Alessandro Carlotto: inaugural lecture

On 2 March, Professor Alessandro Carlotto gave his inaugural lecture entitled: "Isolated gravitational systems: four centuries of mathematical challenges". He has been assistant professor at the Department since September 2016.

by Monika Krichel

Laudatio by Peter Bühlmann, Head of Department:

Dear President, Rector, Vice President, Alessandro, fellow colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you to Alessandro Carlotto’s inaugural lecture. Alessandro Carlotto grew up in Italy. He studied mathematics at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, and under the supervision of Richard Schoen, obtained his doctorate from Stanford University in 2014. Then, as holder of the Leibniz Prize, he was guest at the Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach, and a research associate at Imperial College, London. In 2015, he joined the Institute for Theoretical Studies (ITS) at ETH Zurich as a junior fellow; he has been working as assistant professor in the Mathematics Department since September 2016.

Alessandro Carlotto's research encompasses differential geometry, nonlinear analysis and mathematical physics, focusing particularly on geometric variational problems in general relativity and conformal geometry. Working with Richard Schoen, he constructed previously unknown and exotic solutions to the Einstein equations. This groundbreaking research result was honoured in autumn 2016 in Paris by a "Seminaire Bourbaki" entitled "Antigravité à la Carlotto et Schoen". Alessandro's research is characterised by highly original connections between very different areas of mathematics.  

Alessandro's enthusiasm, his scientific originality and strengths, and his positive presence in teaching and research are an invaluable asset to our department: we are delighted to have him as a colleague at ETH!

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