Pierre Raphael

Pierre Raphael is the Herchel Smith Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, affiliated with the Faculty of Mathematics and Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. His research bridges physics and mathematics, focusing on nonlinear waves, energy concentration mechanisms, and singularity formation in equations governing fluid dynamics, electromagnetism, and astrophysics.

• Education: École Polytechnique (France), PhD in Mathematics (University of Cergy-Pontoise)
• Appointments: Assistant Professor at Princeton (USA), Principal Investigator for European grants (France), joined Cambridge in 2019

His work explores fundamental nonlinear structures in electromagnetism, astrophysics, and turbulent fluid flows, with a focus on critical and supercritical PDEs such as the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and wave maps. Recent publications analyze blow-up dynamics, soliton interactions, and stability thresholds in nonlinear systems.

Scientific awards include the Grand Prix Alexandre Joannides 2014 (French Academy of Sciences) and the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship 2019. He has received an ERC Advance Grant for his research program on singularity formation in nonlinear PDEs.