Math-Life Balance – Details, episodes & analysis

In this interview, Jeremiah Heller and Vesna Stojanoska share their experience of combining math and family life, discuss their ways to get over occasional demotivation in research and speak about social aspects of research. Jokes included!

Jeremiah's homepage: https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~jbheller/

Vesna's homepage: https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~vesna/

Mike Hopkins’ talk at Paul Goerss’ birthday conference: youtu.be/Ix4pg87LKVk

Chapters:

0:00 teaser

0:34 their family and other animals

4:04 kids’ curiosity about math

8:30 wishes for kids’ future

11:04 existential chat about adulthood 

13:51 research & relationship

16:13 finding friends outside math bubble

19:26 two-body problem

21:59 math talks as storytelling

27:01 approaches to doing math

31:02 getting over demotivation in research

35:23 mathematics is a social endeavour

37:12 jobmarket pressure

43:24 having kids & academia

47:18 solid advice

Dhruv Ranganathan is a lecturer at Cambridge University, working in algebraic geometry. In this video, Dhruv talks about doing research with undergrads, being tortured by math problems, looking for friends to write math papers, and other cool stuff!

Dhruv's webpage: https://www.dhruvrnathan.net

Photo: from the webpage

0:00 teaser

0:41 from cricket to air planes

2:16 adventure novels childhood

4:46 what do algebraic geometers do

8:39 experience of undergrad research

12:30 how undergrad research really works

15:35 “now I’m a believer”(c)

18:25 why so much pressure in doing math

21:09 how we create pressure for young people

23:44 doing math as a coping mechanism

27:00 math torture vs intense cartoon watching

28:50 speakers love getting any math questions

30:54 math for extroverts 

34:25 teaching students who leave academia

37:33 don’t beat yourself up for math mistakes

39:39 how we try and fail to improve inclusivity

43:44 don’t put people from minorities on every committee

45:45 the advice that’s too hard to follow

48:35 fireplace

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

Max Karoubi is a Professor Emmeritus at the University of Paris 7, working in K-theory and algebraic topology. In this interview, Max shares warm memories about Grothendieck and the Bourbaki group, discusses math studies in Northern Africa and highly recommends doing research in collaborations. 

Max' webpage: https://webusers.imj-prg.fr/~max.karoubi/

Photo: from Max' webpage

0:00​ teaser

0:43​ getting into math in Northern Africa

5:33​ getting a family helped to do math

9:12​ PhD under Cartan and Grothendieck

13:05​ Grothendieck: naive genius 

16:53​ Karoubi as a name for math terminology

19:18​ new foundations of hermitian K-theory

22:20​ why write math in french

26:33​ founding European Congress of Mathematics

29:30​ collaborators are the best

34:35​ the importance of teaching

38:53​ why french people are arrogant

42:26​ RIP good jobmarket times

44:33​ how we can help math in developing countries 

46:44​ traveling to USSR in 1961

48:58​ please don’t boycott ICM!

51:35​ you cannot do math alone

55:58​ wish for young mathematicians

Mariana Smit Vega Garcia is an Assistant Professor at Western Washington University, working in geometric analysis and partial differential equations. In this interview, Mariana speaks, among other things, about her math-life balance, the experience of representing different minorities and the joy of teaching mathematics. In addition: lots of friendly advice for undergrads!

Mariana's webpage: http://faculty.wwu.edu/smitvem/​

Photo: from Mariana's webpage

0:00​ teaser

0:44​ didn’t want to be a professor

3:28​ trying to find math-life balance

9:10​ collaborators are friends

13:06​ mathematician-extrovert

16:05​ experiencing sexism

19:10​ burden of representing a minority

21:38​ insecurities in math

27:09​ joy of teaching

30:07​ motivation to do research

34:28​ algebraic vs analytic worlds

38:35​ pessimism in research

40:31​ we are more than our math

44:22​ moving around the world

49:35​ advice for students from faraway

52:32​ initiatives for minorities

58:32​ what students have to know

1:00:08​ final advice

Richard Thomas is a professor at Imperial College London, working in algebraic geometry and mirror symmetry. In this interview, Richard speaks about math education for kids, contemplates the process of doing research and gives plenty of good advice for PhD students. 

Richard's webpage: http://wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/~rpwt/​

Photo: Richard's wikipedia page

Interview with Richard Thomas

0:00​ teaser

0:30​ non-linear way in math

3:14​ the mystery of mathematicians

6:55​ kids' attitude to math problems

11:40​ boys vs girls math approach

16:26​ me being triggered (clickbait!)

21:32​ what made Richard a mathematician

26:40​ insights vs dull proofs

29:06​ math is subjective 

30:08​ process of doing math research

35:16​ obstructions to enjoying research

37:53​ what students should know

43:53​ hardest part of research

47:36​ insecurities of mathematicians

51:19​ psychology of doing math

54:55​ minorities in math

1:01:14​ math during an earthquake

This video is dedicated to my teacher of mathematics in the middle school, Andrey Yurjevich Alexeev. Time for stories about my first encounter with "abstract math" and my first math talk!

My school: https://610.ru/en/​

Photo of A. Yu. Alexeev: from Vasily Baev's private collection

Marc Levine is a professor at Duisburg-Essen University, working in algebraic geometry and motivic homotopy theory, and my PhD advisor! In this interview, Marc contemplates how to look for research problems, learn new research areas and move from USA to Germany with your family.

Marc's webpage: https://www.esaga.uni-due.de/marc.levine/

Photo: Marc's private photo collection

0:00​ teaser

0:48​ becoming a mathematician

2:51​ family’s reaction

4:48​ moving from USA to Germany

6:55​ bilingualism and jokes

10:40​ skills for doing research

14:15​ encouraging to stay in academia

17:06​ PhD advising 

18:55​ what is work

20:20​ mysterious time-management

23:00​ not being judgmental

25:08​ geometric intuition

27:55​ thinking too fast

29:03​ challenge of moving forward

32:24​ finding math problems

35:26​ independence after graduation

38:21​ serious research mistakes

43:09​ how to learn motivic homotopy theory

45:45​ learning math backwards

47:28​ changes in the math community

51:31​ mathematical inspiration

53:21​ funny conference encounter

55:12​ my gratitude and R. Kipling

59:13​ advice to young mathematicians

Dustin Clausen is an associate professor in Copenhagen university, working in algebraic K-theory, homotopy theory and number theory. In this interview, Dustin shares controversial opinions on publishing and grant system, tells about his view on leaving academia, and reproduces very vividly a Tarantino style plot of an interrogation in Moscow, for stealing cookies! P.S. Dustin would like to assure the viewers that he did not steal any cookies. 

Dustin's homepage: https://www.math.ku.dk/english/staff/faculty/?pure=en%2Fpersons%2F467008

Photo: from Copenhagen University webpage

0:00​ teasing teaser

0:40​ French high school shock

5:04​ being grandson of John Tate

8:00​ doubts about academic career

9:38​ alternative career options

11:01​ opinions too negative to share

13:41​ disappointments of grad school

15:01​ giving a satisfying math talk is impossible

17:01​ decision to stay in academia

19:56​ publishing is a rotten enterprise

23:51​ struggles of refereeing 

26:27​ mistakes in talks and papers

31:10​ my first impression of Dustin

33:17​ numbers and homotopies

36:25​ Mike Hopkins is the best

40:40​ Jacob Lurie as PhD advisor

44:11​ not understanding is great

47:44​ reading and writing math papers

51:17​ “Math in Moscow”: thrilling story

57:00​ doing math when you have babies

59:04​ distributing grants equally

01:01:02​ how to not be afraid of job market

01:03:18​ funny reaction to saying you’re doing math

01:05:23​ kind words for those who feel demotivated