'A Different League of Mathematicians' - Numberphile

Ajouté : 2026-06-04

[00:00:02]Okay.

[00:00:03]Take that off.

[00:00:05]>> Let me say a phrase to you which I don't know if it's a banned phrase or not.

[00:00:10]The Nobel Prize of Mathematics.

[00:00:12]>> Yeah, this is a banned This is a banned phrase.

[00:00:14]>> You don't You don't say it.

[00:00:15]>> I I never use it. I never use it.

[00:00:17]>> But other people do use it.

[00:00:18]>> And I don't mind if they use it.

[00:00:20]>> Okay.

[00:00:20]>> But I don't.

[00:00:21]>> You don't.

[00:00:21]>> We don't. The The academy will never use that.

[00:00:24]>> Yeah.

[00:00:25]I can understand why. Alfred Nobel's died now, but do you think he missed a trick >> by not having mathematics?

[00:00:31]>> Oh, yes, he did a big mistake. A big mistake. Yes, I mean this was an [clears throat] omission. I I mean all these stories about why there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics. And I think the closest one is that he didn't see the practical importance of mathematics. Because the original uh plan for the Nobel Prize in Physics was to recognize the biggest discovery of the previous year.

[00:00:51]That does not make much sense these days at all. And the first years it was given for practical inventions.

[00:00:58]And he couldn't see any practical uh use of mathematics. And of course now we know that this is not true. And also we know that inven uh discoveries in physics takes more than a year.

[00:01:09]So, the plan was great, but he missed out something.

[00:01:15]>> You You've kind of bumped into a subject I was going to ask you about in a few minutes, but I'll ask you now because it's kind of relevant now cuz I was spoke I was speaking to uh Faltings today. And he was full of happiness and praise about his prize.

[00:01:27]But he did raise an interesting point, and I have read it elsewhere as well, that the mathematical prizes can become a bit of a like a circuit, and the same people the same people win them, you know, if he won a Fields Medal, then you win this, then you win that, and the same the same And I wonder how you respond to that because it's It seems kind of inevitable, but I don't know how you'll get around >> it is This is an issue, and we discussed this in the committee, and we tried to avoid, you know, making the circle smaller and smaller, and some people get all the prizes.

[00:01:58]Now, I mean there are a few people who stand out and they deserve all almost all the prizes and they will get them eventually. But, we do make a serious search and look for names that have not necessarily been recognized and who deserve it. So, so it is an issue. I think it's a very valid point and has to be taken seriously.

[00:02:19]>> So, when the committee sits and decides who the winner's going to be, it's not just a pure meritocracy and okay all the best mathematicians accept that one's got it and you're like working down a list.

[00:02:29]>> To put it in very simple words, when I took over the the chairmanship, I didn't get a list from my my predecessor with a list and I just had to cross out the next four names on his list. That's not how it works.

[00:02:43]So, so we try to scan the mathematical landscape and see if some people have been forgotten, some areas have been forgotten.

[00:02:52]We look for nominations and we collect letters of references, letter of recommendations from experts, real experts worldwide. And we look at these and we study and we try to compare.

[00:03:04]>> It's an important It has become a very important prize in mathematics. There's a lot of money involved. As someone who's on the committee, like how does that is does that weigh heavily when you're making that decision?

[00:03:14]>> It What aspect of it? The >> The deciding who the winner is.

[00:03:17]>> Oh, yes. I mean this is this is a very tricky, very difficult and I'm in some sense happy that I'm really relieved now because this was my last year. Yeah, it it is it is a big burden because you feel the the responsibility.

[00:03:33]You want to make a selection that is well recognized by the community we because you feel the responsibility for the reputation of the prize and you you don't want to mess up.

[00:03:41]>> When people I don't know if people do this or not, when people know your position, do they ever get in your ear and say I think this person would be deserving? And do they ever criticize the Abel Prize to you and say you How have you know, you got that one wrong or >> I know I mean I never got envelopes with money in. It never happened. And I don't think I ever got any suspicious invitation or something that looks dubious from from that point of view. Um so some people have come up with names and I think that's good. The more names the better. Can never be wrong. Some people have said, "But why didn't you do that and that?" I also think that's fine because there is no absolute ranking here. There is a personal aspect of it.

[00:04:21]The committee did its selection. Another committee would probably make another selection. I think that's the way it is.

[00:04:29]>> I won't ask you to describe Faltings' mathematics to me. That's not what kind of what my video's about. But can just for people who haven't heard of him and aren't as steeped in mathematics, can you give me an idea of his stature and status in math?

[00:04:41]>> I mean he is one of the towering figures in mathematics because he had this what I think is everybody every mathematician's wildest dream. He solved a big problem as a young scientist. Right? You can't dream of anything more.

[00:04:58]At the age of 28, he solved an unsolved problem that people have been trying not being able to solve it for 60 years.

[00:05:05]You can't ask for anything more and that puts you in a different league. From that point on, you're playing in the big league.

[00:05:11]>> Did he Did he do more? Did he rest on his laurels or did he keep going?

[00:05:14]>> No, he did not. I mean, of course, then he knows that he can do good stuff.

[00:05:20]And it's very easy to say, "Well, now I've done the best I can do and I can't improve."

[00:05:24]But he continued to work on on other problems and he solved other problems that are very hard and probably harder than the model that he was got famous for.

[00:05:37]Uh but the disadvantage with this is that it's much more technical. It's much harder to model can be explained. The other things are much harder to to describe than expected.

[00:05:48]>> You've you've spent a bit of time with him over the last few days and probably in the past as well and and seen him up close and how he's reacted to all the things he has to do over these few days.

[00:05:56]>> Exactly.

[00:05:57]>> Tell me about him as a man and what how he has impressed you as a person and can you describe him what's he like for someone who's never met him and you spent time with him?

[00:06:04]>> I think he's a private person.

[00:06:06]He I mean he's more comfortable when he sits doing mathematics than with the small talk with people he doesn't know.

[00:06:14]>> People like me.

[00:06:15]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. That's what you say.

[00:06:18]>> Yeah. Congratulations.

[00:06:21]But but he's but he's been very obliging. I think you know he did do he's doing all the interviews. He's doing all the stuff.

[00:06:26]>> but I think he's very happy with receiving the Nobel Prize.

[00:06:29]>> Obviously because of the job you do you get to meet the very best mathematicians in the world.

[00:06:35]Is there anything they have in common or that sets them apart? I know every person is a different person but are there is having seen multiple Nobel Prize winners and these top people is there anything you've noticed that you think that's that's why these best men and women they've got something in common or something about them?

[00:06:52]>> Yeah. I have the the privilege of having seen all of them since 2003.

[00:06:58]And I have to say they stand out in some way. It's hard to describe but they really stand out from the crowd.

[00:07:05]I mean they are very individualistic.

[00:07:08]They are very independent thinkers. They do what they think they they want to do because they know they have been successful in doing that throughout their career. They have done things that people have said you nobody can do this and they have done it.

[00:07:23]So they stand out and overall they are extremely impressive from the professional point of view.

[00:07:30]When you look at other aspects you know I mean they are more like regular people when it comes outside their special field but in their special field I mean they are stars.

[00:07:41]>> I know you're a mathematician in your own right, and a very good one, but you haven't won the Abel Prize. You didn't win the Fields Medal, did you?

[00:07:48]>> No.

[00:07:49]>> I did not.

[00:07:49]>> No, no. Oh, what a mistake.

[00:07:51]>> Yes.

[00:07:52]>> Spending so much time with these best of the best people, does it ever make you jealous? Does it ever make you think, "Gosh, I wish I'd done Fermat's Last Theorem or Mordell." Like, is it What's it like for you having to spend all your time with the cream of the crop?

[00:08:06]>> Yeah, I'm always very impressed, but you know, there are things when I read a paper, something I think I could have done this. Something I maybe I could have done this on a very good day. There are things that I could have done if I had, you know, a luck, a very luck, and it was a good day. But there are some things I realize I could never have done.

[00:08:27]Never ever have done.

[00:08:29]And that's what these Abel Prize winners do every day.

[00:08:34]They're in a They're playing in a different league.

[00:08:38]>> And I had thought, I mean, they seem to concentrate on few people, and not And I decided there was a mechanism going on.

[00:08:51]I mean, uh the prize giver giver gains some prestige if the prize winner has prestige, and the prize winner has prestige if the prize giver has prestige. And so, the prize giver looks for people who have prestige, and how do they find them? They have to have gotten other prizes.