Hausdorff Center for Mathematics

26/05/2026

Please watch this beautiful video portrait about Gert Faltings and listen what Peter Scholze says about him and his impact. 💛

26/05/2026

Gert Faltings was awarded the Abel Prize in Oslo today. Congratulations once again to our HCM associate member! 👏Great pictures! Thank you Abel Prize

25/05/2026

Exciting!

23/05/2026

Great, thank you! 🙏

Oh, look what we got! A small mathematical lecture before the main event next week: The Abel Prize Week in Oslo. Thank you for sending us this and letting us publish it on Abel Prize YouTube channel!

As a warm-up to the Abel Prize celebration, join the Math+ Special Talk at the XXIX. Berlin Day of Mathematics, where number theory meets geometry through one of the most profound breakthroughs in modern mathematics.

Watch it on YouTube! https://youtu.be/ukQYjIfAf7Y?si=WF4zg1XM3Kkp8979
Why do seemingly simple equations lead to deep mysteries?
And how did Abel Prize laureate Gerd Faltings change the field forever?

With Jürg Kramer, president of the German Mathematical Society, this accessible talk explores Diophantine equations, arithmetic geometry, and the ideas behind Faltings’s theorem.

//
Math+ Special Talk given at the XXIX. Berlin Day of Mathematics. This is a Math+ Special Talk cohosted by the Berlin Mathematical School. It is supported by the Berlin Mathematics Center of Excellence Math+.

Photo by Peter badge / Typos1 / The Abel Prize🙏🇩🇪
A perfect prelude to the Abel Prize festivities.
Hausdorff Center for Mathematics Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung
Berlin Mathematical School

@

19/05/2026

Today (Wednesday) is Dies Academicus and we have two inaugural lectures in mathematics:

11:15, Lecture Room XII
Prof. Dr. Joshua Lam
Explain like I'm five: What is a differential equation?

In school, we all learn to solve equations: linear equations were ok, and there's a formula for quadratic equations. Somewhat later, we hear about differential equations: they come with strange symbols like d/dt, and teachers told us that they govern everyday physics, like how planets orbit, coffee cools, or stock markets crash, ..., but perhaps, just like for me, differential equations never really made sense to you the way usual equations did. In this talk, I will discuss how I overcame my fears of differential equations. I will give a brief, biased, and hopefully intuitive tour of the world of differential equations, including the works of Gauss, Riemann, Eisenstein, and Hilbert. I will try to highlight the appearance of these exotic equations in almost all branches of mathematics and science, including the study of tilings, dynamics, and even whole numbers.

14.15, Lecture Room XII
Prof. Dr. Tudor Padurariu
Curves and symmetries

In geometry, one starts by studying manifolds, spaces locally modeled by copies of the real or complex numbers. To understand a manifold of interest, such as a three-dimensional flat space or a four-dimensional curved shape, one approach is to classify special objects living on it, such as closed lines or spheres, alternatively, real or complex curves. Sometimes the collection of such objects is finite, and one is interested in counting them. Sometimes it is infinite, and the objects are parametrized by a new geometric space, called a moduli space, which is in itself a fascinating object.
Understanding the structure underlying these counts and these new spaces has been a driving problem across many areas of mathematics in recent decades, and continues to be so. In this talk, I will survey some aspects of these problems, focusing on the symmetries that these counts exhibit, related to infinite-dimensional Lie algebras and S-duality.

19/05/2026

We warmly congratulate our first HCM spokesperson (director), Felix Otto, on his 60th birthday! 🤩🥂🥁 We are infinitely grateful to him. He has shaped the HCM into what it is today.

Next week, we will hold a conference in honor of him:

"Perspectives in Applied Mathematics
A conference in honor of Felix Otto’s 60th birthday"
May 26-29, 2026

The conference focuses on recent developments in applied mathematics. Topics will include challenges from materials and fluids, singular stochastic models, homogenization, optimal transport and regularity theory. The conference seeks to create interaction at the interface of these fields bringing together international experts and junior scientists.

The list of speakers is awesome, among them Alessio Figalli, Martin Hairer and many more distinguished mathematicians:

https://www.mathematics.uni-bonn.de/hcm/events/workshops-conferences/perspectives-in-applied-mathematics

Felix Otto is currently one of the directos of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences. Our colleagues conducted and published an interesting interview with him today. Have fun when watching it! 😀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMY0tLHJZwY

We warmly congratulate our director Felix Otto on several special milestones this year, including his 60th birthday and his invitation as a plenary speaker a...

18/05/2026

Call for Proposals: Spotlight Programs

The Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics (HIM) organizes international long-term programs devoted to topics in all areas of mathematics and related disciplines. HIM’s Trimester Programs allow groups of scientists – from senior experts to early career researchers – to come together in an inspiring atmosphere to collaborate on challenging projects undisturbed by their usual duties and to initiate lasting cooperations.

Given the fast-changing nature of some fields of research and the desire for more focused and condensed collaborative formats, we have decided to expand our portfolio of programs. Therefore, as a new initiative, the HIM is now inviting applications for Spotlight Programs for the summer of 2027.

A Spotlight Program brings together a group of 25-30 participants for an intensive working period of 2-4 weeks between 16. August and 10. September to collaborate on a specific focused topic in any area of mathematics or at the intersection to economics, computer science or the life sciences. Spotlight programs can include tutorials, working sessions, talks, reading groups or poster sessions.

The group of participants should include a significant proportion of early career researchers and be assembled with an adequate consideration of gender-balance and international diversity. While some program participants will be invited by the program organizers, others will be recruited via an open call for participation.

Spotlight Programs will be hosted at the HIM villa at the Poppelsdorfer Allee in Bonn that provides the group of researchers with office space, a seminar room, three smaller meeting rooms, and all the services and hospitality usually offers to their guests. Participants will be offered fellowships, accommodation assistance and supporting arrangements for families.

More here: https://www.mathematics.uni-bonn.de/him/proposals/proposals_spotlight_programs

18/05/2026

Research Week for High-School Students in January 2027

We want to give mathematically gifted and interested students in 10th grade and above a glimpse into mathematical research that is as authentic as possible. That is why our new research week for students takes place at a real mathematical research center, the Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics (HIM) — a place where world-class mathematicians from around the world conduct top-level mathematical research throughout the year.

We are offering several research projects:

Project 1: Follow the function: fun with formalisation

A lot of mathematics is about proofs. The Lean computer program supports us with proofs: it checks that each step is strictly correct and indicates which piece(s) are still missing. In this project, we embark on a mathematical search for fast-growing functions, accompanied by Lean. After defining "fast(er) growth" precisely, we aim to find faster and faster growing functions, and to prove their growth properties in Lean.

Project 2: Using mathemathics in neuroscience

How does the brain encode and store information? When you see a face, hear a sound, or make a decision, large populations of neurons produce complex and variable patterns of activity, but how can we extract meaning from these signals? In this project, you will explore how mathematics helps neuroscientists analyze and understand brain activity. You will work with a neural dataset and use tools from linear algebra, probability and geometry to uncover patterns and make predictions about what the brain is representing. You could also explore how the brain manages to encode information reliably despite constant changes in neural activity and connectivity, or how neural connections get shaped in an energy-efficient way enabling the brain to learn. Note that this project involves working with data that can be obtained from animal experiments.

Project 3: Who Will Win? Mathematical Models for Zero-Sum Games

In this project, you will explore how to estimate the strength of players or teams based on the results of previous games and competitions. Using simulated data from fields such as chess, soccer, or online gaming, you will develop your own mathematical models, implement and test them on a computer, and compare them with established approaches such as the Elo system or Bayesian methods. In the process, you’ll experience the steps of applied mathematical research: Formulating questions, testing ideas, implementing them yourself, analyzing results, and improving your methods step by step. In the end, you’ll present your models and be able to predict who will be victorious in the next game.

Project 4: Combinatorial Identities – New Proofs for (Known) Formulas

In this project we explore combinatorics, the “art of counting”. We develop our own elementary proofs of classical combinatorial identities and also look for new identities, for example involving binomial coefficients, Fibonacci numbers, and other recursive sequences. To this end, we use methods such as double counting, counting via bijections, and arrow-chasing. As a simple example of the principle of double counting, we interpret Fibonacci numbers as tilings of a strip of n-1 cells with squares and dominoes, and from this perspective we obtain, among others, Honsberger’s identity Fm+n=Fm+1Fn+FmFn-1. In the first part we learn a range of tools, and in the second part we apply them to develop and present our own proof ideas.

See here for more information and the application form:

https://www.mathematics.uni-bonn.de/en/outreach/for-students-and-teachers/research-week

12/05/2026

Last Friday, the

🐝🐝🐝3rd Bonn Integration Bee 2026 🐝🐝🐝

took place, organized by our Mathematics Student Council and supported by the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics.

First, all participants compete in a Kahoot quiz to secure a spot in the knockout round, then exciting 1-on-1 duels determined the winner.

The top three finishers were:
🥇1st place: Samuel Meyer (middle)
🥈2nd place: Yinqing Xia (left)
🥉3rd place: Felix Pernegger (right)

Congratulations! 🤩

11/05/2026

Announcement for our Mathematical Fairy Tale Evening (in German) 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♂️🍄👰‍♀️

Am 03.06.2026 um 18:30 Uhr findet der große Mathematische Märchenabend der BMG statt: "Alice und Bob im Wunderland". Begleiten Sie Alice und Bob bei ihrem Abenteuer und helfen Sie den beiden, den Matheprofessor R. Kann-Das zu retten. Es wartet eine Reihe mystischer, mathematischer und moralischer Herausforderungen - sowohl zum Zuschauen als auch zum Mitmachen.

Meldet euch an und seid dabei:

https://www.mathematics.uni-bonn.de/de/outreach/bonner-mathematische-gesellschaft/alice_und_bob_im_wunderland