Jean L. Mawhin (born 11 December 1942 in Verviers) is a Belgian mathematician and historian of mathematics. Mawhin received his PhD in 1969 (''Le problème des solutions périodiques en mécanique non linéaire'') under Paul Ledoux at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

, where he had studied since 1962 and received his licentiate in mathematics in 1964. He was assistant professor at Liège from 1964 and maitre de conferences (lecturer) from 1969 to 1973. From 1970 he was assistant professor (chargé de cours) and from 1974 professor of mathematics at the

Université catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

(with full professorship from 1977). In 2008 he retired. He was a visiting professor at various US and Canadian universities (

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

Centre de Recherches Mathématiques The Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) is the first mathematical research institute in Canada, located at the Université de Montréal. The CRM has ten research laboratories, one in each of: mathematical analysis, number theory and symbol ...

in Montreal,

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

), at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, in Strasbourg, Rome, Turin, Trieste, Brisbane, Graz, Brazil, Florence, Darmstadt, Karlsruhe and Würzburg. He worked on (nonlinear)

ordinary differential equation In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a differential equation whose unknown(s) consists of one (or more) function(s) of one variable and involves the derivatives of those functions. The term ''ordinary'' is used in contrast w ...

s and the topological methods used there ( fixed-point theorems, Leray-Schauder theory) and methods of nonlinear functional analysis. As a historian of mathematics, he dealt with

Henri Poincaré Jules Henri Poincaré ( S: stress final syllable ; 29 April 1854 – 17 July 1912) was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The ...

, among others. He received the Bolzano Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 2012, he was awarded the first Juliusz Schauder Prize. In 1986 he became a corresponding member and in 1992 a full member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, of which he was president in 2002, and director of the Class of Sciences. In 1992 he became an honorary member of the

Grand Ducal Institute Grand Ducal Institute () is the national academy of Luxembourg. It is based in Luxembourg City, in the south of the country. The Institute incorporates six subsections, each dedicated to a separate field of academic research: * History (''Sectio ...

. He has been married since 1966 and has three children.

Selected works

*with Michel Willem, ''Critical point theory and hamiltonian systems'', Springer 1989 *with Robert E. Gaines, ''Coincidence degree and nonlinear differential equations'', Springer 1977 *''Topological degree methods in nonlinear boundary value problems'', American Mathematical Society 1979 *''Points fixes, points critiques et problèmes aux limites'', Presses de l’Université de Montreal, 1985 *with , ''Equations differentielles ordinaires'', Paris, Masson 1973 (english translation ''Ordinary differential equations: stability and periodic solutions'', Boston, Pitman, 1980) *''Boundary value problems for nonlinear ordinary differential equations: from successive approximations to topology'', in

Jean-Paul Pier Jean-Paul Pier (July 5, 1933 – December 14, 2016) was a Luxembourgish mathematician, specializing in harmonic analysis and the history of mathematics, particularly mathematical analysis in the 20th century. Education and career Jean-Paul Pier w ...

''Development of Mathematics 1900-1950'', Birkhäuser 1994 *''Topological fixed point theory and nonlinear differential equations'', in R. F. Brown et.al. (eds.) ''Handbook of Topological Fixed Point Theory'', Springer 2005, p. 867–904 *''Leray-Schauder degree, a half century of extensions and applications'', Topological Methods in Nonlinear Analysis, Journal of the Juliusz Schauder Center, Vol. 14, 1999, p. 195–228 *''The centennial legacy of Poincaré and Lyapunov in ordinary differential equations'', Rend. Circolo Math. Palermo, Suppl. 34, 1994, S. 9–46 *''Poincaré’s early use of Analysis Situs in nonlinear differential equations'', Philos. Sci., Vol. 4, 2000, p. 103–143 *''Nonlinear oscillations: a hundred years after Poincaré and Liapunov'',

Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics The ''Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics'', also known as ''Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik'' or ''ZAMM'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to applied mathematics. It is published by Wiley-VCH on ...

, Vol. 73, 1993, T 53-T62 *''Les mathématiques'', in: Robert Halleux, Geert Vanpaemel, Jan Vandersmissen, Andrée Despy-Meyer (eds.), ''Histoire des sciences en Belgique, 1815-2000'', Brussels: Dexia/La Renaissance du livre, 2001, Vol. 1

References

* M. Delgado et.al. (eds.) The first 60 years of nonlinear analysis of Jean Mawhin (Sevilla Conference 2003), World Scientific 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mawhin, Jean 20th-century Belgian mathematicians Historians of mathematics 1942 births University of Liège alumni Academic staff of the University of Liège Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Academic staff of the Université catholique de Louvain Living people