Dennis DeTurck

Dennis M. DeTurck (born July 15, 1954) is an American mathematician known for his work in partial differential equations and Riemannian geometry, in particular contributions to the theory of the Ricci flow and the prescribed Ricci curvature problem. He first used the DeTurck trick to give an alternative proof of the short time existence of the Ricci flow, which has found other uses since then.

He received a B.S. (1976) from Drexel University. He received an M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1980) in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania. His Ph.D. supervisor was Jerry Kazdan.

He is currently Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since 2005 and Faculty Master of Riepe College House. In 2002 DeTurck won the Haimo Award from the Mathematical Association of America for his teaching. Despite being recognized for excellence in teaching, he has been criticized for his belief that fractions are "as obsolete as Roman numerals" and suggesting that they not be taught to younger students.

In January 2012 he shared the Chauvenet Prize with three mathematical collaborators. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

Selected publications

• Dennis M. DeTurck, Existence of metrics with prescribed Ricci curvature: local theory. Invent. Math. 65 (1981/82), no. 1, 179–207.
• Dennis M. DeTurck, Deforming metrics in the direction of their Ricci tensors. J. Differential Geom. 18 (1983), no. 1, 157–162. (explains the DeTurck trick)

External links

• Article with some career and biographical info
• Dennis DeTurck's homepage