4. Conclusion

Applications of "inverse methodology" in the field of thermal engineering have grown steadily over the last two decades. Chronologically, the earliest applications (and probably the most numerous to date) have been in the field of conductive heat transfer, while those relating to advection-diffusion problems are more recent. As stated in the introduction, this article was not intended to be a "state of the art" in the field of thermal convection, as the field of applications is much wider than that of conduction alone. The main aim was to highlight both the similarities and differences with inverse conduction problems, the analysis of which has been extensively described and illustrated in the