2018 King Faisal International Prize for Science awarded to John Macleod Ball
The King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has awarded the 2018 King Faisal International Prize for Science to Sir John Macleod Ball of UK for his fundamental contributions to nonlinear partial differential equations, calculus of variations, and their applications to materials science and liquid crystals.
John Macleod Ball was born on 19 May 1948 in Farnham, Surrey, UK. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge in 1969. He completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 1972 from the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Sussex, Brighton, under the supervision of David Edmunds. In 1972, he joined the Department of Mathematics, Heriot-Watt University, on a SRC (Science Research Council, UK) postdoctoral fellowship. This fellowship enabled him to have extended visits to the Lefschetz Center for Dynamical Systems at Brown University, USA. At Brown University, he started to work on the ‘existence of solutions to the equilibrium equations of nonlinear elasticity’, and ‘infinite-dimensional dynamical systems’. He then received the SERC (Science and Engineering Research Council, UK) Senior Fellowship for the period 1980-1985. He held numerous visiting professorships including: Laboratoire d’Analyse Numérique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France (1994), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore centre, India (2001), and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA (2002-2003). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1980 at the age of 32, a Fellow of the Royal Society, UK in 1989, and an Associé Etranger of the Académie des Sciences, France in 2000.
John Ball is a leading figure in the international mathematics community. He held numerous positions including: Council Member of the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK) during 1994-1999, President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society during 1989-1990, and President of the London Mathematical Society during 1996-1998. He is a founding member of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh, UK (in 1990) and later involved with the establishment of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Scotland (in 2005). He was President of the International Mathematical Union during 2003-2006. He served on several award committees including: the first Abel Prize in 2002, the Fields Medal in 1998 and 2006, Leelavati Prize (sponsored by Infosys) in 2010. He is also involved in the support for mathematics in developing countries. Currently, he is the Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK and Director of the Oxford Centre for Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations. As an anecdote, we note that John Ball had specially travelled to St. Petersburg, Russia to convince the renowned mathematician Grigori Perelman (who had proved the Poincaré conjecture) to accept the Fields Medal in 2006. Perelman stuck to his decision to decline!
John Ball’s main research areas are nonlinear partial differential equations, calculus of variations, infinite-dimensional dynamical systems and their applications to nonlinear mechanics, and the mathematics of liquid crystals. In 1977, John Ball introduced the notion of polyconvexity and proved the existence of an equilibrium state (to be understood as a minimiser of the total energy function) for hyperplastic materials whose stored energy function is polyconvex, subjected to conservative applied forces [1]. To date, there are only two existence theorems in nonlinear elasticity. The first one (dating to the 19th century) is based on the implicit function theorem which, like the one due to John Ball, is based on the minimisation of the total energy [2]. In 1982, John Ball investigated discontinuous equilibrium solutions and cavitation in non-linear elasticity by modelling the appearance of a cavity in the interior of a solid, homogeneous, isotropic, hyperelastic body once a critical load is reached. This work using the mathematical concepts of singular solutions, weak solutions, energy-minimisers and Lyapunov functions formed the basis of extensive studies in nucleation and growth in such bodies [3]. He introduced novel methodologies for analysing the long-time asymptotic behaviour of solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations and the existence of corresponding global attractors. In recent years, he has made significant contributions to the mathematical understanding of the Landau-de Gennes theory of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals (widely used electronic displays) is a class of soft matter systems that exhibit properties intermediate between solid crystals and isotropic fluids and hence are very challenging for a mathematical analysis. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes received the 1991 Nobel Prize in physics for his work related to liquid crystals [4]. John Ball with Apala Majumdar introduced a singular potential, which is an alternative to the commonly used Landau-de Gennes bulk potential [5]. John Ball and Arghir Dani Zarnescu have worked on the orientability and energy minimisation in liquid crystal models. John Ball and Richard D James have developed a theory that leads to a new understanding of the classical crystallographic theory of martensite enabling new ways of viewing shape memory alloys, hysteresis in solid phase transformations, magnetostrictive materials, and more generally the passage from microscales to macroscales in material science. John Ball is a recipient of several awards including: Whittaker Prize (1981), Junior Whitehead Prize (1982), David Crighton Medal (2003), Sylvester Medal (2009), Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2006). He was knighted in 2006.
The prize comprises a certificate adorned in Arabic calligraphy inscribed with the winner’s name and a summary of his/her work; a 24 carat gold medal, weighing 200 grams; and a cash award of 750 thousand Saudi Riyal (equivalent to USD 200 thousand). The award ceremony will be in Riyadh under the auspices of the King of Saudi Arabia. The prizes are in honour of King Faisal (1906-1975) of Saudi Arabia and administered through the King Faisal Foundation. The King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) is awarded annually for Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic Literature, Medicine, and Science. The science prize has a rotation cycle of four years in the fields of biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics. Over the forty years (1979-2018), there have been 258 KFIP Laureates from 43 nationalities. Eighteen KFIP laureates are also recipients of Nobel Prizes (generally after the KFIP). Five KFIP Laureates are also recipients of the Fields Medal. The next prize in physics will be awarded in 2021.
Embedded Links:
- King Faisal Foundation: http://www.kff.com/
- King Faisal International Prize: http://kingfaisalprize.org/
Bibliography
- Ball, J.M., Convexity conditions and existence theorems in nonlinear elasticity. Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, 63 (4), 337-403 (1976). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00279992
- Ciarlet, P.G., and Mardare, C., Existence theorems in intrinsic nonlinear elasticity. Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées, 94 (3), 229-243 (2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matpur.2010.02.002 Ball, J.M.,
- Discontinuous equilibrium solutions and cavitation in nonlinear elasticity.Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London A, 306 (1496) 577-611 (1982). http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1982.0095
- J. Friedel, 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics: Mesoscopic Systems Back into Focus, Europhysics News, 23 (1), 15-16 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1051/epn/19922301015
- Ball, J.M., and Majumdar, A., Nematic Liquid Crystals: From Maier-Saupe to a Continuum Theory. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, 525 (1), 1-11 (2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15421401003795555
