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Florin
Diacu
Professor of Mathematics
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Florin Diacu
Professor of Mathematics
- Address:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Victoria
P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC
Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 2Y2
Degrees:
- Ph.D. in Mathematics--University
of Heidelberg, Germany, 1989
- Diploma in Mathematics--University
of Bucharest, Romania, 1983
Notable Awards:
- 2015 - J.D. Crawford Prize;
"for
the novel approach to the n-body problem in curved space, blending
dynamical systems, differential geometry, and geometric and celestial
mechanics in a lucid, inspirational manner."
- 2011 - Outstanding Academic
Book Award for Megadisasters:
The Science of Predicting the Next Catastrophe, Princeton and
Oxford Univ. Press
- 1996 - Outstanding Academic Book Award for Celestial Encounters--The Origins of Chaos
and Stability, Princeton Univ. Press
- 1996 - Prize of the
American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences
Administrative Positions:
- Vice-President of the Canadian Mathematical Society, 2015-2017
Research Interests:
- dynamical systems
- mathematical physics
- history and philosophy of mathematics
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
- Shima Kordlou, M.Sc., 2013, Rotopulsators of the
curved N-Body Problem
- Crystal Lind, M.Sc., 2014, The
Gravitational Vlasov-Poisson System on the Unit 2-Sphere with Initial
Data along a Great Circle
- Shengyi Shen, M.Sc., 2014, Vlasov’s
Equation on a Great Circle and the Landau Damping Phenomenon
- Shuqiang Zhu, Ph.D., in progress
- Shengyi Shen, Ph.D., in progress
- Juan Sanchez Cerritos, Ph.D., in progress
- Sawsan Alhowaity, Ph.D., in progress
Recent Research:
Publications:
- F. Diacu, Megadisasters:
The Science of 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 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."
Selected Papers