News Release

Daniel Rothman to receive 2016 AMS Conant Prize

Grant and Award Announcement

American Mathematical Society

Daniel Rothman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

image: Daniel Rothman, Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center at MIT, will receive the AMS 2016 Levi L. Conant Prize. view more 

Credit: Photo by John M. Hayes.

Daniel Rothman, Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center at MIT, will receive the AMS 2016 Levi L. Conant Prize. Rothman is honored for his paper "Earth's Carbon Cycle: A Mathematical Perspective," Bulletin of the AMS, 2015 (the article is freely available without subscription at http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-01/S0273-0979-2014-01471-5/).

The citation for the prize says: "Mathematics finds a place in Science by enunciating principles that at once classify, quantify and illuminate natural phenomena. This heuristic is often best displayed when phenomena are simple or at least isolated from external influences. In this sense, biological processes present a particular challenge for Mathematics because they are generally tapestries of confounding factors. It is nowadays common to approach such problems from a viewpoint that promotes data collection and data analysis as the pathway to knowledge. But, as Dan Rothman points out in this article, 'Data, however, require understanding'. Here, he gives us an understanding of the Earth's carbon cycle by applying classical ideas from applied mathematics to the data at hand...

"This article is especially timely as humanity grapples with the consequences of releasing trapped carbon by burning fossil fuels. The author, a geophysicist, concludes with an invitation to mathematicians to take up the challenge: 'Because the carbon cycle represents the coupling between life and the environment---metabolism at a global scale---its mathematical description inherits the difficulties of biology in addition to physical science. Thus, theoretical understanding of dynamics, so crucial to advancing knowledge of how the carbon cycle works, remains more qualitative than quantitative. Such problems present scientific opportunities with no shortage of social significance. Mathematics will surely play a central role in future progress.'

"But it isn't just the timeliness of the topic that draws us in and holds our interest. At every step the author takes care to explain the science as well as the mathematics involved in clear straightforward prose so that the entire article is accessible to a general mathematical audience. We often hear about Wigner's 'unreasonable effectiveness of Mathematics in the sciences', but it is not so often that we see this manifested in a beautiful exposition of a fundamental ingredient of our existence."

Presented annually, the Conant Prize recognizes the best expository paper published in either the Notices of the AMS or the Bulletin of the AMS in the preceding five years. The prize will be awarded on Thursday, January 7, 2016, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

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Find out more about AMS prizes and awards at http://www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/prizes.

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.


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