Professor Darren Crowdy, from the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London, was awarded the 'Cherry Ripe Prize' as judged by a panel of students from the Australian Maths Society.
He reflected: "Winning the Cherry Ripe Prize was a huge thrill and a big surprise; I have great passion for my research, and I love doing it, but I also know that part of my job is to inspire the next generation. Perhaps the Prize is a sign that maybe I have!"
Professor Crowdy is giving a series of public talks and scientific lectures as part of his Australian tour this February, courtesy of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) and the Annual Australian and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ANZIAM) conference. The Cherry Ripe Prize has been given annually at each ANZIAM conference since 1995 for the best presentation by an established academic.
In his AMSI public lecture, entitled 'A Complex Life' on 16 February 2011, he will challenge the decline in teaching complex analysis to undergraduates of engineering and even mathematicians. Instead, he will present compelling evidence that it continues to be an indispensable mathematical tool with perennial relevance to modern day applications in science and engineering.
Life is made easier by thinking about complex numbers, and solutions to real scientific problems can be obtained more easily by introducing imaginary concepts, according to Professor Crowdy. He explained: "Philip Pullman wrote in his novel, The Golden Compass: 'Think of Adam and Eve like an imaginary number, like the square root of minus one: you can never see any concrete proof that it exists, but if you include it in your equations, you can calculate all manner of things that couldn't be imagined without it.' Imaginary, or complex, numbers have long fascinated not just mathematicians but the public at large; it is bemusing and intriguing that an 'imagined' abstraction can have real-life utility."
Professor Crowdy is recognized as one of the world's leading experts in applying the theory of complex, or imaginary, numbers to solving real-world problems. He is an Advanced Fellow of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and holds a Chair in Applied Mathematics at Imperial College London. He has special interests in the field of fluid dynamics and is pursuing research on function theory in multiply connected domains and its application to physical systems.
His lecture series includes the following talks: A complex life; Complex analysis in low Reynolds number hydrodynamics; A new calculus for ideal fluid dynamics; and, finally, Solving problems in multiply connected domains, which he presented yesterday as a keynote lecture at the 2011 ANZIAM Conference.
Notes:
1. For a full list of public lectures by Professor Darren Crowdy in Australia, please see: http://www.amsi.org.au/index.php/events/591-2011-amsi-lecturer
2. For more information about the Cherry Ripe Prize, please see: http://www.austms.org.au/Gazette/1995/Aug95/cherry.html
3. For Professor Darren Crowdy's personal website, please see: http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/~dgcrowdy/