Predrag Cvitanović (; born April 1, 1946) is a theoretical physicist regarded for his work in
nonlinear dynamics, particularly his contributions to
periodic orbit theory.
Life
Cvitanović earned his B.S. from
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
in 1969 and his Ph.D. at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
in 1973. Before joining the physics department at the
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
he was the director of the Center for Chaos and Turbulence Studies of the
Niels Bohr Institute
The Niels Bohr Institute () is a research institute of the University of Copenhagen. The research of the institute spans astronomy, geophysics, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum mechanics, and biophysics.
Overview
The institute was foun ...
in Copenhagen.
Cvitanović is a member of the
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, a corresponding member of
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia.
HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...
, a recipient of the Research Prize of the Danish Physical Society, and a fellow of the American Physical Society.
In 2009 Cvitanović was the recipient of the prestigious Alexander von
Humboldt Prize
The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...
for his work in turbulence theory.
He currently holds the
Glen P. Robinson Chair in Non-Linear Science at the
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
.
Scientific work
Perhaps his best-known work is his introduction of cycle expansions— that is, expansions based on using periodic orbit theory—to approximate chaotic dynamics in a controlled
perturbative
In quantum mechanics, perturbation theory is a set of approximation schemes directly related to mathematical perturbation for describing a complicated quantum system in terms of a simpler one. The idea is to start with a simple system for which ...
way. This technique has proven to be widely useful for diagnosing and quantifying chaotic dynamics in problems ranging from atomic physics to neurophysiology.
This theory has been applied by Cvitanović and others to fluid turbulence. Another well-known result is the
Feigenbaum-Cvitanović functional equation.
Books
* P. Cvitanović, R. Artuso, R. Mainieri, G. Tanner and G. Vattay,
Chaos: Classical and Quantum'
Niels Bohr Institute
The Niels Bohr Institute () is a research institute of the University of Copenhagen. The research of the institute spans astronomy, geophysics, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum mechanics, and biophysics.
Overview
The institute was foun ...
, Copenhagen 2005
* P. Cvitanović, ''Group Theory: Birdtracks, Lie's, and Exceptional Groups'' Princeton University Press, Princeton 2008, available online at http://birdtracks.eu/
See also
*
E7½
*
Feigenbaum function
*
Penrose graphical notation
In mathematics and physics, Penrose graphical notation or tensor diagram notation is a (usually handwritten) visual depiction of multilinear functions or tensors proposed by Roger Penrose in 1971. A diagram in the notation consists of several sh ...
References
External links
Cvitanović's web page at Georgia TechConference in honor of Cvitanović's 60th birthdayA collection of Cvitanović's quotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cvitanovic, Predrag
1946 births
Cornell University alumni
Living people
Georgia Tech faculty
Croatian physicists
Scientists from Zagreb
Dynamical systems theorists
Fellows of the American Physical Society