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PODCAST

Math-Life Balance

The official podcast version of Mura Yakerson"s YouTube channel Math-Life Balance. What Mura has to say about the content: "In this [podcast] I post my non-professional interviews with professional mathematicians. I ask my colleagues about their personal experience in math, their struggles and lifehacks. I hope that this shared experience would be helpful for other people in the math community, especially for young mathematicians!"

science mathematics

All Episodes

01:10:04

Interview with Steven Strogatz

Math-Life Balance ·

2026/02/02

Steven Strogatz, who works at Cornell University, is a well-known math popularizer and the first applied mathematician on Mura's channel. Enjoy their chat about unexpected applications of math, befogged communication amongst mathematicians and what not :)Steven's homepage: https://www.stevenstrogatz.com/Chapters:0:00 teaser0:37 when catholic priests become useful6:35 math, philosophy & couples therapy13:23 Steven's studies on sleep21:27 Steven's insecurities in math24:21

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00:49:29

Interview with Dennis Gaitsgory

Math-Life Balance ·

2026/01/26

Enjoy the interview with Dennis Gaitsgory, who thinks about questions deeply yet answers lightly! Jokes included :)Dennis webpage: https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/0:00 teaser0:30 attending a class by Witten5:15 math vs physics: difference?9:20 doing math: happiness and frustration13:10 what changes with age17:10 non-math problems: oh no! ;)23:23 advice for getting back into math26:45 how to prove Langlands correspondence...31:49 when math doesn't work33:25 raising kids: thoughts36:00

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00:49:18

Dennis Gaitsgory and Mura interview David Kazhdan

Math-Life Balance ·

2026/01/23

David Kazhdan:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kazhdanhttp://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~kazhdan/Dennis Gaitsgory:https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_GaitsgoryQuanta article: https://www.quantamagazine.org/monumental-proof-settles-geometric-langlands-conjecture-20240719/Israel Gelfand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_GelfandGeorge Luszting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_LusztigVladimir Voevodsky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Voevodsky0:00

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00:47:48

Interview with Simon Singh

Math-Life Balance ·

2025/10/27

Simon Singh is, according to himself, "an author, journalist and TV producer, specialising in science and mathematics, the only two subjects I have the faintest clue about". In this interview we chat about various projects of Simon, from theatre festivals to math education in schools, and argue about math outreach. Have fun listening!Simon's webpage: simonsingh.netParallel project: parallel.org.ukMath-Life Balance on YouTube: youtube.com/@math-life-balanceChapters:0:00 teaser0:41 math

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01:04:42

Interview with @3blue1brown‬

Math-Life Balance ·

2025/10/10

Grant Sanderson is the creator of the coolest math youtube channel, "3blue1brown". In this interview, Grant and Mura chat about a bunch of different topics, such as feelings towards abstract math, and even hear Grant read a piece from his poem. Enjoy Grant's beautiful thoughts and exquisite English!Grant's channel: youtube.com/ 3blue1brownGrant's homepage: 3blue1brown.com/aboutGrant's poetry: 3blue1brown.com/blog/poemsThe Math-life balance YouTube channel:

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00:49:03

Interview with Jeremiah Heller and Vesna Stojanoska

Math-Life Balance ·

2022/07/13

In this interview, Jeremiah Heller and Vesna Stojanoska share their experience of combining math and family life, discuss their ways to get over occasional demotivation in research and speak about social aspects of research. Jokes included!Jeremiah's homepage: https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~jbheller/ Vesna's homepage: https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~vesna/ Mike Hopkins’ talk at Paul Goerss’ birthday conference: youtu.be/Ix4pg87LKVk Chapters: 0:00 teaser 0:34 their family and other

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00:48:56

Interview with Dhruv Ranganathan

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/12/19

Dhruv Ranganathan is a lecturer at Cambridge University, working in algebraic geometry. In this video, Dhruv talks about doing research with undergrads, being tortured by math problems, looking for friends to write math papers, and other cool stuff! Dhruv's webpage: https://www.dhruvrnathan.net Photo: from the webpage 0:00 teaser 0:41 from cricket to air planes 2:16 adventure novels childhood 4:46 what do algebraic geometers do 8:39 experience of undergrad research 12:30 how undergrad research

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01:01:33

Interview with Kevin Buzzard

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/11/29

Kevin Buzzard is a professor in Imperial College London working in number theory and formal proof verification. In this interview, Kevin shares his views on the role of computers in doing math, tells about his experience of upbringing 3 kids as a researcher and raises questions about the way we approach math education. Lots of glorious laughter and unforgettable facial expressions are included! Kevin's homepage: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/k.buzzard Channel podcast:

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00:56:23

Interview with Maria Chudnovsky

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/08/30

Maria Chudnovsky is a professor at Princeton University, working in graph theory and combinatorics. In this interview, Maria shares her personal experiences: learning Hebrew from math lessons, giving a talk at NASA, using math at her own wedding, and many more! Maria's homepage: http://web.math.princeton.edu/~mchudnov/ Photo: from Maria's homepage The essay we mentioned: W.T. Gowers "The two cultures of mathematics" https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cultures.pdf 0:00 teaser 0:29 respect for

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00:53:56

Interview with Tomer Schlank

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/07/16

Tomer Schlank is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, working in homotopy theory and arithmetic geometry. In this interview, Tomer shares his experience of advising a big group of students, speaks about the importance of embracing the struggle, and explains how to get unstuck in a math problem. Tomer's homepage: https://mathematics.huji.ac.il/people/tomer-schlank Photo: from Tomer's homepage 0:00 teaser 0:31 astronaut’s dreams 4:06 enjoying the struggle 8:27 top-down thinking 11:35

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01:00:36

Interview with Saul Glasman

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/07/10

Saul Glasman worked in homotopy theory and K-theory, and now works as a software engineer. In this interview, we discuss the hardships of academic jobmarket, fears around leaving math, and the fundamental problems in academia. Saul's homepage: http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~sglasman/ Photo: from his website #mathematician #mathlife #interview #academiavsindustry #leavingacademia #jobmarketacademia 0:00 teaser 0:44 always loved math 2:04 why left academia 8:55 the fears of

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01:01:22

Interview with Giulia Saccà

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/06/29

Giulia Saccà is an assistant professor at Columbia University, working in algebraic geometry. In this interview, Giulia gives jobmarket advice for mathematicians, contemplates some of the struggles that minorities in math get to deal with, and tells about books that resemble math research. Giulia's homepage: http://math.columbia.edu/~giulia/ Photo: Allegra Boverman Women in Math program at IAS: https://www.ias.edu/math/wam 0:00 teaser 0:27 interests in history in philosophy 6:51 jobmarket

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00:05:22

William Thurston "On proof and progress in mathematics"

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/06/22

In this [episode], I read a piece from Thurston's essay "On proof and progress in mathematics", where he reflects on the importance of seeing mathematicians' progress and contributions much broader than just in proving new theorems. William Thurston on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thurston Cover photo: from this Wikipedia page The full essay: https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/9404236.pdf Thurston's lecture "Knots to Narnia": https://youtu.be/IKSrBt2kFD4 Thurston's answer on

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00:10:08

How to become the worst researcher in the world

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/06/22

This sarcastic [episode] is dedicated to my family and all my friends of the last 10 years. They will see why. A special thanks to Nicole R. for the help with the video(s)! And to my brother for the T-shirt: there’s a tiny cute bug that says "I have giant problems". 0:00 Prologue 0:53 Inclusivity statement 1:24 How to build an abusive relationship with your research 3:00 How to suffer from doing research 5:10 How to be unproductive 7:01 How to compare yourself with others 8:38 How to feel worse

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00:51:57

Interview with Irakli Patchkoria

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/05/30

Irakli Patchkoria is a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, working in homotopy theory. In this interview, he speaks about math-tennis balance, shares his experience of moving from Georgia to Western Europe and admits taking part in illegal actions on university exams. Irakli's homepage: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/irakli.patchkoria Photo: Irakli's private photo collection 0:00 teaser 1:13 epic story of family math 6:21 father’s advice 10:25 don’t work too much 14:41 experience in

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00:56:42

Interview with Peter Scholze

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/05/22

Peter Scholze is a professor in Bonn University, working in number theory and arithmetic geometry. In this interview, we chat about the pressure of the Fields medal, discuss the pain of writing math papers and argue about math. Peter's homepage: http://www.math.uni-bonn.de/people/scholze/ Photo: Hausdorff Center for Mathematics / Barbara Frommann Merkurjev's lecture on the proof of Bloch-Kato conjecture: https://youtu.be/bUaWCOtBUHs 0:00 proof or relatability 0:58 influence of the background 2:50

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01:01:15

Interview with Ravi Vakil

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/05/08

Ravi Vakil is a professor at Stanford University, working in algebraic geometry. In this interview, Ravi talks about the importance of a community for learning math, discusses the ways of learning to be creative at math and shares how considering other career options helped him to be happier as a mathematician. A clarification for Ravi's comment on the situation with math in USSR: Due to deep-rooted antisemitism in the Soviet Union, the admission of ethnically Jewish mathematicians into top

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00:56:46

Interview with Max Karoubi

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/05/05

Max Karoubi is a Professor Emmeritus at the University of Paris 7, working in K-theory and algebraic topology. In this interview, Max shares warm memories about Grothendieck and the Bourbaki group, discusses math studies in Northern Africa and highly recommends doing research in collaborations. Max' webpage: https://webusers.imj-prg.fr/~max.karoubi/ Photo: from Max' webpage 0:00 teaser 0:43 getting into math in Northern Africa 5:33 getting a family helped to do math 9:12 PhD under Cartan and

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01:02:30

Interview with Mariana Smit Vega Garcia

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/04/17

Mariana Smit Vega Garcia is an Assistant Professor at Western Washington University, working in geometric analysis and partial differential equations. In this interview, Mariana speaks, among other things, about her math-life balance, the experience of representing different minorities and the joy of teaching mathematics. In addition: lots of friendly advice for undergrads! Mariana's webpage: http://faculty.wwu.edu/smitvem/ Photo: from Mariana's webpage 0:00 teaser 0:44 didn’t want to be a

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01:02:50

Interview with Richard Thomas

Math-Life Balance ·

2021/04/10

Richard Thomas is a professor at Imperial College London, working in algebraic geometry and mirror symmetry. In this interview, Richard speaks about math education for kids, contemplates the process of doing research and gives plenty of good advice for PhD students. Richard's webpage: http://wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/~rpwt/ Photo: Richard's wikipedia page Interview with Richard Thomas 0:00 teaser 0:30 non-linear way in math 3:14 the mystery of mathematicians 6:55 kids' attitude to math

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30 results

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