3 ms·

A mathematician who delights in building bridges

31 points by News-Dog 5y ago

1cvmask 5y ago
These puff pieces by journalists always feel the need to include some adversity story - whether real or contrive or perceived does not matter. It sells more copy. Contrast that with the recently deceased female Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields medal, and her accomplishments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani - Speaking of building bridges in Mathematics Paul Erdos came to mind. There is a great book on him called "The Man Who Only Loved Numbers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Loved_Only_Numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Loved_Only_Numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  To be fair to the author, this lady is a Romanian and Romanian social norms are quite far from British ones. I don't really doubt that she heard some unflattering remarks from her peers, though no one probably actively hindered her from studying maths. I studied maths in Czechia in the late 1990s and girls studying maths were still considered somewhat abnormal, especially by people who weren't able to do the same :(
  - treeman79 5y ago
    I work hard with my daughters on math. They are highly intelligent and have a talent for it. Nothing but lip and complaints on how useless it is. I know the moment they get a free choice, they will never touch it again. My only hope is to find a group of girls that are into math for them to hang out with. But more then likely will take the easy road of going off there looks to get what they want in life. One already has.
    - munchler 5y ago
      It’s almost like women are autonomous individuals capable of making decisions about their own lives, and pursuing their own interests. Very odd. </s>
    - strikelaserclaw 5y ago
      like anything in life, to be good at something you need to have talent and internal motivation to pursue something, you can't make someone enjoy something that they don't really enjoy regardless of how talented they are.
      - treeman79 5y ago
        Nonsense. They are kids. They will lean many useful skills. When they are adults they can do whatever they want. My responsibility is to give them opportunities for success. I pushed hard on one to finish college. She was super pissed at me the entire time. She deeply regrets dropping out now.
  - throwawayacc2 5y ago
    It’s weird to me to hear this. I was schooled in Romania as well and have the opposite impression. I am a little younger to be fair, I was in elementary school as opposed to high school in 2001, but, my impression ( biased since I am a man ) was that everyone, men and women, was encouraged towards STEM. Mainly because it was and still is seen as a path out of poverty. In fact, very often the teachers would praise girls for their conscientiousness. I heard this a million times as a student. Boys rush to solve the problem, blunder, end up making a big X on the paper, backtrack and make mistakes because they don’t pay as much attention while girls are more attentive and are more careful in their solutions. This is the stereotype I got left with from school. Plus, a lot of teachers of STEM. Even in Uni ( also in Romania for me ) I had a lot of important subjects taught by women.
cs702 5y ago
Not surprisingly, she says she faced discouragement and discrimination for being a woman early in her career, but says that things have gotten much better for women over the years, which is good to hear: > I faced explicit discouragement in high school, whereas today there is a lot of explicit encouragement. Nevertheless, I have seen people around me experience subtle forms of discrimination. It’s definitely harder to build a research program and establish long-term relationships if others view you as different. And it’s harder to get taken seriously if you’re always having to prove yourself. > I realize I’ve been luckier than most and have already made my name. But I still recognize that mathematics is not as inclusive as it should be — not just for women, but for other people from underrepresented groups. That is especially true in my field, the Langlands program, which requires so much specialized knowledge that there is a huge barrier to entry. > I’m doing what I can to help others pursue this amazing field, though I feel it is not enough. I try more and more to make space for women — and those who are underrepresented in general — at conferences and within my own research group. And I’m happy that my group has a higher percentage of women than is common in the field. Surely there's more work to do, but I find it refreshing to read about someone who is tackling the problem with a positive attitude on the front page HN!

31 points by News-Dog 5y ago

These puff pieces by journalists always feel the need to include some adversity story - whether real or contrive or perceived does not matter. It sells more copy. Contrast that with the recently deceased female Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields medal, and her accomplishments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani - Speaking of building bridges in Mathematics Paul Erdos came to mind. There is a great book on him called "The Man Who Only Loved Numbers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Loved_Only_Numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Loved_Only_Numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s

inglor_cz 5y ago
To be fair to the author, this lady is a Romanian and Romanian social norms are quite far from British ones. I don't really doubt that she heard some unflattering remarks from her peers, though no one probably actively hindered her from studying maths. I studied maths in Czechia in the late 1990s and girls studying maths were still considered somewhat abnormal, especially by people who weren't able to do the same :(
- treeman79 5y ago
  I work hard with my daughters on math. They are highly intelligent and have a talent for it. Nothing but lip and complaints on how useless it is. I know the moment they get a free choice, they will never touch it again. My only hope is to find a group of girls that are into math for them to hang out with. But more then likely will take the easy road of going off there looks to get what they want in life. One already has.
  - munchler 5y ago
    It’s almost like women are autonomous individuals capable of making decisions about their own lives, and pursuing their own interests. Very odd. </s>
  - strikelaserclaw 5y ago
    like anything in life, to be good at something you need to have talent and internal motivation to pursue something, you can't make someone enjoy something that they don't really enjoy regardless of how talented they are.
    - treeman79 5y ago
      Nonsense. They are kids. They will lean many useful skills. When they are adults they can do whatever they want. My responsibility is to give them opportunities for success. I pushed hard on one to finish college. She was super pissed at me the entire time. She deeply regrets dropping out now.
- throwawayacc2 5y ago
  It’s weird to me to hear this. I was schooled in Romania as well and have the opposite impression. I am a little younger to be fair, I was in elementary school as opposed to high school in 2001, but, my impression ( biased since I am a man ) was that everyone, men and women, was encouraged towards STEM. Mainly because it was and still is seen as a path out of poverty. In fact, very often the teachers would praise girls for their conscientiousness. I heard this a million times as a student. Boys rush to solve the problem, blunder, end up making a big X on the paper, backtrack and make mistakes because they don’t pay as much attention while girls are more attentive and are more careful in their solutions. This is the stereotype I got left with from school. Plus, a lot of teachers of STEM. Even in Uni ( also in Romania for me ) I had a lot of important subjects taught by women.

cs702 5y ago

Not surprisingly, she says she faced discouragement and discrimination for being a woman early in her career, but says that things have gotten much better for women over the years, which is good to hear: > I faced explicit discouragement in high school, whereas today there is a lot of explicit encouragement. Nevertheless, I have seen people around me experience subtle forms of discrimination. It’s definitely harder to build a research program and establish long-term relationships if others view you as different. And it’s harder to get taken seriously if you’re always having to prove yourself. > I realize I’ve been luckier than most and have already made my name. But I still recognize that mathematics is not as inclusive as it should be — not just for women, but for other people from underrepresented groups. That is especially true in my field, the Langlands program, which requires so much specialized knowledge that there is a huge barrier to entry. > I’m doing what I can to help others pursue this amazing field, though I feel it is not enough. I try more and more to make space for women — and those who are underrepresented in general — at conferences and within my own research group. And I’m happy that my group has a higher percentage of women than is common in the field. Surely there's more work to do, but I find it refreshing to read about someone who is tackling the problem with a positive attitude on the front page HN!