Math-Life Balance

Kevin Buzzard is a professor in Imperial College London working in number theory and formal proof verification. In this interview, Kevin shares his views on the role of computers in doing math, tells about his experience of upbringing 3 kids as a researcher and raises questions about the way we approach math education. Lots of glorious laughter and unforgettable facial expressions are included!

Kevin's homepage: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/k.buzzard

Channel podcast: https://anchor.fm/math-life-balance​​​​

Chapters:

0:00 teaser

0:48 Kevin’s t-shirt

3:06 imagination in math

5:36 computers vs humans

10:43 computers and infinity

12:35 math as a zen puzzle

15:19 role of fashion in math

20:06 mathematicians detecting mistakes

24:41 imperfections in our math

29:14 when the dust settles

31:56 not caring what people think

36:01 how to entertain kids in the subway

40:26 babies as the way to understand humanity

42:52 doing math when you have 3 kids

46:09 writing papers with non-mathematicians

48:54 why kids are forced to memorize math?

53:29 doing exams vs learning math

57:16 unusual advice for students

59:15 the answer to the ultimate question

Maria Chudnovsky is a professor at Princeton University, working in graph theory and combinatorics. In this interview, Maria shares her personal experiences: learning Hebrew from math lessons, giving a talk at NASA, using math at her own wedding, and many more!

Maria's homepage: http://web.math.princeton.edu/~mchudnov/

Photo: from Maria's homepage

The essay we mentioned:

W.T. Gowers "The two cultures of mathematics"

https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cultures.pdf

0:00 teaser

0:29 respect for math at home

2:43 math helps when you don’t speak the local language

6:42 building a world around a research problem

11:37 explaining math to a broad audience

16:00 giving a talk at NASA

19:42 applying graph theory to your wedding

23:16 problem solving vs learning

27:58 being bad at math olympiads 

30:40 working with your own students

33:23 experience of doing a PhD

36:02 memorizing math 

37:55 studying physics vs math

43:43 maintaining a work-life balance

49:08 everyone has self-doubts

50:54 first time teaching a class

55:46 final advice

Tomer Schlank is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, working in homotopy theory and arithmetic geometry. In this interview, Tomer shares his experience of advising a big group of students, speaks about the importance of embracing the struggle, and explains how to get unstuck in a math problem.

Tomer's homepage: https://mathematics.huji.ac.il/people/tomer-schlank

Photo: from Tomer's homepage

0:00 teaser

0:31 astronaut’s dreams

4:06 enjoying the struggle

8:27 top-down thinking

11:35 seminar with physicists

14:52 math dream with Vesna Stojanoska

19:24 taking breaks in projects

22:32 advising 11 students

26:47 doing math & drinking arak

31:14 being stuck is good for you

34:49 how to get unstuck

38:08 don’t worry about talent

42:33 why people hate math

45:36 run towards the problem

48:25 don’t look down on other parts of math

51:43 final advice

Saul Glasman worked in homotopy theory and K-theory, and now works as a software engineer. In this interview, we discuss the hardships of academic jobmarket, fears around leaving math, and the fundamental problems in academia.

Saul's homepage: http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~sglasman/

Photo: from his website

#mathematician​​​​​​ #mathlife​​​​​​ #interview​​​​​​ 

#academiavsindustry #leavingacademia #jobmarketacademia

0:00 teaser

0:44 always loved math

2:04 why left academia

8:55  the fears of leaving

14:02 staying in touch with math

20:33 send greetings to Saul :)

21:55 stigma around leaving academia

25:13 problems in academia

30:11 we aren't taught to teach

35:50 there's freedom in industry

37:36 and you feel productive!

42:44 social interactions: academia vs industry

45:19 learning effective team work

49:15 you can learn to enjoy a job

52:20 why can't we do internships

55:47 what you wish you knew

59:02 advice for those who have doubts

Giulia Saccà is an assistant professor at Columbia  University, working in algebraic geometry. In this interview, Giulia gives jobmarket advice for mathematicians, contemplates some of the struggles that minorities in math get to deal with, and tells about books that resemble math research. 

Giulia's homepage: http://math.columbia.edu/~giulia/

Photo: Allegra Boverman

Women in Math program at IAS: https://www.ias.edu/math/wam

0:00 teaser

0:27 interests in history in philosophy

6:51 jobmarket advice

11:37 talking about our insecurities helps

16:23 struggles of minorities in math

20:05 what to do with impostor syndrome

27:01 how to find role models

30:48 Women in Math program at IAS is great

35:57 the future of online seminars

41:06 how to keep track of math projects

47:27 which music helps to do math

49:31 alpinism resembles doing research

52:21 Proust writes about math

58:44 the joy of cooking

1:00:40 a wish for young mathematicians

In this [episode], I read a piece from Thurston's essay "On proof and progress in mathematics", where he reflects on the importance of seeing mathematicians' progress and contributions much broader than just in proving new theorems.

William Thurston on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thurston

Cover photo: from this Wikipedia page

The full essay: https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/9404236.pdf

Thurston's lecture "Knots to Narnia": https://youtu.be/IKSrBt2kFD4

Thurston's answer on MathOverflow about contributions in mathematics: https://mathoverflow.net/questions/43690/whats-a-mathematician-to-do/44213#44213

This sarcastic [episode] is dedicated to my family and all my friends of the last 10 years. They will see why.

A special thanks to Nicole R. for the help with the video(s)! And to my brother for the T-shirt: there’s a tiny cute bug that says "I have giant problems".

0:00 Prologue

0:53 Inclusivity statement

1:24 How to build an abusive relationship with your research

3:00 How to suffer from doing research

5:10 How to be unproductive  

7:01 How to compare yourself with others

8:38 How to feel worse from reassurance

9:33 Epilogue

Irakli Patchkoria is a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, working in homotopy theory. In this interview, he speaks about math-tennis balance, shares his experience of moving from Georgia to Western Europe and admits taking part in illegal actions on university exams.

Irakli's homepage: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/irakli.patchkoria

Photo: Irakli's private photo collection

0:00 teaser

1:13 epic story of family math

6:21 father’s advice

10:25 don’t work too much

14:41 experience in collaborations

19:02 Georgians and assimilation

21:47 making new friends (hey, Zurich!)

25:47 cheating on exams

28:38 you will have ideas for papers

33:48 don’t be afraid of stars in math

38:16 partying hard

41:25 drinking with mathematicians

43:41 math and the meaning of life

46:22 please make jokes in talks

48:53 helping young mathematicians

Peter Scholze is a professor in Bonn University, working in number theory and arithmetic geometry. In this interview, we chat about the pressure of the Fields medal, discuss the pain of writing math papers and argue about math.

Peter's homepage: http://www.math.uni-bonn.de/people/scholze/

Photo: Hausdorff Center for Mathematics / Barbara Frommann

Merkurjev's lecture on the proof of Bloch-Kato conjecture: https://youtu.be/bUaWCOtBUHs

0:00 proof or relatability 

0:58 influence of the background

2:50 learning math vs solving problems

7:38 Peter is not creative

11:55 math chat (sorry!)

14:23 collaborating with Dustin Clausen

16:29 math gives head ache

18:20 pressure of Fields medal

21:47 representing others is the worst

24:01 interviews with prodigies

26:53 don't waste time on the Riemann hypothesis

29:28 emails from amateur mathematicians

34:01 lockdown time is unproductive

36:52 writing math is pain

40:50 thanks to Germany for sponsoring math

45:09 updating Hilbert’s list of problems

49:07 Oberwolfach AG’s are cool

55:31 advice for young mathematicians

Ravi Vakil is a professor at Stanford University, working in algebraic geometry. In this interview, Ravi talks about the importance of a community for learning math, discusses the ways of learning to be creative at math and shares how considering other career options helped him to be happier as a mathematician. 

A clarification for Ravi's comment on the situation with math in USSR: 

Due to deep-rooted antisemitism in the Soviet Union, the admission of ethnically Jewish mathematicians into top universities was unofficially “limited” by the state. Faced with these hurdles, Jewish mathematicians opted for institutions specializing in specific technologies, such as the Oil and Gas Institute. Over time, some of these lesser known institutions earned a reputation for producing leading academics in the  fundamental sciences.

Ravi's homepage: http://math.stanford.edu/~vakil/​

Photo: website of Stanford University

0:00​ teaser

0:40​ wish to be an embassador

4:36​ school teachers are the most important

7:17​ coming up with math questions

12:56​ don’t write emails with vague questions

19:12​ not making students intimidated

25:41​ building welcoming communities

29:34​ USSR math: fairytale vs antisemitism

32:13​ big picture vs details

39:55​ learn math by solving problems

41:45​ consider other jobs to release pressure

49:00​ why look down on applied mathematicians

53:15​ how to follow math talks

59:27​ the most desired interviewee

59:58​ wish for young mathematicians