Jacob Palis, Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, passed away on May 7th, 2025 at the age of 85, in Rio de Janeiro.
Born on March 15th, 1940 in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Palis dedicated his life to research, teaching, and the development of Mathematics in Brazil and worldwide. Before obtaining his PhD in Mathematics at Berkeley, under the guidance of the renowned mathematician Stephen Smale, Palis earned a degree in Engineering. As with Raul Bott and Solomon Lefschetz, this Engineering background contributed to his broad open-mindedness, which was essential to building an international-level mathematical research system. The academic world and the scientific community at large will remember Palis not only for his fundamental contributions to the theory of dynamical systems, bifurcation theory, and chaotic phenomena but also for his vision, his foresight in teaching and scientific cooperation, and his commitment to developing research in emerging countries.
During his ten years as director of the Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (INPA), the institute took a leap forward in its internationalization, which was then consolidated during the following decade under the direction of César Camacho. During this twenty-year period, INPA became a formidable centre of research and scientific attraction for young people from all over the world. Palis also held the position of president of the International Mathematical Union with a skill that was universally respected, and in that role he had frequent exchanges with Italian mathematicians.
Jacob Palis was appointed Foreign Member of the Class of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 2010. At the ceremony for the Balzan Prize for Mathematics later that year in Rome, Palis expressed his deep gratitude for the welcome he received in Italy and for the role that institutions such as the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei play in promoting scientific collaboration worldwide.
It is with a spirit of gratitude and profound respect that the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei honors the memory of its eminent member, Jacob Palis.