05/05/2022

Morris is a certified full member of the ABC.

IMPA researcher Robert Morris was awarded a diploma, this Wednesday (4), as a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). The ceremony, at the Museum of Tomorrow, in Rio de Janeiro, marked the inauguration of the entity's new president, biomedical scientist Helena Nader, and the board for the 2022-2025 term. Helena is the first woman to preside over the ABC in its 106-year history.

“It is a great honor to receive this recognition! The reception I have had in the scientific community has always been great, so I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be part of this Academy with such important researchers who have made countless contributions to scientific knowledge,” Morris celebrated.

Robert Morris ao lado de Marcelo Viana, diretor-geral do IMPA

The Director-General of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, attended the ceremony and congratulated Morris and the new president of the ABC. “This ceremony marks a very important moment in the more than century-long history of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. It is the first time that a female scientist has been elected as president, which marks a new era in the academy's stance. For IMPA, it is a pleasure that this moment is associated with the election of Morris, one of the best mathematicians in the country today, who certainly deserves this distinction,” stated Viana.

The full members of the ABC are scientists with outstanding scientific achievements, based in Brazil for more than ten years. Another 16 researchers from IMPA are full members of the ABC. A researcher at IMPA since 2010 and winner of the 2017 SBM Prize, Morris works in the area of combinatorics, focusing on probabilistic combinatorics and applications of the probabilistic method in areas such as Ramsey theory and number theory.

The researcher hopes that the recognition will help attract more young mathematicians to combinatorics. “The most interesting thing about this area is that, being a relatively new subject, it doesn't take as long to reach the frontier of knowledge. So, it's possible to choose a problem and, in about a month, learn everything about it, quickly reaching the most difficult and challenging points in this area. It's an extremely creative field of study!” stated the Briton.

Morris compareceu ao evento acompanhado de sua esposa e filhas

The Admiral Álvaro Alberto Award, a partnership between the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) with the Brazilian Navy, was also presented during the ceremony. The winner was Professor Jailson Bittencourt de Andrade from the Institute of Chemistry at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), who that same evening took office as vice-president of the ABC.

Marcelo Viana prestigiou posse da nova presidente da ABC, Helena Nader