25/10/2022

Einstein, coffee, tea, and mathematics at an institute in the USA.

In 1930, the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) was founded in Princeton, New Jersey, with physicist Albert Einstein among its pioneers. Over its 92-year history, some of the world's best mathematicians have passed through its doors. In 2022, Vinicius Ramos, a researcher at IMPA, was selected to serve as a visiting professor at the institution, a position he will hold for one year.

IMPA is 7,527 kilometers from IAS, according to Google Maps. Despite the distance, the places have similarities: a popular afternoon tea and café – where scientists gather to exchange impressions about their studies amidst everyday conversations – and a forest suitable for outdoor walks.

“Every day there’s coffee, tea, cookies, cake. The food, which is delicious, is a pretext for meeting phenomenal people. You go thinking you’ll stay for five minutes, but you start talking and end up staying for two hours. You leave the building, go for a walk in the forest behind it, and a new theorem emerges from that,” said Ramos, who has been at the American institution since September.

The IMPA researcher explains that he will serve as a visiting professor, a position usually attained midway through a mathematician's career. His role, in addition to studying, is to mentor graduate students, helping them pursue a professional focus.

Vinicius Ramos's goal at IAS is to continue his research developed in Brazil, which involves the Viterbo Conjecture and billiards problems. "My great dream is to be able to demonstrate new things about billiards using symplectic geometry," stated Ramos, who was in Rio de Janeiro last week to participate in the "IMPA 70 Years Conference".

In its nearly century-long history, the IAS has grown and, in addition to mathematicians, currently houses historians, physicists, and social scientists. The faculty is select, with only 30 permanent researchers who teach students from all over the world who enter the institution every year. Visiting professors have the mission of helping in this interaction with the students.

“It’s a phenomenal place. Most of the world’s great mathematicians have been there at some point. An absolutely fantastic place that provides all the necessary infrastructure, from food to accommodation, so that the researcher only has to worry about thinking,” said Ramos.

Ramos became a researcher at IMPA in 2017. After five years of activity, he is entitled to a sabbatical year, which he will use to further his studies in the United States. His connection to, and appreciation for, the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics remains.

“My research is undoubtedly endorsed by IMPA, to which I remain affiliated. Being at the institute places me in a prestigious position in Brazil and abroad. IMPA helped me build the relationships that allowed me to be in the position I am in today,” said Ramos.