Math-Life Balance

This episode is about women in math, from the perspective of sociology! Many thanks to Olga Paris-Romaskevich for the conversation. Olga's webpage: https://olga.pa-ro.net/The book "Matheuses": https://www.insmi.cnrs.fr/fr/matheusesHere is a link for Olga's talk on gender and mathematics: https://amubox.univ-amu.fr/s/SBRqbTLHSG5PFMFHere is a list of references Olga used when spoke about social psychology:1) Definition of social stereotype : (Leyens, Yzerbut, Schadron, 1994), slide 72) Stereotype threat result : Spencer, Steele, & Quinn (1999). Stereotype Threat and Women’s Math Performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35Social psychology : stereotype threat, slides 9 and 10 3) Aronson, J., Lustina, M. J., Good, C., Keough, K., Steele, C. M., & Brown, J. (1999). When White men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35(1), 29–46.4) pp.12-13 : John VS Jennifer study Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman (2012). PNAS, 109, 16474-164795) Begeny, C. T., Ryan, M. K., Moss-Racusin, C. A., & Ravetz, G. (2020). In some professions, women have become well represented, yet gender bias persists- Perpetuated by those who think it is not happening. Science advances, 6(26), eaba7810:00 teaser1:03 Olya's book about "math girls"5:38 why there are so few women in math9:01 brilliance as social construct14:11 russian tease of women in math18:05 math in the sociology book22:35 why to make women only math events 30:33 and why we definitely need them34:19 how to make a good outreach event38:33 cool gender equity initiatives41:12 Mura's experience in math as a girl46:55 female role models in math51:18 homage to Sophia Kovalevskaya53:34 fun facts everyone should know!58:56 moral support for women in math

Jordan is a mathematician as well as an author of popular books about mathematics, with great sense of humour. And this interview goes as wild as the picture of the interviewee on his webpage! Jordan's webpage: https://people.math.wisc.edu/~ellenberg/Chapters:0:00 intro0:28 a year of writing fiction4:12 what's hard about writing11:31 finding math everywhere15:19 cool thoughts on writing 22:58 teaching writing to math folks24:55 pain & joy of bad writing 29:15 Jordan's workshop where we met34:30 how to know when the article is ready38:34 how to make interviews?45:51 Mura complaining about interviewees :)51:26 how people really feel about math54:55 how to survive the lack of feedback1:03:32 bringing standup tricks into writing1:09:08 sentimental approach to finishing books1:12:00 Jordan's book recommendation for us

Enjoy the interview with Dennis Gaitsgory, who thinks about questions deeply yet answers lightly! Jokes included :)Dennis webpage: https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/0:00 teaser0:30 attending a class by Witten5:15 math vs physics: difference?9:20 doing math: happiness and frustration13:10 what changes with age17:10 non-math problems: oh no! ;)23:23 advice for getting back into math26:45 how to prove Langlands correspondence...31:49 when math doesn't work33:25 raising kids: thoughts36:00 book recommendation from Dennis37:38 stories about India40:36 beautiful non-math hobby42:40 hot take on grant system45:06 guess Dennis' favourite animal!47:12 advice to young mathematicians

Simon Singh is, according to himself, "an author, journalist and TV producer, specialising in science and mathematics, the only two subjects I have the faintest clue about". In this interview we chat about various projects of Simon, from theatre festivals to math education in schools, and argue about math outreach. Have fun listening!Simon's webpage: simonsingh.netParallel project: parallel.org.ukMath-Life Balance on YouTube: youtube.com/@math-life-balanceChapters:0:00 teaser0:41 math & magic at Fringe9:15 cool math for teenagers16:16 why kids really need it18:52 confidence for various projects20:41 Shakespeare in math class?28:51 what could go wrong30:48 outreach and effectivity34:56 Simon gets annoyed :)37:03 too much outreach?39:50 math in Simpsons and writing44:38 sweet book selling story46:45 how I learned about Simon

Dhruv Ranganathan is a lecturer at Cambridge University, working in algebraic geometry. In this video, Dhruv talks about doing research with undergrads, being tortured by math problems, looking for friends to write math papers, and other cool stuff! Dhruv's webpage: https://www.dhruvrnathan.net Photo: from the webpage 0:00 teaser 0:41 from cricket to air planes 2:16 adventure novels childhood 4:46 what do algebraic geometers do 8:39 experience of undergrad research 12:30 how undergrad research really works 15:35 “now I’m a believer”(c) 18:25 why so much pressure in doing math 21:09 how we create pressure for young people 23:44 doing math as a coping mechanism 27:00 math torture vs intense cartoon watching 28:50 speakers love getting any math questions 30:54 math for extroverts  34:25 teaching students who leave academia 37:33 don’t beat yourself up for math mistakes 39:39 how we try and fail to improve inclusivity 43:44 don’t put people from minorities on every committee 45:45 the advice that’s too hard to follow 48:35 fireplace

Maria Chudnovsky is a professor at Princeton University, working in graph theory and combinatorics. In this interview, Maria shares her personal experiences: learning Hebrew from math lessons, giving a talk at NASA, using math at her own wedding, and many more! Maria's homepage: http://web.math.princeton.edu/~mchudnov/ Photo: from Maria's homepage The essay we mentioned: W.T. Gowers "The two cultures of mathematics" https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cultures.pdf 0:00 teaser 0:29 respect for math at home 2:43 math helps when you don’t speak the local language 6:42 building a world around a research problem 11:37 explaining math to a broad audience 16:00 giving a talk at NASA 19:42 applying graph theory to your wedding 23:16 problem solving vs learning 27:58 being bad at math olympiads  30:40 working with your own students 33:23 experience of doing a PhD 36:02 memorizing math  37:55 studying physics vs math 43:43 maintaining a work-life balance 49:08 everyone has self-doubts 50:54 first time teaching a class 55:46 final advice

Saul Glasman worked in homotopy theory and K-theory, and now works as a software engineer. In this interview, we discuss the hardships of academic jobmarket, fears around leaving math, and the fundamental problems in academia. Saul's homepage: http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~sglasman/ Photo: from his website #mathematician​​​​​​ #mathlife​​​​​​ #interview​​​​​​  #academiavsindustry #leavingacademia #jobmarketacademia 0:00 teaser 0:44 always loved math 2:04 why left academia 8:55  the fears of leaving 14:02 staying in touch with math 20:33 send greetings to Saul :) 21:55 stigma around leaving academia 25:13 problems in academia 30:11 we aren't taught to teach 35:50 there's freedom in industry 37:36 and you feel productive! 42:44 social interactions: academia vs industry 45:19 learning effective team work 49:15 you can learn to enjoy a job 52:20 why can't we do internships 55:47 what you wish you knew 59:02 advice for those who have doubts

In this [episode], I read a piece from Thurston's essay "On proof and progress in mathematics", where he reflects on the importance of seeing mathematicians' progress and contributions much broader than just in proving new theorems. William Thurston on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thurston Cover photo: from this Wikipedia page The full essay: https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/9404236.pdf Thurston's lecture "Knots to Narnia": https://youtu.be/IKSrBt2kFD4 Thurston's answer on MathOverflow about contributions in mathematics: https://mathoverflow.net/questions/43690/whats-a-mathematician-to-do/44213#44213

Irakli Patchkoria is a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, working in homotopy theory. In this interview, he speaks about math-tennis balance, shares his experience of moving from Georgia to Western Europe and admits taking part in illegal actions on university exams. Irakli's homepage: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/irakli.patchkoria Photo: Irakli's private photo collection 0:00 teaser 1:13 epic story of family math 6:21 father’s advice 10:25 don’t work too much 14:41 experience in collaborations 19:02 Georgians and assimilation 21:47 making new friends (hey, Zurich!) 25:47 cheating on exams 28:38 you will have ideas for papers 33:48 don’t be afraid of stars in math 38:16 partying hard 41:25 drinking with mathematicians 43:41 math and the meaning of life 46:22 please make jokes in talks 48:53 helping young mathematicians

Ravi Vakil is a professor at Stanford University, working in algebraic geometry. In this interview, Ravi talks about the importance of a community for learning math, discusses the ways of learning to be creative at math and shares how considering other career options helped him to be happier as a mathematician.  A clarification for Ravi's comment on the situation with math in USSR:  Due to deep-rooted antisemitism in the Soviet Union, the admission of ethnically Jewish mathematicians into top universities was unofficially “limited” by the state. Faced with these hurdles, Jewish mathematicians opted for institutions specializing in specific technologies, such as the Oil and Gas Institute. Over time, some of these lesser known institutions earned a reputation for producing leading academics in the  fundamental sciences. Ravi's homepage: http://math.stanford.edu/~vakil/​ Photo: website of Stanford University 0:00​ teaser 0:40​ wish to be an embassador 4:36​ school teachers are the most important 7:17​ coming up with math questions 12:56​ don’t write emails with vague questions 19:12​ not making students intimidated 25:41​ building welcoming communities 29:34​ USSR math: fairytale vs antisemitism 32:13​ big picture vs details 39:55​ learn math by solving problems 41:45​ consider other jobs to release pressure 49:00​ why look down on applied mathematicians 53:15​ how to follow math talks 59:27​ the most desired interviewee 59:58​ wish for young mathematicians

Mariana Smit Vega Garcia is an Assistant Professor at Western Washington University, working in geometric analysis and partial differential equations. In this interview, Mariana speaks, among other things, about her math-life balance, the experience of representing different minorities and the joy of teaching mathematics. In addition: lots of friendly advice for undergrads! Mariana's webpage: http://faculty.wwu.edu/smitvem/​ Photo: from Mariana's webpage 0:00​ teaser 0:44​ didn’t want to be a professor 3:28​ trying to find math-life balance 9:10​ collaborators are friends 13:06​ mathematician-extrovert 16:05​ experiencing sexism 19:10​ burden of representing a minority 21:38​ insecurities in math 27:09​ joy of teaching 30:07​ motivation to do research 34:28​ algebraic vs analytic worlds 38:35​ pessimism in research 40:31​ we are more than our math 44:22​ moving around the world 49:35​ advice for students from faraway 52:32​ initiatives for minorities 58:32​ what students have to know 1:00:08​ final advice

This video is dedicated to my teacher of mathematics in the middle school, Andrey Yurjevich Alexeev. Time for stories about my first encounter with "abstract math" and my first math talk! My school: https://610.ru/en/​ Photo of A. Yu. Alexeev: from Vasily Baev's private collection

Dustin Clausen is an associate professor in Copenhagen university, working in algebraic K-theory, homotopy theory and number theory. In this interview, Dustin shares controversial opinions on publishing and grant system, tells about his view on leaving academia, and reproduces very vividly a Tarantino style plot of an interrogation in Moscow, for stealing cookies! P.S. Dustin would like to assure the viewers that he did not steal any cookies.  Dustin's homepage: https://www.math.ku.dk/english/staff/faculty/?pure=en%2Fpersons%2F467008 Photo: from Copenhagen University webpage 0:00​ teasing teaser 0:40​ French high school shock 5:04​ being grandson of John Tate 8:00​ doubts about academic career 9:38​ alternative career options 11:01​ opinions too negative to share 13:41​ disappointments of grad school 15:01​ giving a satisfying math talk is impossible 17:01​ decision to stay in academia 19:56​ publishing is a rotten enterprise 23:51​ struggles of refereeing  26:27​ mistakes in talks and papers 31:10​ my first impression of Dustin 33:17​ numbers and homotopies 36:25​ Mike Hopkins is the best 40:40​ Jacob Lurie as PhD advisor 44:11​ not understanding is great 47:44​ reading and writing math papers 51:17​ “Math in Moscow”: thrilling story 57:00​ doing math when you have babies 59:04​ distributing grants equally 01:01:02​ how to not be afraid of job market 01:03:18​ funny reaction to saying you’re doing math 01:05:23​ kind words for those who feel demotivated