In Memoriam

It is with great sadness that ICTP learnt of the passing of Jacob Palis, former member and Chair of the ICTP Scientific Council and former President of The World Academy of Sciences for the developing world (TWAS).

A renowned Brazilian mathematician, Palis made major contributions to the study of dynamical systems. His famous Palis Conjecture not only influenced the development of the theory, but also of its applications in various areas of science and engineering. His global programme for the theory of dynamical systems continues to stir contributions in the field. His pioneering exploration of complex systems enriched the mathematical world and impacted fields like physics and biology.

Palis held many leadership roles, both in Brazil and internationally. He served as a member of the ICTP Scientific Council from the early 1990s and as its chairman from 2003 to 2005. He was Secretary-General of TWAS from 2001 to 2006, and then was elected president, a position he held from 2007 to 2012. He also served as Director General of the Brazilian Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) between 1993 and 2003, and as President of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences from 2007 to 2016.

Palis received many recognitions such as the Grand Cross of the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit (1994), the Inter-American Prize for Science (1995), the Trieste Prize for Science (2006), the Balzan Prize in Mathematics (2010). He was also named Officer of the Legion of Honour (2018) and was a member of ten National Academies of Sciences in countries including the USA, France, and Russia, and an honorary doctor of nine universities in Brazil and around the world.

In 2019, Palis’s extraordinary contribution to science worldwide and his role as a staunch promoter of scientific advancement, especially in the developing world, were recognized by ICTP through the Spirit of Abdus Salam Award.

“I had the privilege to work alongside Jacob at IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, from 2011 to 2018,” says Emanuel Carneiro, an ICTP Research Scientist in the Mathematics section. “He was a wonderful person, and a brilliant and visionary mathematician. He had an exponential impact in the development of mathematics in Brazil, having advised 41 Ph.D. students and with more than 300 academic descendants in total. He will be dearly missed, but I am sure that his legacy and his lessons will continue to inspire many generations of scientists throughout the world.” 

Stefano Luzzatto, also a Research Scientist in the ICTP Mathematics section, met Palis in 1991 when he was a first year PhD student at SISSA, at one of the very first ICTP schools he organized. “I found his lectures inspiring and got interested in the topic,” says Luzzatto, adding, “When he organized another one in 1992, I asked him if he could be my supervisor and he accepted. I then went to IMPA for a couple of months every year and continued to visit regularly for years afterwards until now. Palis was an incredibly supportive and inspiring teacher and mentor. He has literally inspired generations of students who are now spread all over Brazil and Latin America (and myself at ICTP) and are setting up their own research groups following his model. He will be remembered with enormous respect and affection by all of us.”

Palis will be dearly missed by the ICTP community worldwide.

The keynote talk “The Importance of Science for the Developing World” that Palis gave at the event “ICTP after 45” in 2010 is available on the ICTP Youtube channel, at these links: Part 1 and Part 2.