Percy Alec Deift (born September 10, 1945) is a mathematician known for his work on

spectral theory In mathematics, spectral theory is an inclusive term for theories extending the eigenvector and eigenvalue theory of a single square matrix to a much broader theory of the structure of operator (mathematics), operators in a variety of mathematical ...

integrable system In mathematics, integrability is a property of certain dynamical systems. While there are several distinct formal definitions, informally speaking, an integrable system is a dynamical system with sufficiently many conserved quantities, or first ...

random matrix theory In probability theory and mathematical physics, a random matrix is a matrix-valued random variable—that is, a matrix in which some or all of its entries are sampled randomly from a probability distribution. Random matrix theory (RMT) is the s ...

and

Riemann–Hilbert problem In mathematics, Riemann–Hilbert problems, named after Bernhard Riemann and David Hilbert, are a class of problems that arise in the study of differential equations in the complex plane. Several existence theorems for Riemann–Hilbert problems ...

Life

Deift was born in Durban,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, where he obtained degrees in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, and received a Ph.D. in

mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1977. He is a Silver Professor at the

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU). Founded in 1935, it is named after Richard Courant, one of the founders of the Courant Institute ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Honors and awards

Deift is a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

(elected 2012), a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(elected 2003), and of the

U.S. National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

(elected 2009). He is a co-winner of the 1998 Pólya Prize, and was named a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

in 1999. He gave an invited address at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin in 1998 and plenary addresses in 2006 at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

in Madrid and at the

International Congress on Mathematical Physics The International Congress on Mathematical Physics (ICMP) is the largest research congress in mathematical physics. It is held every three years, on behalf of the International Association of Mathematical Physics (IAMP). Prizes The Henri Poin ...

in Rio de Janeiro. Deift gave the Gibbs Lecture at the Joint Meeting of the

in 2009. Along with

Michael Aizenman Michael Aizenman (; born 28 August 1945) is an American-Israeli mathematician and a physicist at Princeton University, working in the fields of mathematical physics, statistical mechanics, functional analysis and probability theory. The highligh ...

and

Giovanni Gallavotti Giovanni Gallavotti is an Italian mathematical physicist, born in Naples on 29 December 1941. He is the recipient of the "Premio Nazionale Presidente della Repubblica", presso la Classe di Scienze Naturali dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1 ...

, he won the

Henri Poincare Prize Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * ...

in 2018.

Selected works

* with

Eugene Trubowitz Eugene Trubowitz is an American mathematician who studies analysis and mathematical physics. He is a Global Professor of Mathematics at New York University Abu Dhabi. Life and work Trubowitz, who was born in 1951, received his doctorate in 197 ...

: ''Inverse scattering on the line'', Communications on pure and applied Mathematics, vol. 32, 1979, pp. 121–251 * with Fernando Lund, E. Trubowitz: * with Richard Beals, Carlos Tomei
''Direct and inverse scattering on the line''
AMS, 1988 * with Luen-Chau Li, C. Tomei

AMS, 1992 * with K. T-R McLaughlin: ttps://books.google.com/books/about/A_Continuum_Limit_of_the_Toda_Lattice.html?id=QIy03qAiMbcC ''A continuum limit of the Toda lattice'' AMS, 1998
''Orthogonal polynomials and random matrices: a Riemann-Hilbert approach''
AMS (American Mathematical Society), 2000 (and Courant Institute, 1999) * with Dmitri Gioev

AMS, 2009 * with Jinho Baik and Toufic Suidan

References

External links

Percy Deift personal webpage

Courant Institute The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU). Founded in 1935, it is named after Richard Courant, one of the founders of the Courant Institute ...

Percy Alec Deift

Mathematics Genealogy Project The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. it contained information on 300,152 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a typical mathematicia ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deift, Percy 1945 births 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians South African mathematicians Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Princeton University alumni Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences faculty Living people Fellows of the American Mathematical Society

Life

Honors and awards

Selected works

See also

References

External links