Go against intuition, surprise people and arouse their desire for the unknown.
The French Newspaper exclaims, "No one can match Tadashi Tokieda in his ability to spread mathematics to the world".
1)
Tadashi Tokieda, a mathematician and professor at Stanford University, uses toys to unravel theorems in mathematics and physics. It is said that the audience is immediately captivated by the way he cheerfully begins his lecture, which could almost be called a "show", with a soup plate, a wooden rail and a large coin in his hand.
They say there are two types of mathematicians. One is the theoretical type, who picks up a piece of chalk and goes to the blackboard. The other type is someone more of an applied mathematician who uses felt pens and whiteboards.
2)
According to this biography, Tadashi Tokieda is the third type of mathematician. And although the world is vast, this third type may be unique to him.
Tokieda takes all his work tools out of empty rice cracker boxes, but the packages seem to be of the same brand.
Inside, for example, are two mysterious structures, one that rolls and one that doesn't, even though they look identical. He handles strings, rubber bands and paper clips like a magician's trick. He cuts, folds and binds paper as if it were an extension of the origami he played with as a child.
3)
At the Institut Henri Poincaré, the temple of mathematics in Paris, he took out an oversized coin in front of the audience and spun it around on a table. This is Tokieda's method of explaining the classic mathematics subject, "the singularity of finite time".
Tokieda is a professor at Stanford University in California, USA, but has been invited by the Mathematics Laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris to give a seminar once a week and is currently in France for three months.
4)
Seminar topics include "The Singing Tea Bowl", "The Probability Theory of Rock, Paper, Scissors", and "The Mystery of Evolution". Some people may be unable to believe their eyes as many topics are usually incomprehensible to the average person.
5)
But Tokieda is a star in mathematics, and no one in the field is surprised. But even though he is a star in the mathematical world, he is not the kind of brilliant Fields Medal winner who keeps breaking through the vaults of the mathematical world, like Terence Tao, who recently spent several weeks in Paris.
Says Martin Ander, professor emeritus at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. If there were a Fields Medal for promoting mathematics, Tokieda would have won it long ago,'' he said.
6)
Says Etienne Gis, life director of the French Academy of Sciences.
Tokieda's method of using simple objects to unravel the profound truths of mathematics is unique in the world; it is more a magic show than a lecture, but in Tokieda's case, he uses mathematics and physics to reveal the essence of his magic tricks. That's what has the power to attract people.
7)
From painting to language and then, by chance, to mathematics.
Tokieda's background is unique. Born in Japan in 1968, he was a child prodigy. When she was six, she had an exhibition of her work in a prestigious gallery, and it was thought that she would become a painter.
8)
Then, at the age of 14, she left for France. He says: "I was possessed by the desire to go far away. I went to boarding school in Bordeaux alone, which opened my eyes to the many languages."
He says, "I realised that people live, die and fall in love in Europe in different languages. It was a real eye-opener."
9)
He started to learn. He can still recite Lorca's poems. He then devoted himself to learning Latin and ancient Greek to become a philologist.
After obtaining his baccalaureate in France, he returned to Japan. He studied philology at university and even got his first job as a lecturer on "papyrus studies" at a university in Tokyo. He learned several European languages and ancient Hebrew, Chinese, and Braille. How many languages does Tokieda speak?
10)
"It's a secret I only share with my wife; honestly, I don't know. It's like being asked how many friends you have. You don't usually ask that question."
Go against intuition, surprise people and arouse their desire for the unknown.
The French Newspaper exclaims, "No one can match Tadashi Tokieda in his ability to spread mathematics to the world".
Tadashi Tokieda (Stanford), "magic show"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7w9kuZvg1M
A world from a sheet of paper - Tadashi Tokieda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p02DtmyQhU
