Cédric Villani

Cédric Villani (born 5 October 1973) is a French mathematician working primarily on partial differential equations, Riemannian geometry and mathematical physics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010.

Biography

After attending the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Villani was admitted at the École normale supérieure in Paris and studied there from 1992 to 1996. He was later appointed an assistant professor in the same school. He received his doctorate at Paris Dauphine University in 1998, under the supervision of Pierre-Louis Lions, and became professor at the École normale supérieure de Lyon in 2000. He is now professor at Lyon University. He has been the director of Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris since 2009.

Work

Villani has worked on the theory of partial differential equations involved in statistical mechanics, specifically the Boltzmann equation, where, with Laurent Desvillettes, he was the first to prove how quickly convergence occurs for initial values not near equilibrium. He has also written with Giuseppe Toscani on this subject. With Clément Mouhot, he has also worked on nonlinear Landau damping. He has worked on the theory of optimal transport and its applications to differential geometry, and with John Lott has defined a notion of bounded Ricci curvature for general measured length spaces.

Fields Medal

The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The Fields Medal is sometimes viewed as the highest honor a mathematician can receive. The Fields Medal and the Abel Prize have often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel Prize" (but different at least for the age restriction).

The prize comes with a monetary award, which since 2006 has been C$15,000 (in Canadian dollars). The colloquial name is in honour of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields. Fields was instrumental in establishing the award, designing the medal itself, and funding the monetary component.

The medal was first awarded in 1936 to Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors and American mathematician Jesse Douglas, and it has been awarded every four years since 1950. Its purpose is to give recognition and support to younger mathematical researchers who have made major contributions.

Cédric (comics)

Cedric is a Franco-Belgian comics series written by Raoul Cauvin, illustrated by Laudec Laudec and published by Dupuis in French and Cinebook in English.

The adventures of a young rascal, his family and his school. A hero close to the hearts of all children, funny yet tender at the same time. It is hard, very hard to be a little boy... between the mistress, the school shrink, nosy parents, rowdy pals, an odious niece, and a temperamental girl friend, Cédric finds it hard to keep his tranquillity. For the better part of it, granddad is always at hand, be it when badly hit or to hit badly. This children's new star is already a classic family comic which appeals with pleasure to all audiences.

Since 1989, 23 albums have been published by Dupuis. Cédric is one of the most popular French language comics according to the list of best selling new comics of the ACBD, with e.g. in 2006 alone 288,900 albums, putting Cédric at the fourth spot. By 2008, Cédric had dropped to the 8th position, still selling 273,000 copies that year. A series of animated cartoons based on the comic have been produced as well.

HEC Paris

HEC Paris or école des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris is a European business school located in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. HEC is the business school of ParisTech and is considered one of the most prominent business schools in the world. It was ranked as the best business school in Europe seven times in the eight-year period between 2006 and 2013 in the Financial Times ranking, and ranked second in Europe in 2014 Among the most selective French grandes écoles, and traditionally seen as the most prestigious French business school, HEC offers its flagship Master in Management – Grande école program, MBA and EMBA programs, eleven specialized MSc programs, a PhD program, and many executive education offerings. It holds the Triple accreditation : AMBA, EQUIS, and AACSB.

Overview

HEC Paris was created in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the model of French grandes écoles and has progressively become one of the most selective graduate schools in Europe. On average, it has been ranked as the best business school in Europe by the Financial Times since the ranking's inception.