(CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts) — Wyss Core Faculty member Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Ph.D., who is also the Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
Founded in the 1660s, the Royal Society of London is an independent scientific academy of the UK and the Commonwealth that recognizes, promotes, and supports excellence in science and encourages the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity. The Fellowship of the Royal Society is made up of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Mahadevan joins the Royal Society alongside 49 other new Fellows and 10 new Foreign Members.
Mahadevan’s research uses mathematics to explore the geometrical and dynamical patterns of shape and flow of living and nonliving matter. His research spans an array of interests, including the mechanics of filaments and membranes, the physics of soft materials, the dynamics of fluids, the morphogenesis of cells and organs, the movements of plants and animals, and the physiology and behavior of social insects.
Mahadevan has been recognized by awards that include the Edgerton Prize at MIT (2000), the Ledlie Prize at Harvard (2006), the Chaire Condorcet at the ENS-Paris (2001), a Visiting Miller Professorship at UC-Berkeley (2007), as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (2006-07), the MacArthur Foundation (2009-14), and the Radcliffe Institute (2014-15).
Mahadevan studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai before turning to applied mathematics and mechanics at Stanford University, where he received his Ph.D.