In Stanford University’s Top 2% of Scientists in the World, a Professor from the University of the Free State (UFS) was ranked as the world’s second-best mathematician and 188th in all of science, technology, and engineering.

Professor Abdon Atangana, 37, originally from Cameroon, has lived in Bloemfontein for the past 12 years and is an applied mathematics professor at UFS’s Institute for Groundwater Studies.

Atangana collaborated with his students to publish two books earlier this year.

Atangana, a mathematician, made headlines in 2020 after being named one of ten South African scientists among the top 1% of scientists on the global Clarivate Web of Science list.

He is well-known for inventing a new fractional operator that is used to model real-world problems in engineering, science, and technology.

Atangana was elected as a fellow of the World Academy of Science in 2021 for her contributions to the advancement of science in developing countries.

Stanford University, according to UFS, compiled a list of the top 2% of world-class researchers based on citations over their entire careers.

The top 2% of researchers are represented on the list, which was published in September.

“Stanford University has created a list of the top 2% of world-class researchers based on citations over their full careers. The list was published in September and features 195 605 researchers who make up the top 2%.

“They have developed a database of highly cited scientists that is freely accessible to the public and offers standardised data on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to publications in various authorship positions, and a composite indicator (c-score). Data for impact across a lifetime and impact in a single recent year are displayed separately,” the university said.

The university has 22 researchers who have topped this list which include: Professor Ivan Turok (Research Chair in City-Region Economies in the Department of Economics and Finance and the Centre for Development Support, ranked 21 680), Professor Jorma Hölsä (Research Fellow: Department of Physics, ranked 84 593), Professor Melanie Walker (NRF Chair in Higher Education and Human Development: Centre for Development Support, ranked 67 313), Professor Maxim Finkelstein (Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, ranked 76 745), Professor Hendrik Swart (Department of Physics, ranked 49 504), Professor Deborah Posel (Department of Sociology, 151 656), Professor Ted Kroon (Physics, 162 769), Professor David Motaung (Physics, ranked 150,223), Professor Maryke Labuschagne (Plant Breeding and SARChI chair in disease resistance and quality in field crops, 133 124), Professor Jeanet Conradie (Chemistry, ranked 89 746), and Professor Johan Grobbelaar (Plant Sciences, ranked 82 692), amongst others.

Atangana stated that seeing a researcher from a developing country at the top of a list in a difficult scientific field such as physics, chemistry, or mathematics was always encouraging.

“Many academics from the global South made it into this list, dispelling the myth that only researchers in the global north are capable of doing high-quality research.

“Being an African black individual and the second-ranked mathematician in the world shows that the subject of mathematics is not limited by geography or race, as David Hilbert stated.

“Mathematics is a subject that transcends all national boundaries. The No 1 in general mathematics is from Stanford. However, his real speciality is computer science,” Atangana said.

His ranking of 188 in all of science, technology, and engineering is significant because it shows that the impact of his research can be applied to other fields and is not limited to mathematicians.

“I am the author of various crucial mathematical ideas that are applied and pure mathematics. For instance, I created the Atangana-Baleanu fractional derivatives and integrals, which constitute a novel calculus and are based on the general Mittag-Leffler kernels.

“Since its inception in 2016, this fractional calculus has been employed in various fields of science, technology, and engineering.

“I am the creator of various concepts in epidemiological modelling, numerical analysis, and integral transformations.

“I am also the pioneer of the fractal-fractional calculus, which is employed in all domains of applied sciences. I developed the most recent ideas known as piecewise differentiation and integration,” Atangana added.

Main Image: South African Professor Abdon Atangana, UFS