Peter Lax

Peter David Lax (1 May 1926 – 16 May 2025) was an American mathematician. He was known for his works in integrable systems, fluid dynamics and shock waves, solitonic physics, hyperbolic conservation laws, and mathematical and scientific computing, among other fields. Lax was listed as an ISI highly cited researcher.^[1]

Peter Lax
Peter Lax in Tokyo, 1969
Born	Peter David Lax (1926-05-01)1 May 1926 Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	16 May 2025(2025-05-16) (aged 99) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Stuyvesant High School Courant Institute
Known for	Lax–Wendroff method Lax equivalence theorem Babuška–Lax–Milgram theorem Lax pairs
Awards	Doctor Honoris Causa, Tulane University (2012) National Medal of Science (1986) Wolf Prize (1987) Norbert Wiener Prize (1975) Chauvenet Prize (1974) Abel Prize (2005)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Courant Institute
Thesis	Nonlinear System of Hyperbolic Partial Differential Equations in Two Independent Variables (1949)
Doctoral advisor	K. O. Friedrichs
Doctoral students	Steve Alpern Alexandre Chorin Charles Epstein Ami Harten James (Mac) Hyman George Logemann Jeffrey Rauch Burton Wendroff

Lax was of Jewish descent.^[2]

Lax died of cardiac amyloidosis at his New York City home on 16 May 2025 at the age of 99.^[3]