02/01/2020

2019 Retrospective: Remembering the most important facts in mathematics.

Awards for Brazilian researchers, the creation of a day dedicated to mathematics, new records in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad), an unprecedented gold medal for the country in the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad , and the Brazilian Meeting of Women Mathematicians are some of the events that marked 2019. The year was also one of farewell with the death of Maurício Peixoto, one of the founders of IMPA (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics). We've selected 10 news stories for you to remember and start 2020 inspired!

1- Marcelo Viana receives award for stimulating impactful research in Brazil.

The Director-General of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, was the winner of the first edition of the CBMM Science and Technology Award. The award was presented on August 21st. Viana was recognized for his contributions throughout his scientific career, which have raised Brazil's prestige on the international stage. Organized by the Brazilian Metallurgy and Mining Company, the award is intended for researchers who stimulate scientific and technological research in the country. Galileu magazine reported on the award ceremony .

2- Jacob Palis wins Spirit of Abdus Salam Award 2019

IMPA mathematician and emeritus researcher Jacob Palis received the 2019 Abdus Salam Award along with physicist Sandro Radicella and the Marie Curie Library. Palis was recognized for important contributions to the development of science, especially mathematics. As is tradition, the award was presented in the last week of January, to coincide with the birthday of Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, as a way to keep his memory and scientific spirit alive.

3- Maurício Peixoto dies at age 98.

One of the founders of IMPA and emeritus researcher at the institute, Maurício Peixoto, died on April 28, 2019. An internationally renowned researcher, Maurício Peixoto was president of CNPq, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM). Born on April 15, 1921, his interest in mathematics arose in childhood, at age 11, curiously after failing the subject at Colégio Pedro II in Rio de Janeiro. Peixoto had more than 40 works published throughout his life. See the obituary in Revista Piauí .

4- Artur Avila becomes a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

Artur Avila, recipient of the Fields Medal in 2014, professor at the University of Zurich, and extraordinary researcher at IMPA, was elected a foreign associate to the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on May Fridays. He was the only Brazilian among the 100 new members and 25 foreign associates elected. A private, non-profit institution founded in 1863, the NAS elects researchers with outstanding contributions to science.

5- IMPA hosts the Brazilian Meeting of Women in Mathematics

Diversity in science, as seen by experts. To promote the inclusion and retention of women in scientific careers, IMPA researcher Carolina Araujo coordinated the Brazilian Meeting of Women in Mathematics. The event brought together more than 300 participants on July 27th and 28th for discussions on the underrepresentation of women in the exact sciences, especially in mathematics. In addition to lectures, ten mathematicians with promising careers presented their work, and books recounting the professional trajectories of women were launched. The event was the subject of an interview with Carolina Araujo in the newspaper O Globo .

6- Brazil secures gold at EGMO for the first time.
The Brazilian team won an unprecedented gold medal at the 8th European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) in Kiev, Ukraine. The gold went to Mariana Bigolin Groff, 17, from Frederico Westphalen (RS). The group also won two bronze medals with Ana Beatriz Cavalcante Studart, 17, from Fortaleza (CE) and Maria Clara de Lacerda Werneck, 17, from Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Bruna Arisa Shoji Nakamura, 16, from Indaiatuba (SP), completed the team, which finished 20th in the competition's ranking, which brought together representatives from 49 countries. The unprecedented gold medal was highlighted in several media outlets such as G1 , Nexo Jornal , and Hypeness .

7- OBMEP 2019 registers more than 18 million participants

The 1Thursdays edition of OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools) reached record numbers of participating schools and municipalities. More than 54,000 educational institutions participated, representing 99.71% of the country. The competition, which aims to stimulate the study of mathematics in Brazil, identify talented young people, and promote social inclusion through the dissemination of knowledge, involved more than 18 million students from public and private schools. In July, the national awards ceremony for OBMEP 2018 brought together more than 500 gold medalists in Salvador . The event was covered by major media outlets such as Jornal Nacional , O Globo , and Folha de S.Paulo .

8 – IMPA launches national Olympics for women and the Girls in the Olympics Program

In 2019, IMPA promoted two initiatives to increase female representation in the exact sciences. The activities of the Girls in Mathematics Program began in April, bringing together female students from five public schools in Rio de Janeiro and Niterói. The project aims to break with the disproportionate representation of girls in mathematics and was featured in a report in the newspaper O Globo . In October, IMPA held the Girls in Mathematics Tournament (TM² ) with the support of the Brazilian Mathematical Society. The competition was reported on the news program Bom Dia Brasil . The first edition of TM² brought together almost 200 participants from public and private schools across the country who excelled in the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP) and the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBM) and were nominated based on academic merit. Themedalists were announced in December .

9- Mathematics gets a day to call its own.

Get ready: on March 14, 2020, Mathematics will celebrate its first anniversary. At least, officially. UNESCO announced the International Day of Mathematics (IDM) in November 2019. The first edition will have the theme "Mathematics is in Everything". March 1Wednesdays, written as 3/14 in the American standard, was already known as Pi Day (π), the mathematical constant that begins with 3.14159265359… and has infinitely many other digits in sequence.

10- Folha de S. Paulo and Estadão receive the 2019 SBM-IMPA Journalism Award

Gabriel Alves, from Folha de S.Paulo, and Júlia Marques, from O Estado de S. Paulo, were the first-place winners in the Mathematics and Science Communication categories of the 2019 SBM-IMPA Journalism Award. The second edition of the award received 82 entries from leading media outlets in 12 states and the Federal District. The award aims to contribute to the dissemination of scientific culture in Brazilian society.