TESTIMONIES

Transcribing and editing the interviews for these incredible women was a very inspiring and enlightening experience. While my field of work is very different from mathematics, I felt that the experiences described in these interviews (across generations and countries) could apply to many women. As someone who has experienced considerable self-doubt as to my own career and life choices, due in part to the external pressures I have faced as a woman, it was extraordinary to see these women persevere and achieve their goals in the face of adversity. I am currently gearing up to make a career change into quite a male-dominated field, and it was exactly what I needed to feel like I could and had to do better when it comes to overcoming my imposter syndrome and taking charge of my own future.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this project.
Seira Tanaka, who transcribed 10 interviews carried out in Japan in March 2023

 

PDF files for the exhibition panels

For links to the PDF files of the exhibion in English, German, French, Serbia and Spanish please get in touch with info@womeninmath.net

 

OPENING ADDresses

delivered at various exhibition locations by Sylvie Paycha

Opening talk in Berlin on July 20th 2016
Opening talk,19 10.2016 Potsdam
Exhibition opening in Bonn, November 2016

Opening talk in Clermont-Ferrand Une place à soi en mathématique 2.2.2017
A place of one’s own in Mathematics, Cambridge April 2017
Discours d’inauguration IHP Paris, September 2017
Du plaisir de faire des mathématiques, Perpignan 22 Sept. 2017
Opening talk in Paris Penser les différences en compagnie de mathématiciennes européennes Okt. 2017
Opening talk in Konstanz, October 19th 2017 by Sara Azzali

Opening talk in Golm 17.7.2018
Opening EWM Graz Sept. 3 2018
Opening talk Heidelberg, Sept. 22nd 2018
Opening talk in Kaiserslautern October 8th 2018
Opening talk in Bratislava February 12th 2019
Opening talk in Canberra February 27th 2019
Opening talk in Geneva February 18th 2019
Opening talk in Barcelona March 2019
Opening talk in Leipzig, MPI, December 2019

Opening talk in Castellón, Spain, January 2020

 

Texts & viDeoS

If you would like to contribute written and / or video material, please contact us by e-mail at: info@womeninmath.net

November 10th, 2016, Bonn, Germany, opening programme ///// Women & Time ///// Freedom & Math ////Women and Time through the eyes of young mathematicians.

Two short audio, and audiovisual pieces related to women’s history.

Abstract Piece 1: “Gender Data Sonification ”
An insight into gender inequalities through data sonification.

Gender data was collected and processed in order to reveal gender inequalities. For example, the absolute value of the difference of boys and girls scores in educational tests is used. The data is then encoding in distinctive elements of a musical piece, such as distorted instruments or random patterns. Bigger inequalities are then perceived as strongly altered audio. Data points are presented in the screen as they are used in the musical piece.

Music & Programming
Alice Guerlot-Kourouklis & Jimena Royo-Letelier
https://player.vimeo.com/video/194002936?color=ffffff&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

Abstract Piece 2: “Women and time, freedom and math”
An audiovisual promenade, inspired by women’s history by Jacinta Torres and Claire Glanois (both Dr. in mathematics).

With the precious participation of Alice Guerlot-Kourouklis (music), E (violin), Marion Lenfant-Preus (voice), & Andreas (voice).
A timeline is split into four sections: Prelude, First wave, Second wave, Third wave. Each movement is “visually” illustrated by a female mathematician.
A log book will guide you through this journey: you will find some prime materials, facts, myths or quotes which “fed” this piece.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zKshtoPsqo4

Some notes on the sound landscape:
– The sound granulation, moving from unintelligible to distinct sentences, is intended to reflect the voice of women through history, and has been created from the quotes of or about women selected in the logbook.
– The piano is a rework (decomposed, recomposed) from compositions by Clara Schumann.-
Other source (apart from Live, Ableton) involves notably: Ms20, Theremine, guitar, CNN samples, French TV samples, Nasa samples, and violin by Emily Norton.

Some notes on the visual:
– The drawings were realised with Ink&Paper by Jacinta.
– The animations were realised with Processing and are echoes of some mathematics of these chosen women, such as the octonions, the billard tables, or the hyperbolic geometry. [This hyperbolic coral was highly inspired from Patrick Stein, Open processing.]
– The sentences displayed come from a Machine Learning algorithm (RNN, LSTM) fed with different texts about women. For coherency purposes, proof reading was required, and some permutation/transformation (automatic writing by Claire) was applied to the original text. Please be aware that these texts do not express our point of view on women’s issues.

You will find further portraits and interviews with mathematicians on the following websites:

www.europeanwomeninmaths.org/women-in-math/portrait
www.mathunion.org/cwm/people/interviews/
Women at CIRM, Marseille, France

14th General Meeting of EWM, hosted by the Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, August 25-28, 2009. You will find videos with women mathematicians under (Part 1–3):

youtu.be/QWZHe8g_RDQ
youtu.be/ojfXH83zVr0
youtu.be/OPEPt1GtEcU