13/05/2025

Suely Lima defends doctoral thesis on the memory of IMPA.

The Coordinator of Events and Scientific Activities at IMPA, Suely Lima, defended her doctoral thesis “IMPA 70 years: past, present and future” this Monday (12) at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), in Rio de Janeiro. The project recovers the history of the institute, milestones and contributions to the advancement of research in mathematics in Brazil, as well as the relevance of IMPA to national science.

“I defended my thesis yesterday, and even though Jacob (Palis) passed away, I decided to defend it because he was with me yesterday, I’m sure of that. I’ve never spoken so calmly in my life. It was a dream come true. I really enjoyed doing this project and I dedicate this achievement to all the researchers and staff at IMPA; we are a cog in a machine,” said Suely, who was married to Palis, emeritus researcher and former director-general of IMPA.

The doctoral thesis expands and deepens the work featured in the exhibition “IMPA 70 Years,” conceived to commemorate the institute's seven-decade anniversary in 2022. Curated by Suely Lima, the exhibition—permanently displayed on the institute's second floor—recovers IMPA's institutional memory and its active participation in national scientific research. After four years of work, a more complete version of the collection was finalized in digital catalog format.

“A valuable contribution in itself, this catalog of the 'IMPA 70 Years' exhibition is also part of an even more ambitious project to rescue the memory of IMPA's development and make it accessible to all, which is substantiated in Suely's doctoral thesis. It is worth highlighting how perfectly positioned Suely is to carry out such a project, since, as coordinator of scientific activities at IMPA, she has been, for more than four decades, not only a witness but, in some cases, also an actor in important episodes in the Institute's history,” noted Marcelo Viana, Director-General of IMPA, in the thesis presentation.

Among the historical milestones highlighted in the project, spanning from 1952 to 2022, are events, achievements, awards, conferences, and initiatives that make up the institution's history. The Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP); IMPA Tech; the IMPA Summer Program; PAPMEM; Prolímpico; Profmat; UMALCA; the National Mathematics Festival; and ICM 2018 are some of the topics covered.

This doctoral thesis is not the first academic work that Suely has undertaken focusing on the memory of IMPA. A member of the first professional master's program at FGV, between 2007 and 2009, the coordinator developed a proposal for the creation of a memory center for the institute, considering aspects such as identity and visibility of IMPA's history.

In her doctoral thesis, this recovery "presents itself as an organized way of bringing together the memories of IMPA, thereby strengthening the institution's identity and representing, with the recovery of IMPA's memory, an important milestone in valuing the history of the progress of mathematics in the country," Suely wrote in the thesis presentation.