Jürgen Kurths (born 11 March 1953 in
Arendsee
Arendsee () is a town in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is named after the lake Arendsee, located north of the town.
Geography
The municipality is located in the Altmark region and on the southern bank of the Arendsee ...
/Altmark) is a German physicist and mathematician. He is senior advisor in the research department
Complexity Sciences of the
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK, German: ''Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung'') is a German government-funded research institute addressing crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate imp ...
, a Professor of
Nonlinear Dynamics
In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...
at the Institute of Physics at the
Humboldt University
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...
, Berlin, and a 6th-century chair for Complex Systems Biology at the Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology at
Kings College, Aberdeen University (UK). His research is mainly concerned with nonlinear physics and complex systems sciences and their applications to challenging problems in Earth system, physiology, systems biology and engineering.
Biography
Kurths studied mathematics at the
University of Rostock
The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...
and was awarded his PhD in 1983 at the GDR Academy of Sciences, followed by his installation in 1991 in theoretical physics at the University of Rostock. In 1991, in a special program of the Max-Planck-Society, he was selected as one of a few scientists from East Germany to become a director of a new working group and he has formed an internationally well-known group on nonlinear dynamics. In 1994 he got a full-chair on theoretical physics/nonlinear dynamics at the University of Potsdam. There he was also Dean of the Science Faculty (1996–1999), and established as the founding director the Interdisciplinary Centre for Dynamics of Complex Systems (1994–2008). He was the founding director of the Leibniz-Kolleg Potsdam. In 2008, he was called to re-create the research domain Transdisciplinary Concepts at PIK and to bring complex systems perspectives into Earth system research and has become a Professor of Nonlinear Dynamics at the Institute of Physics at the Humboldt University, Berlin, and in 2009 a 6th-century chair for Complex Systems Biology at the Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology at Kings College, Aberdeen University. Since 2021, he is senior advisor at the PIK.
Research impact
From time series analysis and its application to solar and stellar activity phenomena, his interest was drawn in the 1980s to complex systems and nonlinearity or chaos theory. Kurths has been noted especially for his seminal contributions to new synchronization phenomena, recurrence, coherence resonance, measures of complexity and causality as well as dynamics and stability of complex networks. This is what later led him to do research on the basics of complex systems theory as well as applications to the Earth system, the human brain, the cardio-respiratory system and other systems which are characterised by a high degree of complexity and nonlinearity.
Kurths maintains a large network of scientific collaborators and he has had more than 60 PhD students from about 20 countries, 30 of whom now have tenured positions in various countries.
He published more 1200 articles (as of October 2022) and eight books. He is currently on the editorial board of more than 10 scientific journals, among them ''
Chaos
Chaos or CHAOS may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements
* Chaos (''Kinnikuman'')
* Chaos (''Sailor Moon'')
* Chaos (''Sesame Park'')
* Chaos (''Warhammer'')
* Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy''
* Cha ...
'', ''
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society. It publishes original research and review content in a wide r ...
'', ''
PLOS One'', ''
European Journal of Physics
The ''European Journal of Physics'' is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal dedicated to maintaining and improving the standard of physics education in higher education. The journal, published since 1980, is now published by IOP Publishing on beha ...
'', ''J. Nonlinear Science'' and ''Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics'' and of the Springer Series ''Complexity''.
International scientific activities
Kurths has been a leader in many international scientific activities, including the presidency of the EGU Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences Division (2000–2005). His efforts to promote international collaboration led him to organise several large projects in the EU and DFG and to become the speaker of an International Research Training Group on complex networks (DFG and Brazil) since 2011.
Prizes and awards
Jürgen Kurths is an elected fellow of the
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
(1999). He received an Alexander von Humboldt research award from
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...
(CSIR) (
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
) in 2005. He has become a member of the
Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
in 2010 and of the
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( mk, Македонска Академија на Науките и Уметностите, МАНУ) is an academic institution in North Macedonia.
History
The Academy of Sciences and Arts was establ ...
in 2012 and was bestowed with a Dr. honoris causa from the
Lobachevsky University in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
in 2008 and one from the
Chernishevsky University,
Saratov
Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...
. He is honorary professor at the
University of Potsdam
The University of Potsdam is a public university in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It is mainly situated across three campuses in the city. Some faculty buildings are part of the New Palace of Sanssouci which is known ...
and guest professor at the
Southeast University
Southeast University (SEU, ) is a public research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It was formed from one of the oldest universities and the first coeducational university in China, and designated as a member of the Double First C ...
in Nanjing. He was awarded the
Lewis Fry Richardson Medal of the
European Geosciences Union
The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has headq ...
in 2013.
Kurths's seminal papers (selection)
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References
External links
Kurths – Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurths, Jurgen
1953 births
20th-century German physicists
Living people
21st-century German physicists