In Folha, Viana talks about 'mathematicians in power'
Reproduction of Marcelo Viana's column in Folha de São Paulo.
On May 8, the conclave elected the American Robert Francis Prevost , 69, as Pope Leo XIV . A mathematics graduate from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, he is the second mathematician in history to ascend to the throne of Saint Peter: the first was the Frenchman Gerbert d'Aurillac (946-1003), who reigned over the Catholic Church from 999 to 1003 as Sylvester II.
While Prevost spent his entire life in the realm of religion, D'Aurillac had a substantial scientific impact as an inventor, innovator, and advocate for the introduction of the Indo-Arabic decimal numbering system to Europe.
On June 9, moderate candidate Nicusor Dan , 55, turned the tide in the second round of elections, becoming Romania's first mathematician president. Dan's talent for the discipline was recognized early on and was widely celebrated when he won the gold medal in two consecutive editions of the International Mathematical Olympiad, the oldest and most competitive school competition in the world.
In fact, Dan did much more: on both occasions he aced the test, achieving a "perfect score" of 42, which is very rare. In 1988, the test included an extra-difficult question, which was only solved by 1% of the competitors, among them Dan and the Vietnamese Ngô Bao Chau, who would go on to win the Fields Medal , the highest award in our field (but Chau did not have a "perfect score" that year).
Read the full article on the Folha de São Paulo website.
Read also: Numbers and letters: Viana participates in literary events in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.