Jacques-Louis Lions (; 3 May 1928 – 17 May 2001) was a French

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who made contributions to the theory of

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...

s and to

stochastic control Stochastic control or stochastic optimal control is a sub field of control theory that deals with the existence of uncertainty either in observations or in the noise that drives the evolution of the system. The system designer assumes, in a Bayes ...

, among other areas. He received the

SIAM Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

John von Neumann Lecture The John von Neumann Prize (until 2019 named John von Neumann Lecture Prize) was established in 1959 with funds from IBM and other industry corporations, and is awarded for "outstanding and distinguished contributions to the field of applied ma ...

prize in 1986 and numerous other distinctions.Jacques-Louis Lions
Casinapioiv.va. Retrieved on 9 May 2016.
isces.org Lions is listed as an

ISI highly cited researcher The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

Biography

After being part of the French Résistance in 1943 and 1944, J.-L. Lions entered the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1947. He was a professor of mathematics at the Université of Nancy, the Faculty of Sciences of Paris, and the

École polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

. In 1966 he sent an invitation to

Gury Marchuk Gury Ivanovich Marchuk (russian: Гурий Иванович Марчук; 8 June 1925 – 24 March 2013) was a Soviet and Russian scientist in the fields of computational mathematics, and physics of atmosphere. Academician (since 1968); the ...

, the soviet mathematician to visit Paris. This was hand delivered by

General De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

during his visit to

Akademgorodok Akademgorodok ( rus, Академгородок, p=ɐkəˌdʲemɡərɐˈdok, "Academic Town") is a part of the Sovetsky District of the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, located south of the city center and about west of Koltsovo. It is the edu ...

in June of that year. He joined the prestigious

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

as well as the French Academy of Sciences in 1973. In 1979, he was appointed director of the Institut National de la Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (

INRIA The National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) () is a French national research institution focusing on computer science and applied mathematics. It was created under the name ''Institut de recherche en informatiq ...

), where he taught and promoted the use of numerical simulations using finite elements integration. Throughout his career, Lions insisted on the use of mathematics in industry, with a particular involvement in the French space program, as well as in domains such as energy and the environment. This eventually led him to be appointed director of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

) from 1984 to 1992. Lions was elected President of the

International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports ...

in 1991 and also received the

Japan Prize is awarded to people from all parts of the world whose "original and outstanding achievements in science and technology are recognized as having advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for mankind." The P ...

and the

Harvey Prize Harvey Prize is an annual Israeli award for breakthroughs in science and technology, as well as contributions to peace in the Middle East granted by the Technion in Haifa. History The prize is named for industrialist and inventor Leo Harvey. T ...

that same year. In 1992, the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

awarded him an honorary doctoral degree. He was elected president of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

in 1996 and was also a Foreign Member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(ForMemRS) and numerous other foreign academies. He has left a considerable body of work, among this more than 400 scientific articles, 20 volumes of mathematics that were translated into English and Russian, and major contributions to several collective works, including the 4000 pages of the monumental ''Mathematical analysis and numerical methods for science and technology'' (in collaboration with Robert Dautray), as well as the ''Handbook of numerical analysis'' in 7 volumes (with Philippe G. Ciarlet). His son

Pierre-Louis Lions Pierre-Louis Lions (; born 11 August 1956) is a French people, French mathematician. He is known for a number of contributions to the fields of partial differential equations and the calculus of variations. He was a recipient of the 1994 Fields Me ...

is also a well-known mathematician who was awarded a

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

in 1994. Both father and son have received honorary doctorates from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

in 1986 and 1995 respectively.

Books

*with Enrico Magenes: ''Problèmes aux limites non homogènes et applications.'' 3 vols., 1968, 1970 *''Contrôle optimal de systèmes gouvernés par des équations aux dérivées partielles.'' 1968 *with L. Cesari: ''Quelques méthodes de résolution des problèmes aux limites non linéaires.'' 1969 *with Roger Dautray: ''Mathematical analysis and numerical methods for science and technology.'' 9 vols., 1984/5; translated from ''Analyse mathématique et calcul numérique pour le sciences et le techniques'' by

Ian Sneddon Prof Ian Naismith Sneddon FRS FRSE FIMA OBE (8 December 1919 Glasgow, Scotland – 4 November 2000 Glasgow, Scotland) was a Scottish mathematician who worked on analysis and applied mathematics. Life Sneddon was born in Glasgow on 8 Dece ...

*as editor with Philippe Ciarlet: ''Handbook of numerical analysis.'' 7 vols. *with Alain Bensoussan, Papanicolaou: ''Asymptotic analysis of periodic structures.'' North Holland 1978 *with Roland Glowinski and Raymond Trémolières: ''Numerical analysis of variational inequalities'', North Holland 19812011 pbk edition
* * *with John E. Lagnese: ''Modelling Analysis and Control of Thin Plates.''

References

External links

Obituary on SIAM
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lions, Jacques-Louis 1928 births 2001 deaths People from Grasse École Normale Supérieure alumni 20th-century French mathematicians 21st-century French mathematicians Mathematical analysts Officers of the French Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Royal Society Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences PDE theorists Nancy-Université alumni Presidents of the International Mathematical Union

Biography

Books

See also

References

External links