Bringing unique perspectives to problems outside of one’s comfort zone can lead to discovery.
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum’s interdisciplinary nature creates opportunities to exchange and combine ideas in the hope of delivering new, and perhaps unexpected, insights into up-to-now intractable problems.
No attendee of the Forum embodies this ethos better than Wendelin Werner. A Franco-German mathematician, whose 2006 Fields Medal was awarded “for his contributions to the development of stochastic Loewner evolution, the geometry of two-dimensional Brownian motion, and conformal field theory.” This ground-breaking research offered new mathematical tools in statistical physics for understanding and rigorously proving fundamental physical concepts, including what happens when physical systems reach critical temperature, like when a kettle boils, or how percolation works, like when water seeps through porous rock.
Almost two decades after receiving the Fields Medal, Werner continues to straddle, and chip away at, the border between mathematics and physics.
To find out how, check out the full article here: HLFF Blog
Image caption: Wendelin Werner speaking at the 12th HLF. (© HLFF)