20/06/2018

'How mathematics shaped my life'

Reproduction of Marcelo Viana's column in Folha de S. Paulo.

It was my first business trip. From Porto, where I had just finished my degree, to Paris to visit the mathematician Adrien Doaudy. Upon arrival, the police demanded my visa: Brazilians needed one at the time, but no one had told me. The son of Portuguese parents, born in Brazil, I had lived in Portugal since I was 3 months old—I felt Portuguese.

I sensed something was wrong when the immigration officer quietly consulted her colleague: "Could he be dangerous?". At the police station, I mustered the courage to ask what was going on. "France is a mother, it accepts any s***, but there are limits, monsieur," was the enlightening reply.

Stuck at the airport, I befriended a marijuana dealer from Morocco. When the police came to kick me out, the Moroccan intervened: “Leave the kid alone, he’s a good guy, he didn’t do anything wrong!” It was the worst moment.

I landed in Portugal determined to return. I bought another ticket, applied for a visa at the French consulate, and days later I was back. This time, it worked out, and I spent a week learning math and exploring Paris. It made it all worthwhile.

Doaudy proposed two problems for me to work on. In the following months I solved one (the other remains unsolved). My graduate advisor suggested that I give a lecture on this work at a conference at the University of Coimbra.

To read the full text, visit the newspaper's website or check the print version.

Folha allows each reader access to ten articles per month even without a subscription.