Professor Peter Markowich has been awarded the "John Von Neumann Visiting Chair" at the Technical University of Munich. The John von Neumann Visiting Professorship allows outstanding scientists to spend a semester at the TUM Center for Mathematics. It is funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Science, Research and Art. Awardees offer a 'John von Neumann Gastvorlesung' which introduces advanced undergraduates to their area of research.
The Visiting Professorship is named in honor of John von Neumann, one of the world's leading 20th-century mathematicians. With his mathematical ideas, von Neumann made seminal contributions to many different fields including quantum mechanics, game theory, fluid dynamics, and scientific computing. In particular, with his celebrated 1932 textbook, he put the then new science of quantum mechanics on firm mathematical ground, and with his 1952 design of the computer MANIAC he introduced the pioneering ideas of flexible memory and parallel processing.