01/06/2023

Bruno Braga is drawn to the beauty of mathematics.

Barefoot and with a hammock to set the scene in his office, 34-year-old Bruno de Mendonça Braga speaks with precision about the academic journey that took him from a student who "didn't really like studying" in school to a researcher at IMPA. He confesses that much has changed over the years: he grew to enjoy studying so much that he filled his resume with an undergraduate degree, a master's degree, two doctorates, and two post-doctorates.

With 25 published scientific articles and lectures at over 50 conferences in countries such as Canada, France, and Chile, the researcher acknowledges that he has become increasingly drawn to the fun of the "beautiful" problems in mathematics.

“I must admit that I approach mathematics in a somewhat naive way. For me, doing mathematics is a bit like playing with jigsaw puzzles without thinking much about their usefulness. I find certain problems beautiful and intriguing, and for those reasons, I try to understand and solve them.”

At the institute since January of this year, he hasn't yet had time to fill all the shelves with books, but there is a copy of " Functional Analysis by Bachman and Narici ," about functional analysis, his area of specialization. He acquired the book in the summer of 2009, when he participated in a course taught by Benar Fux Svaiter.

“Compared to what I had seen at UFRJ, there was a very large number of people doing functional training, a doctoral-level subject here at IMPA. I found it to be a very active, engaged community, eager to learn. And I studied using this book here, which Benar uses in the course,” he recalled, while leafing through the book and showing the date and signature on the first page.

At the time, he was an undergraduate student at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and had not yet studied the subject that, over the years, became a passion. “It’s difficult to explain why I like functional analysis. I just like it! I find it very beautiful. I started to like analysis and geometry because they were more visual things, things you could draw. Besides, I’m somewhat drawn to a certain level of abstraction, and the fact that people in the field were working with the geometry of infinite-dimensional spaces seemed very fun to me.”

Comics and bicycles were key to my childhood.

The son of a doctor and an engineer, Braga spent part of his childhood in Rio de Janeiro, where he was born, as well as in Rio Branco (AC) and Curitiba (PR). Between the ages of 7 and 10, he lived in Acre with his mother, where he enjoyed great freedom. “The years in Acre were wonderful for me. There I rode my bicycle in the street and barely told my mother what time I would be back. Here in Rio, I lived in Ipanema and could hardly leave the house alone.”

Back in Rio de Janeiro since 2022, when he took up a professorship at PUC-Rio, the mathematician still enjoys cycling as a means of transportation. Now working at IMPA, he commutes between Copacabana and Horto on two wheels. “The journey from my house to IMPA has been one of the best things in my day! I get around by bike, so I always pass by the beach and the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. I must admit I'm 'cheating' because I bought an assisted bicycle, since my athletic physique couldn't handle the route on a regular bike,” he joked.

Although he currently spends much of his time exploring different aspects of his research, Braga confesses that he didn't have a strong inclination towards studies in school. “I always liked math, it was my favorite subject. But I was never a very dedicated student in anything else. I didn't really like school, I found it kind of boring, I went to spend the day reading comic books hidden from the teachers. I only started thinking about what to do with my life in my last year of high school.”

He even considered becoming a comic book author and only opted for mathematics after studying calculus books on his own, a subject he considered "fun." "I hated school, but I loved college. It was a wonderful experience," he said.

The mathematician completed his undergraduate degree at UFRJ in 2009 and simultaneously pursued a master's degree at the same university, under the guidance of Nicolau Saldanha, from PUC-Rio. “I had no idea what area I wanted to pursue after graduation. But, since I started college, I began studying analysis and algebra. And, very quickly, I realized that I found analysis much more interesting. It has figures, it's more geometric and visual.”

Braga spent 12 years in North America.

In 2010, months after completing his master's degree in algebraic topology, he went to the United States, where he pursued his doctorate at Kent State University (KSU) in Ohio. This time, he chose the area of functional analysis, one of KSU's strengths.

During his first year there, he met Masha Brussevich , a Kazakhstani economist who is now his wife. However, she soon moved to another state, and to shorten the distance, Braga transferred his studies to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). At UIC, he worked with researcher Christian Rosendal until graduating in 2017.

“Although it was a decision to stay close to Masha, it was the best thing possible! My supervisor in Kent [Joe Diestel] was very nice, but he was almost retiring. Rosendal, on the other hand, was super active and I really enjoyed working with him,” she said.

The mathematician earned two doctoral degrees and moved to Toronto, Canada, for a postdoctoral fellowship at York University in 2017. During this period, his wife worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and lived in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. “For two years, every Monday I flew to Toronto and returned to Washington on Thursdays. I was taking an international flight every week,” he explained.

The experience was followed by another postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia (UVA), where he stayed for three years. He returned to Rio in July 2022 to teach at PUC-Rio. “My dream has always been to return to Rio, and I only didn't return sooner because of Masha, since she had a very good position at the IMF. As soon as she got a job here as an economics professor at Ibmec, I applied for a few positions and was accepted as a professor at PUC,” he explained.

After six months at PUC, he also moved to IMPA. The Rio native describes his experience at the institute as "excellent" and emphasized the importance of the institution's infrastructure and support. "I started in January and I've already had three professors come to Rio to work with me, which was only possible due to the institute's support."

He also appreciates the movement and integration of people at IMPA. “It’s really cool to see how many employees have been here for decades. It shows that it’s a great place to work. The institute is always bustling and people like to interact. I just spent a long time in northern Ecuador, where it was normal to have lunch alone, each in their own office. At IMPA, only those who want to have lunch alone do so!”