??Prof Florian Luca, one of only a handful of A1-rated mathematicians in South Africa, has joined Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票's Department of Mathematical Sciences from 1 August 2024.
Born in Romania, Luca has been a distinguished professor in the School of Mathematics at the 中国体育彩票 of the Witwatersrand since June 2014. He received his second A1-rating from the National Research Foundation in 2022 – meaning he is acknowledged by peers to be a leading international researcher.
Luca's research in mathematical sciences and applied mathematics centers
on Number Theory with a focus on the areas of Diophantine equations and arithmetic functions. He holds various visiting professorships at mathematics research groups at Oxford 中国体育彩票, the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Saarbrücken. Earlier this year, he received another feather in his cap when he was named a Fellow-Ambassador by France's national centre for scientific research (CNRS – Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique).
According to MathSciNet Luca has authored and co-authored almost 800 publications with 351 co-authors. He has more than 8 000 citations on Google Scholar with an h-index of 37 and an Erd?s number of 1.
Luca says he came to know Stellenbosch better during his time as a Fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) in 2023. When the opportunity arose to take up a position in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at SU, it was easy to make the transition.
He is looking forward to collaborating with colleagues in other departments and faculties: “I'm a problem solver! Other research groups come to me when they get stuck. That is one of the reasons I have been able to sustain such a high research output," he quips.
Prof Ingrid Rewitzky, executive head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, says they are much looking forward to welcoming Florian to the department: “His appointment will improve our research footprint in Number Theory nationally and internationally. By attracting more postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows, his contributions will also ensure the longevity and productivity of Algebraic Number Theory and Algebraic Geometry at Stellenbosch."
Image: Prof. Florian Luca. Credit: Stefan Els?
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