2014-12-94

InterviewThere are, of course, no real objective criteria. The discussionsthat lead up to the decisions could easily leadin other directions. There must be a certain element ofBrownian motion. So even with the same committee, theoutcome might have been slightly different, dependingon mood.This is true and inevitable. I would say it happens everytime and is quite natural. It is, after all, a meeting of humanbeings who bring their own inclinations and tastes. Itis a matter of influencing each other. There are, of course,extreme cases, such as Perelman, when surely every committeewould come to the same conclusion. The matter is,of course, sensitive so I will not mention more names.I guess the discussions could become heated.Actually, I was a bit surprised coming from Italy; I foundthe general atmosphere rather civilised. Of course therewas intensity but never animosity. And this is true; I amnot expressing myself diplomatically.Maybe the discussions themselves were too diplomatic.As an Italian, you would have preferred more passion,some spitting of blood so to speak?This I refuse to comment upon.As I noted above, nothing really compares with theFields Medal in mathematics, in spite of there beingother much more lucrative prizes. My own explanationis that the Fields Medal bestows greatness, and ratherearly on in the career, while the other prizes merely confirmit. You are, in a way, making kings. Do you haveany comments on this?I find this very difficult to comment upon. Either I haveto give it serious thought or just ignore it. Anyway, it is ageneral question, having little to do with being on a committeeor not.But you must have some thought on it. It surely mustinfluence your attitude to the committee work.If you insist, you must give me time and accept an answerin Italian.How much politics enters the discussion? I am thinkingof balancing things. Obviously not when it comes togeographical distribution – that would be absurd – butmaybe when it comes to different mathematical disciplinesor, more sensitively still, gender balance?Obviously, as you say, there is no attempt at geographicaldistribution. In our case, two medals were awarded toFrance, albeit one recipient being of Vietnamese origin.As to the other, I am less qualified to have an opinionand would prefer to be vague and informal. I think thatin recent years there has been a tendency to ‘open up’subjects which are less ‘traditional’, such as, for example,probability and dynamical systems. I would not say thatthis is the result of being more ‘balanced’, only ‘fairer’ inthe sense that the committees are now more willing tolook seriously at a wider spectrum. And I would not callit political but cultural. That is my impression anyway.And I would not call it negative nor positive.It makes the work of a committee more difficult whenmore disciplines are penetrated.That is of course true. Still I wonder when we will see anymedals awarded to a statistician or a numerical analyst.You referred to traditional subjects. Do you think thatsome mathematical subjects not only carry more politicalor cultural prestige but are more important to mathematicsas a whole?This is a personal question.Not if there is some consensus about it. What about thegender issue?I cannot, of course, speak about the work of the presentcommittee but when it came to mine, several female candidateswere very seriously considered. However, even ifthe gender issue was considered, it was only briefly andnever taken into consideration. At least not by me. Inshort, women were considered very seriously along withmen but there never was any open pressure to try to selecta woman.And by implication, we can assume that this was thecase with the present committee?I assume so but of course I cannot speak for somethingI do not know.But is this not the general attitude of mathematicians.There is absolutely no desire to suppress women, contraryto what the outside world may suspect due to theskewed distributions. In fact, most male mathematiciansare delighted when female mathematicians distinguishthemselves, but the delight would be tempered ifit were brought about deliberately. I sincerely believethat just as mathematicians are famously indifferent toethnic and national divisions, they are the least sexist ofall scientists.It is a very general statement and also a very strong one,to which I am not ready to subscribe.Those are strong words but we all want to believethem.Maybe.Author information about Ulf Persson: see page 47.EMS Newsletter December 2014 49