David Ruelle

Ruelle studied physics at the Free University of Brussels, obtaining a PhD degree in 1959 under the supervision of Res Jost. He spent two years (1960–1962) at the ETH Zurich, and another two years (1962–1964) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1964, he became professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, France. Since 2000, he has been an emeritus professor at IHES and distinguished visiting professor at Rutgers University. David Ruelle made fundamental contributions in various aspects of mathematical physics. In quantum field theory, the most important contribution is the rigorous formulation of scattering processes based on Wightman's axiomatic theory. This approach is known as the Haag–Ruelle scattering theory.