KEIKO KAWAMURO
Keiko Kawamuro and Sylvie Paycha
The joy of mathematics for me is when you’re stuck on something, take a walk, and you have a lightbulb moment, a new idea. That joy happens often as long as you don’t give up and I think it helps make up for the hardship. I’ll feel very happy. But then, of course, a new problem arises, and you need to think about it again. There’s this up and down. But when it’s up, I feel happy. You get to feel these small bursts of happiness just again and again, many times.
I think the most major obstacle I’ve faced was having breast cancer after giving birth to my daughter. I worried about my productivity going down. Since then I often think about the amount of time that I have. I want to do as much mathematics as possible, but I also want to spend quality time with my family.