A Cameroonian born South African, Professor Abdon Atangana has been ranked second best mathematician in the world. 

Professor Abdon Atangana is a 37-year old mathematician at the Institute of Groundwater Studies, University of the Free State, Blomfontein. 

He made headlines in 2020 under top 10 South African Scientists in the top 1% of scientists on the Global Clarivate Web of Science list. In 2021, he was elected as a fellow of the World Academy of Science for the advancement of science in developing countries.

He collaborated with his students and released two books earlier this year. He is also known for developing new fractional operators used to model real world problems arising in the fields of engineering, science and technology.

According to UFS, Stanford University created the list of the top 2% of world class researchers based on citations over their full careers. The list was published in September and comprises 195,605 researchers who make up the top 2%. He ranked 188 in all of science, technology and engineering. 

To this David Hilbert stated, “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 by race”.

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

Atangana’s placement at 188 in all of science, technology and engineering is significant as it demonstrates that the influence of his study can be compared to other fields and is not limited to mathematicians.