Mathematics

Using applied mathematics, Yunan Yang finds solutions to the inverse problems that arise in seismology, weather forecasts, and machine learning. The key to her success is something called optimal transport.

Professor of number theory Maryna Viazovska has solved a mathematical problem that has stumped researchers for centuries. Using a creative approach and the knowledge gained in her dissertation work, she demonstrates how spheres can be optimally and symmetrically packed into multidimensional space in a manner that fills all available space. This achievement brought her recognition with the Fields Medal, which is something like a “Nobel Prize for Mathematics”.

EPFL researchers have developed a novel approach to network analysis that allows them to reveal and interpret, for the first time, interactions among multiple variables in data from neuroscience, economics, and epidemiology.

Annalisa Manera’s career has taken her through half of Europe and to the USA. Now she is a nuclear researcher at PSI and a professor at ETH Zurich. She exudes enthusiasm for her subject and never loses sight of the big picture.

How does water seep through porous rock? Investigating this question with a mathematical model was the starting point for Barbara Dembin’s research. The mathematician is generating new insights in what is known as percolation theory.

He investigates the mysteries of shapes and curvature in higher dimensions: mathematician Alessandro Carlotto will receive the 2022 ETH Zurich Latsis Prize for his original research at the frontier of mathematics and physics.