Research

Research Priorities: Differential equations, fluid mechanics, oceanography, atmospheric research

Adrian Constantin is an Austrian-Romanian-Swedish mathematician. His research focus is in differential equations which describe space- and time-dependent physical systems. He develops new mathematical methods which provide better insights into the dynamics of waves and currents in water and in the atmosphere. He mainly investigates non-linear phenomena in which the proportionality between cause and effect ceases to apply, often leading to fascinating outcomes.

Constantin refines known mathematical methods and develops new mathematical approaches. Data collection is a crucial part of modern investigations into natural phenomena and while the processing of available data by means of automated machines is very helpful, even the best computer simulations can only produce correlations. However, theoretical investigations, strongly mathematical in nature, enable a successful search for causalities, upon which reliable predictions can be made. Nonlinear phenomena and processes are essentially determined by non-proportional dependencies and interactions of the relevant physical variables. The insights into their dynamics strongly depend on the discovery of specific structures. These can open up unexpected possibilities, in which the mathematical pursuit of accuracy, consistency and systematisation often facilitates elegant syntheses which reveal hidden mechanisms and enable a deeper understanding.

Adrian Constantin has made essential contributions to the theory of nonlinear waves, above all in regard to the dynamics of nonlinear water waves and the interaction between waves and currents in the ocean and in the atmosphere. In his investigations he combines methods from various fields of mathematics, such as partial and ordinary differential equations, complex and harmonic analysis, functional analysis, topology, differential and symplectic geometry, asymptotic analysis, variation calculation, and representation theory.

Career

• since 2008 Professorial Chair of Partial Differential Equations, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
• 2011-2014 Professorial Chair of Analysis, King's College London, London, UK
• 2004-2008 Erasmus Smith’s Chair of Mathematics (1762), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
• 2004 Visiting Professor, Brown University, Providence, USA
• 2000-2008 Professorial Chair of Mathematics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
• 2000 Lecturer, Applied Mathematics, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, UK
• 1999 Habilitation in Mathematics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
• 1998-1999 Senior Research and Teaching Associate, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
• 1996-1998 Research and Teaching Associate, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
• 1996 PhD in Mathematics, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York City, USA
• 1992 Diplôme d'études approfondies in Mathematics, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France
• 1991 Maîtrise de mathématiques pures in Mathematics, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France

Functions

• since 2015 Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Differential Equations
• since 2015 Editor, Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata
• since 2012 Editor-in-Chief, Monatshefte für Mathematik
• since 2011 Member, Kollegium (Scientific Governing Board), Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematics and Physics, Vienna, Austria
• since 2011 Editor, Journal of Mathematical Fluid Mechanics
• since 2011 Editor, Quarterly of Applied Mathematics
• since 2010 Editor, Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems

Projects

• 2021-2026 Project “Theory and applications of nonlinear partial differential equations”, Wittgenstein Award, Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Austria
• 2017-2021 Project “Equatorial wave-current interactions”, Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF), Vienna, Austria
• 2011-2016 Advanced Grant “Nonlinear studies of water flows with vorticity”, European Research Council
• 2010-2015 Project “Lagrangian kinematics of water waves”, FWF, Austria
• 2009-2013 Project “The flow beneath a surface water wave”, WWTF, Austria
• 2007-2008 Project “Modelling tsunamis”, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Ireland
• 2004-2007 Project “Mathematical studies of water wave phenomena”, SFI, Ireland
• 2004-2006 Project “Mathematical studies of water waves”, The Swedish Research Council (VR), Sweden

Honours and Memberships

• since 2022 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• since 2022 Corresponding Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria
• 2020 Wittgenstein-Prize, Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Austria
• 2019 ISI-Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (Cross-Field)
• 2012 Plenary Speaker, 6th European Congress of Mathematics
• 2010-2018 ISI-Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (Mathematics)
• 2007 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
• 2005 Göran-Gustafsson-Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden
• 1994 Benedetto Sciarra Prize, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Pisa, Italy