meeting areas, event spaces, and both dedicated and shared desks. In the 2018-2019 academic
year, Fields hosted 321 scholars who came to pursue independent research or to participate, for
example, in Thematic, Focus, or the Fields Research Fellowship programs. Two of the many stand‑out
scholars hosted in 2018-2019 academic year were Nantel Bergeron and Christopher Bergevin
(York University). The following two articles are courtesy of York University Faculty of Science
Nantel Bergeron
Mathematics is the language of modern science. It dates back thousands of
years BCE. But unlike many scientific theories that were replaced by new ones
over time, mathematical results and ideas are still valid since their infancy.
“What the Ancient Greeks devised in math
is still taught in schools,” points out York
Research Chair Nantel Bergeron (Mathematics
& Statistics). “And over time, we have kept
accumulating and accumulating knowledge.”
Algebra is the study of structure within mathematics
and has also evolved over centuries. It deals
with symbols and the rules for manipulating
those symbols. In the early 20th century,
however, algebra took on a new complexity
by entering the abstract realm, creating a
new world of mathematics to explore. This is
the world that Bergeron finds himself in.
“I see myself as an artist in a way,
developing a language that allows us to
better understand the world,” he says.
He studies the structures in algebra, combining
objects and breaking them in various ways
to understand how different operations
on the objects relate to each other.
“It’s about learning what properties I can expect
and deduce when I manipulate these objects,”
he explains. “And when we have a system of
operations that are compatible, we call it algebra,
and we can start developing algorithms.”
His work has applications for computer
science, where there is a demand for better
computational processes. But still, it takes
many years to apply mathematical solutions.
Bergeron points out that Google algorithms
were in fact developed hundreds of years ago.
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