Peter L. Antonelli

Peter Louis Antonelli (March 5, 1941 – February 15, 2020) was an American mathematician known for his work on mathematical biology, Finsler geometry, and their connections.

[1] He completed a PhD at Syracuse University, with the 1966 dissertation Structure Theory for Montgomery-Samelson Fiberings Between Manifolds supervised by Erik Hemmingsen.

After 1970, his interests shifted towards applied mathematics, especially applications of differential geometry to developmental biology, ecology, and genetics.

As a visiting professor in the biology department at the University of Sussex in the early 1970s, he pursued interests that had developed from his work in the early 1960s as a United States Public Health Service Fellow in mathematical biology at the University of Chicago.

[1] Along with his extensive work on the mathematical ecology of the Great Barrier Reef,[7][8] he also showed that all living plants and animals are likely derived from two primitive species of bacteria, through the process of endosymbiosis.