A tribute from the Board and Management of AIMS Ghana
ACCRA, GHANA | Monday, 28 September 2026 – The Board and Management of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Ghana have learned with deep sorrow of the passing of Professor Norbert Noutchegueme, who served as Acting Director of AIMS Ghana in 2012/2013. We mourn a distinguished mathematician, a devoted teacher and a builder of African science, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, to his colleagues at the University of Yaoundé I, and to the mathematical community in Cameroon and across Africa.
Professor Noutchegueme belonged to the generation that laid the foundations of mathematical research on our continent. Trained at the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon, he earned his doctorate in 1979 under Francis Cagnac and his Doctorat d’État in 1986 under Cagnac and Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, one of the great figures of mathematical relativity. He rose to the rank of full Professor in 2001. His research applied partial differential equations to general relativity and to the kinetic theory of relativistic plasmas, and he published at least 80 papers in international journals, carrying African scholarship to the frontiers of theoretical physics.
When AIMS Ghana opened its doors in 2012/2013, with its first students taking classes in temporary facilities in Tema before the move to Biriwa, Professor Noutchegueme brought that same depth and rigour to a young Centre. Working alongside the late Professor Francis K. Allotey, under whose leadership AIMS Ghana was founded, he helped shape the academic culture that remains at the heart of this institution: demanding standards, close mentorship, and an unwavering belief in the ability of Africa’s young people to excel in the mathematical sciences. Every one of the hundreds of graduates who have since passed through AIMS Ghana stands on the ground he helped to prepare.
Beyond AIMS, he was a mentor to generations of mathematicians at the University of Yaoundé I, where he supervised doctoral research in mathematical physics. Many of his former students now teach and lead research across Africa and beyond, and they carry his work forward. In August 2026, his lifetime of contribution was recognised with the inaugural Andjiga-Diffo-Moulen Honorary Award, conferred by ERMASS together with AIMS Cameroon and the Cameroon Mathematical Union.
Professor Noutchegueme’s legacy lives on in his research, in the students he formed, and in the institution he helped to build. On behalf of the entire AIMS Ghana community of staff, students and alumni, the Board and Management salute his life and his service to African science.
May his soul rest in perfect peace.
Signed
The Board and Management
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Ghana
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