A puzzle for November Earlier this month I was reminded of a lovely maths puzzle – one which I often see shared by recreational mathematicians and maths teachers, to test people’s logical thinking. The puzzle is as follows: What’s … 17. Nov 2021 | By Katie Steckles | 5 comments
The mathematics of disease: A discussion about epidemic modeling in the pandemic era “All models are wrong, but some models are useful,” epidemiologists sometimes say. Their old aphorism has certainly been proven right during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mathematical models of the spread of the coronavirus have often been … 10. Nov 2021 | By Martin Enserink | 1 comment
Infinity in your hands The Heidelberg MAINS (Mathematics Informatics Station) is an exhibition space in the centre of Heidelberg, created by the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation for people to visit and explore ideas from maths and computer science through … 27. Oct 2021 | By Katie Steckles | 3 comments
Von der Gefräßigkeit der Spitzmäuse und der Dauer des menschlichen Lebens Es war im Jahre 1962. Mit der damals neuen Substanz Lysergsäurediethylamid (LSD) durfte man noch experimentieren, und die Psychologen Louis J. West und Chester M. Pierce aus Oklahoma City versuchten mit ihrer Hilfe jenem seltsamen … 20. Oct 2021 | By Christoph Pöppe | 23 comments
Confessions of a lucky HLF videojournalist “It’s smarter to be lucky than it’s lucky to be smart.” So said 2015 Turing Award recipient Whitfield Diffie in a vlog of the recently finished Heidelberg Laureate Forum. It was HLF’s eighth, Diffie’s fourth…and … 13. Oct 2021 | By Tom Geller | 0 comments
Fun with False Proofs This year’s HLF included a fascinating discussion between ACM AM Turing Award laureates Leslie Lamport and Whitfield Diffie, written up in full here by blog team member Andrei Mihai. As part of the conversation, when … 06. Oct 2021 | By Katie Steckles | 8 comments
How Human Connection Drives the Scientific Process A somewhat surprising theme emerged during the “Scientific Vocation Revisited – Can Future Discoveries be Made by Artificial Intelligence?” session at the 8th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF). The session featured panelists Jeffrey A. Dean (ACM … 04. Oct 2021 | By Khari Douglas | 4 comments
From privacy to CO2 emissions: the implications of information technology Information technology seems to be playing an ever-growing role in our society. But while the positive effects are clear to see, the potential pervasive effects are not always as obvious. In a #HLF21 dialogue that … 01. Oct 2021 | By Andrei Mihai | 5 comments
So, what is the use of epidemiological models? What, then, is the use of epidemiological models? That was a central thread running through Tuesday’s hot topic panel on “Mathematics of Disease – the Science of Epidemic Modelling.” And the panel was an interesting … 29. Sep 2021 | By Markus Pössel | 2 comments
Dancing photons, chirpy lasers: The Lindau Lecture at #HLF21 What Read more 24. Sep 2021 | By Andrei Mihai | 2 comments
