In 1908, Poincare' asked: ”Why is it that storms seem to arise by chance, so that many people find it quite natural to pray for rain or good weather, while they consider it ridiculous to pray for an eclipse?”  In other words, why are some physical systems very predictable and others very unpredictable? A hundred years later, we understand, to some extent, the answer to this question. I will give some historical background and describe some simple mathematical models that help us understand the nature and relationship between the concepts of determinism and randomness.

Stefano Luzzatto is a Senior Research Scientist at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), in Trieste Italy, a UNESCO institute with a mission to promote excellence in science in developing countries. He completed his PhD in Dynamical Systems in 1995 at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy and the Instituto de Matematica Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under the supervision of J. Palis and M. Viana. After a postdoc with S. Van Strien at Warwick University, he joined Imperial College London in 2000 as a permanent faculty member, where he co-founded the DynamIC research group with J. Lamb. In 2009 he moved to his current position at ICTP.

Prof Luzzatto's expertise is in Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory. He has published papers in top international journals, with collaborators from many different countries, and presented his research in seminars and conferences around the world. He has extensive teaching experience, including intensive mini-courses in international settings, and is writing a textbook based on an innovative “Socratic” approach to teaching. He has supervised more than 70 students at all levels, from Master’s to PhD to Postdoc. He is also very involved in international capacity building programmes and is the founder of the International Mathematics Master (IMM).