And the occasional readers find themselves asking for more about mathematics and Landau damping (not joking)…ĭeeply gratified by their new, wonderful discovery: not only Great Science can be entertaining when it’s really great it reaches out to people’s lives. Which only says a lot about Popinga’s merits: more than simply accessible, his post makes Villani’s efforts and achievements engaging. Uncompromisingly, when it comes to scientific rigor. Strictly speaking, Théorème Vivant is a popular science book but, at the same time, it serves well as a personal journal, a memoir and a meditation about mathematical research’s dynamics and inner workings. Such are the interest and sense of waiting stirred by this truly unique figure of modern scientist and popularizer, that prominent Italian science blogger Popinga simply couldn’t wait and reviewed the French version of the book. This fact alone speaks volumes about Villani’s prestige and kudos.Īnd before I forget: he’s going to be LUCCA COMICS AND SCIENCE‘s guest of honor in 2013 ( as mathematician Roberto Natalini and yours truly proudly announced last November). Incredibly enough, and going against an established Italian tradition of wariness towards scientific books, a major publisher like Rizzoli is going to publish the book in Italy early in 2013. His book Théorème Vivant has been published last August by Grasset, with a first print-run of 30,000 and good initial sales, an impressive array of Higher Mathematics formulas and symbols notwithstanding. Item Type:Ī.2010 Fields Medal laureate Cédric Villani is a world-renowned French mathematician enjoying a media-star status in his country (where scientific culture and achievements are taken seriously). Like artists, mathematicians don’t create art to please but to communicate what they have learned.
As readers of this journal know, that is not what mathematicians think or much care about, or why mathematics gets created in the first place. ‘When will we need this?’ is pretty much a standard in any mathematics classroom (I suggest use of a crystal ball at such times), and ‘what is the use of.?’ is another. There are some questions about mathematics and mathematicians that are repeatedly and persistently asked. A review of the book: Birth of a theorem: a mathematical adventure by Cédric Villani (trans Malcolm DeBevoise, ill Claude Gongard).
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