Remembering Daniel Walgraef
Sept. 4, 2026
The researchers at IFISC are deeply saddened by the passing of our friend and colleague Daniel Walgraef, a brilliant scientist and a true master of pattern formation.
Daniel’s connection with Mallorca began in the 1990s, when he joined the Universitat de les Illes Balears as a visiting professor at the invitation of Maxi San Miguel. What began as a scientific visit developed into a collaboration and a friendship that lasted for decades. In 2013 Daniel formally joined IFISC as associated staff, but for many of us he had long been much more than an external collaborator: he was part of our scientific community.
His research had a profound influence on the way many of us think about nonequilibrium systems, instabilities, fluctuations and self-organization. His work connected fundamental concepts in statistical physics with phenomena in chemistry, nonlinear optics, materials science and beyond. At IFISC he collaborated with several generations of researchers, contributing ideas, asking insightful questions and helping us see the simple mechanisms behind complex phenomena.
His influence also lives on in our teaching. Spatio-Temporal Pattern Formation, his landmark book, is a reference text in several subjects of our Master in Physics of Complex Systems. For generations of students and researchers it has been an essential guide to Turing and Hopf instabilities, defects, fronts, pattern dynamics and self-organization. Through this book and through his interactions with students and colleagues, Daniel helped shape the scientific culture that is so central to IFISC.
We will also remember Daniel for the person he was. He was friendly, generous with his time, helpful and invariably cheerful. He had a remarkable ability to make people feel welcome, whether they were established researchers or students encountering a difficult problem for the first time. He listened carefully, shared his knowledge generously and approached science with curiosity and enthusiasm. His colourful shirts and warm smile became as familiar in our corridors as his questions and his scientific insights.
Daniel leaves behind an extraordinary scientific legacy, but also something harder to capture in a bibliography: the memory of a kind and inspiring colleague who became a friend to many of us. His ideas will continue to influence our research and our teaching, and his presence will remain part of the history and the spirit of IFISC.
A fuller account of his scientific career and of his years in Mallorca is available here. A list of his publications at IFISC (CSIC-UIB) can also be found here.
We extend our deepest condolences to his family, his colleagues at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and his many friends and collaborators around the world.
