Preface

Abstract

Most mathematicians who in their professional career deal with differentialequations, PDEs, dynamical systems, stochastic equations and a variety oftheir applications, particularly to biomedicine, have come across the researchcontributions of Avner Friedman to these fields. However, not many of themknow that his family background is actually Polish. His father was born in thesmall town of Włodawa on the border with Belarus and lived in another Polishtown, Łomza, before he emigrated to Israel in the early 1920's (when itwas still the British Mandate, Palestine). His mother came from the evensmaller Polish town Knyszyn near Białystok and left for Israel a few yearsearlier. In May 2013, Avner finally had the opportunity to visit his father'shometown for the first time accompanied by two Polish friends, co-editors ofthis volume. His visit in Poland became an occasion to interact with Polishmathematicians. Poland has a long tradition of research in various fieldsrelated to differential equations and more recently there is a growinginterest in biomedical applications. Avner visited two researchcenters, the Schauder Center in Torun and the Department of Mathematics of theTechnical University of Lodz where he gave a plenary talk at a one-dayconference on Dynamical Systems and Applications which was held on thisoccasion. In spite of its short length, the conference attractedmathematicians from the most prominent research centers in Poland includingthe University of Warsaw, the Polish Academy of Sciences and others, and evensome mathematicians from other countries in Europe. Avner had a chance to getfamiliar with the main results in dynamical systems and applications presentedby the participants and give his input in the scientific discussions. Thisvolume contains some of the papers related to this meeting and to the overallresearch interactions it generated. The papers were written by mathematicians,mostly Polish, who wanted to pay tribute to Avner Friedman on the occasion ofhis visit to Poland.For more information please click the “Full Text” above.