26/01/2023

Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo is honored at IMPA.

Researcher at IMPA since 2001 and member of Visgraf (IMPA's Computer Graphics Laboratory), Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo had his career honored during the computer graphics meeting “LHF60++: Celebrating again Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo's 60th birthday” , held this Wednesday (25), at IMPA.

The occasion served as a continuation of the celebration of Figueiredo's 60th birthday, which took place last year during SIBGRAPI in Natal, and was not attended by the researcher.

The Director-General of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, and the institute's former director, César Camacho, highlighted Luiz Henrique's contribution to science. "Our students have a great experience in the courses he teaches here. We are very grateful!" said Viana.

“Luiz Henrique was a key figure in the development of his research field and had a significant impact. The recognition from this institution, which considers its researchers its greatest asset, is well-deserved,” Camacho added.

Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo fez um agradecimento aos presentes pela homenagem

Mathematics, computing, and art.

Figueiredo was the first doctoral student at Visgraf, after completing his undergraduate and master's degrees at PUC-Rio. In the laboratory, he worked in the areas of computer graphics and computational mathematics, focusing on rigorous numerical methods.

Luiz Velho e Luiz Henrique colaboraram no Visgraf

He collaborated numerous times with Luiz Velho, the lead researcher at Visgraf, who gave a presentation at the event.

“A quote from Manfredo do Carmo, which is certainly an inspiration for Luiz's work, says the following: 'It is in the intimate nature of mathematics to seek understanding of simple and fundamental things in that range of ideas where, according to the ancient Greeks, truth and beauty are indistinguishably intertwined.' This thought has been an inspiration in the careers of many people, especially Luiz Henrique, who combines mathematics with computing and art in his work,” commented the researcher.

One example of Figueiredo's work at this intersection is the creation of the Lua programming language, used in industrial applications with an emphasis on embedded systems and games.

Present in video games such as World of Warcraft and Angry Birds, Lua was created in partnership with Roberto Ierusalimschy (PUC-Rio) and Waldemar Celes (PUC-Rio). At the event, Ierusalimschy spoke about the importance of the language, which is used internationally.

The trio received the Pedro Ernesto medal last year – the highest honor bestowed by the Rio de Janeiro City Council.

Roberto Ierusalimschy (PUC-Rio) apresentou a linguagem de programação Lua

The program included participation from former students.

The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary also included presentations by Afonso Paiva (ICMC-USP), Diego Nehab (Visgraf – IMPA) and José Ezequiel Soto Sánchez (ITAM), who holds a doctorate from IMPA and was supervised by Figueiredo.

Afonso Paiva (ICMC-USP)

Coming from Mexico especially for the occasion, Sánchez presented the lecture “Tiling with triangles and squares: origami and inflation methods” , which was also the subject of his doctoral dissertation.

“I didn’t want to miss this tribute! I learned a lot from Luiz Henrique about the quality of research, how to develop an idea, and how to think through and organize research questions,” said Sánchez, currently a professor at the Autonomous Institute of Technology in Mexico.

José Ezequiel Soto Sánchez (ITAM)