The Wrong Door

Adrián Paenza
6:30 PM - July 7th, 2015

The Embassy of Argentina
1600 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009

Space is limited. Please RSVP here. 

The Ambassador of Argentina, Cecilia Nahón and the Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America, Dr. Michael Pearson and the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University have the pleasure to invite you to the lecture titled “The Wrong Door” by the winner of the 2014 Leelavati Prize, Professor Adrián Paenza.

A reception will follow this event.

Abstract: Mathematics has always been the most hated subject. Feared, because we grow up hearing that we will definitely need it for everything we will want to do, but we never understand when that time will come. We are given answers to questions that we did not ask. We are almost led to believe that we are sick because we do not see the purpose in studying why the angles opposed by the vertex are equal or even why pi should be important to us. The problem is that we are misled, we are taken to the most beautiful place through the wrong door. Like entering a palace through the bathroom. It is about time that we give math a second chance. We should begin somewhere else and try to entice kids with a different approach. Otherwise, we will rob them again and again, generation after generation, of interacting with the most powerful tool that human beings have created (or discovered): mathematics. I think the time has come to use a different door. The one we chose is not working.

Biography:Adrián Paenza, Ph.D. degree in Mathematics, taught at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina between 1979 and 2002, and simultaneously pursued a career as a successful television journalist in sports and politics. In 2003, he started a career as a science journalist, integrating his mathematical background into his journalism experience. Paenza has also been a champion of public and free education. He introduced the idea of developing a federal program for digital literacy, inspired by the program “One laptop per child”. His books are distributed in these free laptops, at no extra cost.

In August 2014, the International Mathematical Union, awarded him the Leelavati Prize at the closing ceremony of the International Congress of Mathematics (ICM), held in Seoul, Korea. Adrián Paenza has been recognized for his contributions in changing and influencing the way mathematics is perceived in the daily life. The award celebrates his enthusiasm and passion in communicating the beauty and joy of mathematics through books and television programs.