Luis Caffarelli stands as a preeminent figure in the mathematical sciences with profound contributions spanning five decades. He currently holds the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents' Chair in Mathematics No. 1 at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a cornerstone of the mathematics department since 1997. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1948, Caffarelli earned both his Masters of Science (1968) and Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Buenos Aires under the guidance of Calixto Calderón. His distinguished career has included professorships at the University of Minnesota, the University of Chicago, and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, along with a decade-long tenure as permanent professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 1986 to 1996.
Caffarelli's seminal contributions to regularity theory for nonlinear partial differential equations, including free-boundary problems and the Monge-Ampère equation, have fundamentally reshaped the field and earned him the 2023 Abel Prize, mathematics' highest honor. His groundbreaking 1977 paper The regularity of free boundaries in higher dimensions published in Acta Mathematica established foundational principles that continue to guide research in the field. In collaboration with Louis Nirenberg and Robert V. Kohn, his influential 1982 work on the partial regularity of suitable weak solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations remains one of the most cited results in mathematical analysis. Beginning in 1990, Caffarelli pioneered the theory of viscosity solutions to nonlinear partial differential equations, developing transformative methods for the Monge-Ampère equation and equations modeling flow in porous media that resolved classical problems long considered intractable by previous generations of mathematicians.
With over 250 scientific publications, Caffarelli's work has garnered exceptional recognition including the Abel Prize (2023), Wolf Prize (2012), and Shaw Prize in Mathematics (2018), placing him among the most honored mathematicians of his generation. His research has profound implications across multiple scientific domains, from fluid mechanics and optimal transportation to non-local operators and homogenization theory, demonstrating the remarkable reach of his mathematical insights. As a dedicated mentor, Caffarelli has shaped the careers of numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who have themselves become leaders in mathematical analysis. Today, as Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, he continues to advance theoretical understanding while inspiring new generations of mathematicians through his profound geometric intuition and exceptional problem-solving capabilities.
