Luigi Ambrosio, Italian mathematician

Biography Luigi Ambrosio is a discreet mathematician, who enjoys nothing more than a peaceful bike ride around his neighborhood. Or working at his desk, with his dog curled up at his feet. Yet this Italian father of three girls is also a workaholic and a major figure in his field of mathematics: calculus of variations and  partial differential equations. Admitted to the Scuola Normale di Pisa in 1981, Ambrosio wanted to study mathematics because he thought he was meant to be an engineer. But in the hallways of this temple of maths, he met the man who would change his life and become his thesis director: Ennio De Giorgi. Ambrosio defended his Master's thesis in 1985. He got his first job in 1988 at the University of Tor Vergata (Rome II) without even defending his PhD.