diacu, Megadisasters:
Predicting the Next Catastrophe,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. and Princeton
University Press, Princeton, N.J., 2009/10 (Translations: Japanese,
Chinese,). In 2011, it made the list of "Outstanding
Academic
Books" of 2010 for "Choice Magazine," world's top academic reviewer.
From the citation: [Florin]
Diacu (Univ. of Victoria, Canada) is a mathematician who uses his
professional and outstanding literary skills to provide a remarkable
analysis of the "science" of prediction. His chapter topics range from
tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and cosmic impacts to
financial crashes and pandemics. Perhaps the most remarkable chapter
deals with climate change. All these subjects are highly germane to the
present world society awash with levels of communication hardly
envisaged 10 or 20 years ago. Diacu's great depth of historical
knowledge, penetrating insights, and familiarity with the associated
literature has led to an erudite yet easily readable approach that
retains critical scientific impact. In an age where the news media and
large sections of society seem to feast on dire predictions and the
threat of many "imminent" disasters, Megadisasters should be required
reading for all intelligent human beings. Summing Up: Highly
recommended. All levels/libraries.
- F. Diacu,
The Lost Millennium---History's Timetables Under Siege,
Knopf Canada, 2005; Vintage Canada, 2006.
- H. Cabral and F. Diacu,
Classical and Celestial Mechanics---The Recife Lectures,
Princeton University
Press, 2002.
- F. Diacu, An
Introduction to Differential
Equations---Order and Chaos,W.H. Freeman, New
York, 2000. (Translations: Portuguese, 2004).
Corrections to the textbook: pdf file
- F. Diacu and P. Holmes, Celestial
Encounters---The Origins of Chaos
and Stability,
Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1996. (Translations:
Romanian, 1996; Chinese, 2001; Greek, 2001; Hungarian, 2003; Japanese
2004, Russian, 2004.) In 1997, it also made the list of "Outstanding
Academic Books" of 1996 for "Choice Magazine."
- F. Diacu, Singularities
of the N-Body Problem, Les Publications CRM,
Montreal, 1992.
Selected Papers:
- F. Diacu, Relative
equilibria in the 3-dimensional curved n-body problem Memoirs Amer. Math. Soc. (to appear).
- F. Diacu, Polygonal
homographic orbits of the curved n-body problem
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 364,
5 (2012), 2783-2802.
- F. Diacu, E. Perez-Chavela, and J. Guadalupe Reyes
Victoria,
An intrinsic approach in the curved n-body problem: the negative
curvature case J. Differential Equations 252 (2012),
4529-4562.
- F. Diacu, E. Perez-Chavela, and M. Santoprete, The n-body problem in
spaces of constant curvature. Part I: Relative equilibria
J. Nonlinear Sci. 22, 2 (2012), 247-266. DOI: 10.1007/s00332-011-9116-z.
- F. Diacu, E. Perez-Chavela, and M.
Santoprete, The
n-body problem in
spaces of constant curvature. Part II: Singularities
J. Nonlinear Sci, 22, 2 (2012), 267-275. DOI: 10.1007/s00332-011-9117-y.
- F. Diacu, On the
singularities of
the curved n-body problem Trans. Amer. Math.
Soc. 363, 4
(2011), 2249-2264.
- F. Diacu and E. Perez-Chavela, Homographic
solutions of the curved
3-body problem J. Differential Equations 250
(2011),
340-366.
- F. Diacu, Orbital
Anomalies, Math. Intelligencer 31,
2 (2009), 45-49.
- F. Diacu, T. Fujiwara, E. Perez-Chavela, and M.
Santoprete, Saari's
Homographic Conjecture of the Three-Body Problem,
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 360, 12
(2008), 6447-6473.
- F. Diacu, E. Perez-Chavela, and M. Santoprete, Central Configurations and Total
Collisions for Quasihomogeneous n-Body Problems,
Nonlinear Anal. 65 (2006), 1425-1439.
- F. Diacu, E. Perez-Chavela and M. Santoprete, Saari's Conjecture of the N-Body
Problem in the Collinear Case, Trans. Amer.
Math. Soc. 357, 10 (2005), 4215-4223.
- F. Diacu, E. Perez-Chavela and M. Santoprete, The Kepler Problem with Anisotropic
Perturbations, J. Math. Phys. 46,
7 (2005), 072701(1-21).
- F. Diacu and M. Santoprete, On
the Global Flow of the Anisitropic
Manev Problem,
Phys. D 194 (2004), 75-94.
- F. Diacu and E. Perez-Chavela, On
the Dynamics of the Langmuir Problem,
J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36
(2003), 9053-9066.
- F. Diacu and M. Santoprete, Nonintegrability
and Chaos in the
Anisotropic Manev Problem, Phys. D 156
(2001), 39-52.
- F. Diacu, Stability in the Anisotropic
Manev Problem,
J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 33 (2000),
6573-6578.
- F. Diacu, A
Century-long Loop,
Math. Intelligencer 22 (2) (2000), 19-25.
- F. Diacu, V. Mioc, and C. Stoica, Phase-space
structure and regularization
of Manev-type problems, Nonlinear Anal. 41
(2000),
1029-1055.
- F. Diacu, Two-body problems with drag or
thrust: qualitative
results, Celestial Mechanics 75
(1999), 1-15.
- S. Craig, F. Diacu, E.A. Lacomba, and E. Perez-Chavela,
On the anisotropic Manev problem, J. Math. Phys. 40,
3 (1999), 1359-1375.
- F. Diacu and D. Selaru, Chaos in the
Gylden problem, J. Math. Phys. 39,
12 (1998), 6537-6546.
- F. Diacu, Near-Collision
Dynamics for Particle Systems with Quasihomogeneous Potentials,
J. Differential Equations, 128 (1996)
58-77.
- F. Diacu, The
Solution of the N-Body Problem, Math.
Intelligencer 18, 3 (1996), 66-70.
- J. Delgado, F. Diacu, E.A. Lacomba, A. Mingarelli, V.
Mioc, E. Perez-Chavela, C. Stoica, The Global Flow of the
Manev Problem, J. Math. Phys. 37,
6 (1996), 2748-2761.
- F. Diacu, The Planar Isosceles Problem for
Maneff's Gravitational Law, J. Math. Physics 34,
12 (1993), 5671-5690.
- F. Diacu, Painleve's Conjecture,
Math. Intelligencer 15, 2 (1993), 6-12.
- F. Diacu, A
Generic Property of the Bounded Syzygy Solutions,
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 116 (1992),
809-812.
- F. Diacu, Regularization of Partial
Collisions in the N-Body
Problem, Differential Integral Equations 5
(1992),
103-136.
- F. Diacu, The
Masses in a Symmetric Centered Solution of the N-Body Problem,
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 109 (1990),
1079-1085.
History of Mathematics Papers:
Popular Science Articles:
- F. Diacu, Mathematical
Research: Invention and Discovery, Pi in the Sky
11
(2008), 3.
- F. Diacu, On the
Dynamics of Karate
Pi in the Sky 6 (2003), 9-11.
- F. Diacu, The
Top Mathematics Award, Pi in the Sky 3
(2001), 17-18, and The Ring, February 3, 2001, p. 6.
- F. Diacu, The
slingshot effect of
celestial bodies, Pi in the Sky 2,
16-18, 2000.
Encyclopedia Articles:
- F. Diacu, Celestial
Mechanics,
Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2003.
- F. Diacu, N-Body
Problem, Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science,
Fitzroy Dearborn, 2003.
Newspaper Articles:
- F. Diacu,
Reality is this: new
millennium starts tomorrow, Times Colonist,
Saturday,
December 30, 2000, p. A11.
- F. Diacu,
Make elections fairer: use
Borda count, Times Colonist, Saturday, December
9, 2000,
p. A19.
- F. Diacu,
The mathematics of making money, The Ring,
Thursday, February 21, 2002, p. 7.
- F. Diacu,
Is failure to predict a crime? The New York Times, Saturday, October 27, 2012, p. A19.
Interviews:
Reviews:
Presentations:
Awards:
- The 1996 Prize of The
American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences
- The Outstanding Academic Book
award for 1997
from Choice Magazine for Celestial
Encounters
- Celstial Encounters made the
list of Best 10 Nonfiction
Books of 1997 for The American Reporter
Book Review
- The Outstanding Academic Book
award for 2010
from Choice Magazine for Megadisasters
Hobbies:
Blog: Florin
Diacu's Food For Thought