15/10/2024

Viana and Avila participate in 'Conversation with Bial'

Marcelo Viana e Artur Avila

The relaxed chat between journalist Pedro Bial and researchers Marcelo Viana, general director of IMPA, and Artur Avila, winner of the Fields medal, aired this Monday (14) on TV Globo and GNT. Amid laughter, applause and serious topics, the mathematicians discussed their careers in the field, the importance of a Brazilian winning the Fields medal, the challenges of the discipline in the country, the relevance of OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools), among other subjects.

Marcelo and Artur were introduced on the program “Conversa com Bial” as a source of inspiration. “One, a veteran, is the director-general of IMPA, the glorious Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics, a consummate columnist. His life has been about combining numbers and words and proving that separating people into those who are from the exact sciences and those who are from the humanities is a poor and baseless calculation,” said Bial, referring to Viana.

“The other is younger, also a researcher at IMPA and a postgraduate researcher in Switzerland. He is the only Brazilian winner of the Fields Medal, an award given every four years to the greatest mathematicians under 40. It's like winning an Oscar, a Nobel Prize, or the World Cup, but in mathematics,” he said when announcing Avila.

In the 30-minute chat , available on GloboPlay for subscribers , Avila highlighted that the most captivating aspect of the profession is the possibility of maintaining the same modus operandi throughout one's career. “What really makes us enjoy doing mathematics, I think I speak for most, is very close, fortunately, to what brought us down this path. A mathematician has the ability, throughout their career, up to 80 years old, to have the same contact with the work as they did at 20. The nature doesn't change. You don't become a manager who starts bossing people around and stops getting your hands dirty. You continue wanting to do what you've always done.”

Pedro Bial, Marcelo Viana e Artur Avila

When questioned about the importance of "popularizing" mathematics, Viana argued that learning one's mother tongue is as important as mastering basic mathematics. "We accept the principle that every citizen has the right to know their own language and express themselves orally and in writing. We accept the principle that everyone has the capacity to be literate and has that right. There is a second axiom that is at least as important. This also applies to basic mathematical knowledge, as it is just as important for fully experiencing citizenship today."

In the interview, Bial mentioned the book "History of Mathematics: From Counting on Fingers to Artificial Intelligence," released in June by the director-general of IMPA, Marcelo Viana. Check out the full interview here.