{"id":86136,"date":"2013-12-10T08:39:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T13:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=86136"},"modified":"2013-12-16T09:13:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T14:13:22","slug":"renowned-mathematician-jerzy-weyman-joins-uconn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/12\/renowned-mathematician-jerzy-weyman-joins-uconn\/","title":{"rendered":"Renowned Mathematician Jerzy Weyman Joins UConn Faculty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jerzy<\/a>
Jerzy Weyman joined UConn this fall as the Stuart and Joan Sidney Professor in Mathematics. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Jerzy Weyman began studying mathematics at Brandeis University in 1978, he says the field was unrecognizable from what it is today. But most people, he says, think of math as something you learn in secondary school that has never changed \u2013 and will never really change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on a plane once with a man who asked me if anything had been discovered in mathematics since Euclid,\u201d he says, referring to the Ancient Greek mathematician.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when I compare the situation today to when I was a graduate student, the amount of mathematical knowledge we have has doubled or even tripled,\u201d he says. \u201cMathematics is developing faster than it ever has before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weyman, the new Stuart and Joan Sidney Endowed Professor of Mathematics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, joined UConn this fall from Northeastern University. He brings more than 30 years of expertise in theoretical mathematics, focusing particularly on abstract algebra. He has spent the fall semester doing research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany, under the auspices of a Humboldt Research Prize from the German government.<\/p>\n

Weyman likens his work to looking for patterns and solving puzzles, most of which have to do with symmetry and what he calls \u201cbeautiful characterizations\u201d of classical groups. There are many different ways that objects and processes can be symmetrical to each other, he says, and his research gets at what describes these different kinds of symmetry.<\/p>\n

“It was proved in the 1930’s that some types of symmetries can be classified, which led to the discovery and classification of simple Lie algebras,\u201d he says, referring to a set of algebraic structures used to study the concept of infinitesimal mathematical transformations. \u201cThis was probably the most influential result of the 20th century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathematics is really present in all kinds of applications, from the Internet to rockets to TV sets.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Growing up in Poland, Weyman knew he was interested in mathematics when he started winning math competitions in 4th and 5th grade. The contests judged students by how fast they could calculate the answer to a problem.<\/p>\n

But eventually, Weyman learned that not all math problems have a solution \u2013 something that he finds fascinating.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you have a problem that you can calculate to the very end, but sometimes, you can\u2019t,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to understand that interface: the borderline between the solvable and the unsolvable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weyman was drawn to UConn in part because of the impression he had two years ago, when he gave an invited talk in the Department of Mathematics. He was impressed with the caliber of work, and says he is especially interested in working with associate professors Ralf Schiffler and Kyu-Hwan Lee.<\/p>\n

When he returns from Essen, Weyman is also keen to start teaching, which he says not only helps to develop students but also to develop his research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you teach, it gives you another look at your areas of research,\u201d he says. \u201cYou might notice something different about it from teaching it. When I\u2019m teaching, my research is more productive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weyman emphasizes that his and other mathematicians\u2019 work forms the foundation of much of the sciences and engineering: without theoretical math, he says, we couldn\u2019t send large files over the Internet, or even access the Internet in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngineers don\u2019t like to call what we do mathematics \u2013 they would say it\u2019s engineering,\u201d he jokes. \u201cBut mathematics is really present in all kinds of applications, from the Internet to rockets to TV sets.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weyman, a theoretical mathematician, was previously at Northeastern University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":86113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[63],"class_list":["post-86136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 06:02:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86136"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87048,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86136\/revisions\/87048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/86113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86136"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=86136"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=86136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}