Goong Chen (Chinese: 陳鞏, born July 7, 1950, Kaohsiung, Taiwan) is an applied mathematician known for his use of computer forensics and computer simulation to recreate what may have occurred in aviation accidents. He is currently Professor of Mathematics at Texas A&M University.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Chen led an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Texas A&M, Penn State, Virginia Tech, MIT and the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute in using applied mathematics and computational fluid dynamics to conduct computer simulations of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370’s presumed descent into the ocean.[1] In a paper published in April 2015, they concluded that the most likely scenario was that the plane entered the water at a vertical or steep angle, based on the lack of floating debris or oil spills.[2][3][4] This finding was deemed a top math story of 2015 by the American Mathematical Society after widespread media coverage.[5]

Khan Shaykhun chemical attack

Chen collaborated with Theodore Postol on an analysis of the April 4, 2017, chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun, Syria.[6] The OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism had concluded that the Khan Shaykhun impact crater was caused by an aerial bomb dropped by a plane, but Chen’s simulations suggested that the crater could instead have been created by a 122 mm artillery rocket.[7][8]

Smolensk air disaster

In 2019, Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had appointed Chen to an international team of experts investigating the April 10, 2010, crash of a Polish Air Force jet near Smolensk, Russia, in which Polish president Lech Kaczyński was killed.[9]

Selected publications

With Ranee Brylinski, Chen is the editor of the book Mathematics of Quantum Computation (Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2002).

References

  1. ^ Monzon, Tomas (10 June 2015). "Texas A&M study: Missing Malaysian flight likely disappeared in vertical dive". United Press International. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  2. ^ Martinez, Michael; Melvin, Don (30 July 2015). "Mathematician: Missing MH370 plunged vertically into ocean". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  3. ^ Chen, Goong; Gu, Cong; Morris, Philip J.; Paterson, Eric G.; Sergeev, Alexey; Wang, Yi-Ching; Wierzbicki, Tomasz (April 2015). "Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Water Entry of an Airliner" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 62 (4): 330. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  4. ^ Chen, Goong. "SOME COMMENTS, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS REGARDING MH370 (RELATED TO THE RECENT WORK BY G. CHEN ET AL.)" (PDF). Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Top Math Stories in the Media - 2015". Math in the Media. American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  6. ^ Chen, Goong; Gu, Cong; Postol, Theodore A.; Sergeev, Alexey; Liu, Sanyang; Yao, Pengfei; Scully, Marlan O. (9 November 2020). "Computational Forensics for the Alleged Syrian Sarin Chemical Attack on April 4, 2017: What Actually Happened?" (PDF). Global Journal of Forensic Science & Medicine. 2 (2): 2020.
  7. ^ Kupferschmidt, Kai (24 September 2019). "Scientists clash over paper that questions Syrian government's role in sarin attack". Science. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  8. ^ Kupferschmidt, Kai (14 October 2019). "Prestigious journal pulls paper about chemical attack in Syria after backlash". Science. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  9. ^ "UJAWNIAMY plany prokuratury. Śledztwo smoleńskie potrwa jeszcze co najmniej dwa lata. Właśnie wkracza w kluczowy etap". wPolityce.pl. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
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