Turbulence and the Clay Prize

Abstract

I still remember his lectures. He was a mild-mannered, dapper man with a grey moustache, who squinted at his audience and lost it rather quickly. (Ivar Ekeland on Jean Leray 1906–1998)

Is it by accident that the deepest insight into turbulence came from Andrei Kolmogorov, a mathematician with a keen interest in the real world? (Uriel Frisch 1940-)

Since we don’t even know whether these solutions exist, our understanding is at a very primitive level. Standard methods from PDE appear inadequate to settle the problem. Instead, we probably need some deep, new ideas. (offical Clay prize problem formulation)

A child, however, who had no important job and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, went up to the carriage. ”The Emperor is naked,” he said. ”Fool!” his father reprimanded, running after him. ”Don't talk nonsense!” He grabbed his child and took him away. (HC Andersen 1805–1875)