Interview with Richard Schwartz

This episode is about women in math, from the perspective of sociology! Many thanks to Olga Paris-Romaskevich for the conversation. Olga's webpage: https://olga.pa-ro.net/The book "Matheuses": https://www.insmi.cnrs.fr/fr/matheusesHere is a link for Olga's talk on gender and mathematics: https://amubox.univ-amu.fr/s/SBRqbTLHSG5PFMFHere is a list of references Olga used when spoke about social psychology:1) Definition of social stereotype : (Leyens, Yzerbut, Schadron, 1994), slide 72) Stereotype threat result : Spencer, Steele, & Quinn (1999). Stereotype Threat and Women’s Math Performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35Social psychology : stereotype threat, slides 9 and 10 3) Aronson, J., Lustina, M. J., Good, C., Keough, K., Steele, C. M., & Brown, J. (1999). When White men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35(1), 29–46.4) pp.12-13 : John VS Jennifer study Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman (2012). PNAS, 109, 16474-164795) Begeny, C. T., Ryan, M. K., Moss-Racusin, C. A., & Ravetz, G. (2020). In some professions, women have become well represented, yet gender bias persists- Perpetuated by those who think it is not happening. Science advances, 6(26), eaba7810:00 teaser1:03 Olya's book about "math girls"5:38 why there are so few women in math9:01 brilliance as social construct14:11 russian tease of women in math18:05 math in the sociology book22:35 why to make women only math events 30:33 and why we definitely need them34:19 how to make a good outreach event38:33 cool gender equity initiatives41:12 Mura's experience in math as a girl46:55 female role models in math51:18 homage to Sophia Kovalevskaya53:34 fun facts everyone should know!58:56 moral support for women in math

Richard is a math professor at Brown University as well as an author of very funny books about math for kids! Enjoy learning about Richard and his adventures in the world of math and art :)Richard's webpage: https://www.math.brown.edu/reschwar/Chapters:0:00 teaser0:33 why math books for kids5:22 crazy cool visualizations vs obsessions8:50 most of math is failure13:23 accessibility vs precision in papers17:55 what about abstract more math23:25 being Thurston's student29:32 advice for those who feel not good enough at math32:42 how Richard almost quit math34:41 story from Mura about Berkeley woods35:45 Richard's famous April 1st prank43:16 and other pranks44:43 and the mask! oh my god the mask

Jordan is a mathematician as well as an author of popular books about mathematics, with great sense of humour. And this interview goes as wild as the picture of the interviewee on his webpage! Jordan's webpage: https://people.math.wisc.edu/~ellenberg/Chapters:0:00 intro0:28 a year of writing fiction4:12 what's hard about writing11:31 finding math everywhere15:19 cool thoughts on writing 22:58 teaching writing to math folks24:55 pain & joy of bad writing 29:15 Jordan's workshop where we met34:30 how to know when the article is ready38:34 how to make interviews?45:51 Mura complaining about interviewees :)51:26 how people really feel about math54:55 how to survive the lack of feedback1:03:32 bringing standup tricks into writing1:09:08 sentimental approach to finishing books1:12:00 Jordan's book recommendation for us

Steven Strogatz, who works at Cornell University, is a well-known math popularizer and the first applied mathematician on Mura's channel. Enjoy their chat about unexpected applications of math, befogged communication amongst mathematicians and what not :)Steven's homepage: https://www.stevenstrogatz.com/Chapters:0:00 teaser0:37 when catholic priests become useful6:35 math, philosophy & couples therapy13:23 Steven's studies on sleep21:27 Steven's insecurities in math24:21 what's wrong with math talks34:13 no carrot, no stick...38:24 opinion on strong opinions41:34 advice about giving up49:24 different approaches to graduate advising52:27 chat about Mura's advisor57:11 Steven Strogatz Prize for Math Communication1:01:40 how to write friendly math outreach

Enjoy the interview with Dennis Gaitsgory, who thinks about questions deeply yet answers lightly! Jokes included :)Dennis webpage: https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/0:00 teaser0:30 attending a class by Witten5:15 math vs physics: difference?9:20 doing math: happiness and frustration13:10 what changes with age17:10 non-math problems: oh no! ;)23:23 advice for getting back into math26:45 how to prove Langlands correspondence...31:49 when math doesn't work33:25 raising kids: thoughts36:00 book recommendation from Dennis37:38 stories about India40:36 beautiful non-math hobby42:40 hot take on grant system45:06 guess Dennis' favourite animal!47:12 advice to young mathematicians

David Kazhdan:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kazhdanhttp://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~kazhdan/Dennis Gaitsgory:https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_GaitsgoryQuanta article: https://www.quantamagazine.org/monumental-proof-settles-geometric-langlands-conjecture-20240719/Israel Gelfand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_GelfandGeorge Luszting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_LusztigVladimir Voevodsky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Voevodsky0:00 intro0:25 why math5:35 student of Gelfand11:04 Langlands program & motives & physics14:35 math heroes16:37 main interest in math21:01 how about math puzzles24:34 approaches to hard problems27:30 negative emotions? introspection?31:41 collaboration with Lusztig36:20 thoughts on Voevodsky41:02 impressions from conferences45:23 Harvard in the good old days48:25 family connections

Simon Singh is, according to himself, "an author, journalist and TV producer, specialising in science and mathematics, the only two subjects I have the faintest clue about". In this interview we chat about various projects of Simon, from theatre festivals to math education in schools, and argue about math outreach. Have fun listening!Simon's webpage: simonsingh.netParallel project: parallel.org.ukMath-Life Balance on YouTube: youtube.com/@math-life-balanceChapters:0:00 teaser0:41 math & magic at Fringe9:15 cool math for teenagers16:16 why kids really need it18:52 confidence for various projects20:41 Shakespeare in math class?28:51 what could go wrong30:48 outreach and effectivity34:56 Simon gets annoyed :)37:03 too much outreach?39:50 math in Simpsons and writing44:38 sweet book selling story46:45 how I learned about Simon

Grant Sanderson is the creator of the coolest math youtube channel, "3blue1brown". In this interview, Grant and Mura chat about a bunch of different topics, such as feelings towards abstract math, and even hear Grant read a piece from his poem. Enjoy Grant's beautiful thoughts and exquisite English!Grant's channel: youtube.com/ 3blue1brownGrant's homepage: 3blue1brown.com/aboutGrant's poetry: 3blue1brown.com/blog/poemsThe Math-life balance YouTube channel: youtube.com/@math-life-balanceChapters:0:00 teaser0:45 introducing Grant and his job2:52 struggles of having a popular YouTube channel6:03 sociology of math outreach10:36 why people love 3blue1brown13:22 how to popularize abstract math17:40 making algebraic K-theory popular21:17 how to measure success27:16 did god hand you the definition of a topological space?32:27 who writes wiki pages and and why36:13 which feelings cause abstraction44:39 what if you don't understand math46:49 unpacking genius51:48 how Grant deals with the frustration of not understanding math55:16 Grant's poetry1:01:47 Grant's question to mathematicians1:03:38 advice from Grant

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