Born on November 17, 1946, in
Guapé, Minas Gerais, Welington studied
electrical engineering at the
Federal University of Minas Gerais (1969). He adopted mathematics after attending a course in the researcher of the
Elon Lages Lima Institute in a colloquium in
Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. Invited by Elon to study at
Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada he moved to Rio de Janeiro with his wife Gilza in 1970, with
Jacob Palis his advisor, where Welington completed his doctorate in two years, with a thesis published in the prestigious
Inventiones Mathematicae in 1972. He did his post-doctorate in mathematics at the
University of California, Berkeley in 1972. He returned two years later to
Brazil to make a career as a researcher at IMPA, where he stayed ever since. Appreciated by different generations of mathematicians, Welington was known and respected for his academic rigor and scientific productivity. Besides mathematics, he was passionate about sailing. On 1987
Steve Smale,
Charles Pugh and Welington sailed the Pacific in a long journey on Smale's 43-foot
Stardust. On his 30-foot
Doisdu boat, he sailed at least a hundred days a year, mostly along
Angra dos Reis's coast. He interpreted the wind with mastery, a phenomenon that can be modeled by dynamic systems, his mathematical specialty. He was proud to have taken on board the
Doisdu six
Fields Medal recipients and many friends of IMPA. He died on December 21, 2016, at age 70, of complications of a
heart attack. ==Awards and honors==