Carlo Cercignani (17 June 1939 in
Teulada – 7 January 2010 in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
) was an Italian
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
known for his work on the
kinetic theory of gases. His contributions to the study of
Boltzmann's equation
The Boltzmann equation or Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) describes the statistical behaviour of a thermodynamic system not in a state of Thermodynamic equilibrium, equilibrium; it was devised by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872.Encyclopaedia of Ph ...
include the proof of the
H-theorem
In classical statistical mechanics, the ''H''-theorem, introduced by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872, describes the tendency of the quantity ''H'' (defined below) to decrease in a nearly-ideal gas of molecules.L. Boltzmann,Weitere Studien über das Wär ...
for
polyatomic
A polyatomic ion (also known as a molecular ion) is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that usually has a net charge that is not zero, or in special case ...
gases.
The
Cercignani conjecture is named after him.
Cercignani's conjecture is "sometimes true and always almost true", as proved by the Fields medalist mathematician
Cedric Villani
Cedric () is a given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe''.
Etymology
The invented name is based on '' Cerdic'', the name of a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon king (itself from Brittonic '' Coroticus'').
Popularity
The name was ...
.
He is the author of several
monograph
A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
s and more than 300 papers in kinetic theory, as well as of a biography of
Boltzmann. Cercignani was member of the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
French Academy of Sciences necrology
and of the Accademia dei Lincei
The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...
. He received the 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 ...
in 1994.[
]
Selected publications
Kinetic theory
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History of science
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Notes
External links
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Italian mathematical physicists
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
2010 deaths
1939 births
{{Italy-mathematician-stub