Annalisa Buffa named 2023 Sonia Kovalevsky Lecturer

The Kovalevsky Lecture honors Sonia Kovalevsky (Sofya Kovalevskaya, 1850–1891), the most widely known Russian mathematician of the late 19th century who is known for her important work in the theory of differential equations. In 1874, Kovalevsky received her PhD from the University of Göttingen and was appointed lecturer at the University of Stockholm in 1883.

This year, the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) have selected EPFL mathematician Annalisa Buffa to deliver the 2023 Sonia Kovalevsky lecture. Buffa was recommended for this award by a joint AWM-SIAM Kovalevsky Selection Committee (Andrea R. Nahmod, Rosemary Renaut (Chair), Jennifer Ryan, and Fioralba Cakoni).

In an announcement, the AWM cites Professor Annalisa Buffa as “among the most influential applied mathematicians of her generation; she has made pioneering contributions to modelling electromagnetism in non-smooth domains and the corresponding numerical methods.” The announcement mentions that “she has contributed substantially to optimising the interplay of geometry and analysis in the simulation of solids and structures,” and concludes that “[t]hese results are of seminal importance as they impact engineering applications and industrial mathematics, as well as offer deep contributions to the development and analysis of numerical methods in their own right.”

“I love to work at the interface of mathematics and applications,” says Buffa. “I am proud to be a woman working in hard sciences, and I am really honoured to be named the 2023 Sonia Kovalevsky Lecturer!”