28/08/2018

Plinio Murillo receives the Gutierrez Prize for best thesis.

Plínio e a diretora do ICMC, Maria Cristina de Oliveira Foto: Reinaldo Mizutani / ICMC

Karine Rodrigues

With his bags packed to work at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), in Seoul, South Korea, the Colombian Plinio Pino Murillo, 28 years old, leaves Brazil with another unforgettable memory: he received a standing ovation at the end of his lecture at the ceremony for the awarding of the Professor Carlos Teobaldo Gutierrez Vidalon Prize 2018, received for his doctoral thesis defended at IMPA, last year. The ceremony was held this Monday (27), at the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (ICM) of the University of São Paulo (USP).

“I spoke about the results of my thesis, but also about the story of how I got there, including difficult moments of lack of confidence and motivation, and how important the advisor's work is in this personal area as well. I tried to make the ceremony an opportunity to motivate younger students who might be going through these situations, to try to deal with them and believe in what they love. I hope I succeeded,” said Murillo, who attended the ceremony accompanied by his girlfriend, Vanessa Rodrigues. He received a certificate from the director of ICMC, Maria Cristina Ferreira de Oliveira, and a cash prize.

In addition to praising the presentation, Ali Tahzibi, a researcher at ICMC, highlighted Murillo's achievement, who competed for the award with 24 other works. "He managed to synthesize the thesis in a profound way and with a sense of humor. He deserves congratulations, as does IMPA," he emphasized, adding that, like the Colombian, he earned his doctorate at IMPA. "I was supervised by Jacob Palis," he proudly recounted.

Created in 2009 by the ICMC's administration, the award honors the Peruvian researcher Carlos Gutierrez (1944-2008), who worked at IMPA until 1999. Afterwards, he served as a full professor at ICMC, where he contributed to the founding and organization of the research group in Dynamical Systems. Of the ten editions of the Gutierrez Award, which is supported by the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM), IMPA has won eight.

Murillo was recognized for his work "On arithmetic manifolds with large systole," supervised by Mikhail Belolipetsky. In his thesis, he studied two geometric elements – the lengths of curves and volume – in spaces strongly linked to number theory, known as arithmetic manifolds.

“I hope that this type of award will serve to motivate and support other people to continue their own path,” he emphasized, adding that he was attracted to the master's and doctoral programs at IMPA by the high level of training of the institution's scientific staff and the access to information available. “These resources are very important for excellent research in mathematics and, as a student, I was able to take full advantage of them.”

When asked about a way to explain the work to an audience not specialized in mathematics, Murillo made analogies with everyday situations and objects.

“Let’s imagine, for a moment, that the Earth is like a soccer ball, and the Equator is that circle right in the middle of the ball. The area of the ball and the Equator are intimately related. In fact, one determines the other. This is an example of a relationship between two different geometric quantities. We can think of the same situation now with a donut and relate circles to their area. In my thesis, we address this relationship in mathematical spaces similar to the Earth, the soccer ball, or a donut, but which are somehow constructed using arithmetic.”

Exposição traz dados sobre trajetória de Gutierrez no IMPA Foto: Reinaldo Mizutani / ICMC

During the ceremony, the ICMC launched three initiatives in memory of Gutierrez, a specialist in Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory: an exhibition about the Peruvian's life and work; a digital collection of his works; and seven videos highlighting his main findings by researchers in the field. The idea, Tahzibi explained, arose when one of his students asked for basic information about the Peruvian.

“I realized then that, ten years after the creation of the award, we also needed to publicize Gutierrez's legacy. We had a lot of his material, which was carefully stored in a cabinet. The right place for it is in the library,” reported Tahzibi, coordinator of the tributes.

The Professor Carlos Teobaldo Gutierrez Vidalon digital collection is available in the ICMC Institutional Repository and includes 33 handwritten lecture notes on Ergodic Theory and Bifurcation Theory, his doctoral diploma from IMPA, and other materials.