IMPA 50 Anos

DEPOIMENTOBLAINE LAWSONIt has been a special pleasure for me to be present for the fiftieth anniversary of IMPA. My introductionto this institution came in the Fall of 1970 following a brief instructorship in Berkeley. That encounterchanged my life in many ways, and I have cherished my memories of IMPA and its people ever since.It all happened rather unexpectedly. Shortly after my arrival in Berkeley I met Manfredo do Carmo whohad been working in an area very close to that of my thesis. In fact we had come up with some of thesame results. Naturally we talked quite a bit that year. However by the following Fall, Manfredo hadreturned to Brazil and I had begun to search for my next job — a search that at first was proving quiteunproductive. One day, to my total surprize, I received an unsolicited offer to visit IMPA. I acceptedwith delight and within months found myself in Rio de Janeiro.The place was unlike anything I hadknown. The atmosphere was so rich. In fact it was quite literally so, since IMPA was then located neara coffee roasting factory. However the mathematical atmosphere was equally unusual. Students andfaculty blended into a single group with enormous energy and involvement. They brought a uniquelyBrazilian joy in living to the institute which bathed daily life in a mixture of sunlit exuberance andintense energy. I was, as you can tell, very happy there. However, when it was over and I looked back,I was astonished at how much I had accomplished. In four short months I had written a book, solvedan old problem concerning foliations of spheres, written a paper with Manfredo, and helped with thetranslation of his classic text on Differential Geometry. Curiously, I never felt I was working.This wonderful experience has been repeated many times over the years. I don’t mean to convey that lifewas simple or easy for Brazilians at that time. Quite the opposite was true. I was profoundly impressedthat so many first-rate mathematicians — people like Lima, do Carmo, Palis, Peixoto and many others —who could have elected comfortable careers anywhere in the world, returned to Brazil to face economicupheavals, military regimes and uncertain futures. They did this in order to build a strong mathematicsprogram in their country.262