Meet our new academic staff from the Department of Mathematics

This week we spoke to newly arrived Professor of Disordered Systems, Yasser Roudi, from the Department of Mathematics. An expert in theoretical neuroscience and neural networks, Yasser's work covers the theoretical foundations of information processing in humans and machines, building mathematical models to conceptualise and analyse these processes and the underlying assumptions behind them.

We chatted to Yasser about his unusual route into mathematics, poetry written in numbers and what he gets up to on his weekends.

What first attracted you to the field of Mathematics? 

I'm more of a theoretical physicist than mathematician in a formal sense, but I was always very interested in mathematical sciences. I think my interest was really solidified when I attended Alborz High School and through my teachers there.

From school I read physics in Tehran, and then went on to SISSA, the International School for Advanced Study in Italy. Bringing together, mathematics, physics and neuroscience together, SISSA helped to dip my toe into neuroscience and introduce the relationship between complex disordered systems and the brain. I then worked at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway. While some might view this as a career transition, this all makes sense to me as something mathematics can really open up.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about Mathematics?

That mathematicians or physicists do arithmetics or are good and calculations.

Mathematicians and theoretical physicists do make those calculations, but more importantly they develop concepts and conceptual framework. Doing calculations and even proving mathematical statements are really a part of the bigger picture of developing concepts.

Computers can do very difficult sums now; but you first need the concept of what it is trying to solve like the integral of a function; the latter is what mathematics is mostly about. Computers may at some point be even able to prove theorems that have long been remained unproven, say the Riemann Hypothesis about the properties of the Riemann Zeta Function, which is an important part of number theory. But one needs to first have the concept of a function, the concept of complex numbers, the concept of infinite sums, etc, and then come up with the Riemann Hypothesis, which may be proven or disproven.

It is the same with physicists: solving a physics problem, for example at what temperature a compound becomes a superconductor, is what physicists work on, but before one gets there, one needs to come up with the concept of resistance, temperature, zero-residence etc.

What's the biggest mystery in science you'd love to solve or see solved?

Is there a sensible way of defining intelligence? If it can be defined, how has it changed through evolution?  

What advice would you give to someone considering studying Mathematics?

I think mathematics and theoretical physics are exceptionally beautiful fields. It may not be obvious at first sight, but it is like a poem written in a language one is not familiar with: before you know the language, you can’t appreciate the poem, but once you spend time and learn the language and its associated culture, you’ll start to admire its beauty. So, my advice is to read and work hard. There are no short cuts, as there are no shortcuts in learning a new language.

What do you do in your spare time?

Play with my two year old kid, read books, watch movies and go running.