Ragni Piene

The Heidelberg Laureate Forum has a single purpose: To provide some of the brightest minds in mathematics and computer science with the space and time to make connections and find inspiration. The HLFF Spotlight series shines a light on some of the brilliant individuals attending the event.

Ragni Piene is a Norwegian mathematician specializing in algebraic geometry. She earned her doctorate at MIT and has been a professor at the University of Oslo since 1987.  She is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, and Academia Europaea, and an inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. She served on the Executive Committee of the IMU 2003–2010 and was Chair of the Abel Prize Committee from 2010–2014. She is currently a member of the Foundation Council of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation.

The pressures of academia can sometimes obscure the joy of discovery. What has kept your passion for mathematics alive over the years?

Mainly the sheer pleasure of doing mathematics. And being a mathematician is a truly international endeavour – mathematics knows no borders! I have enjoyed studying, working, and attending conferences in other countries, making friends and finding collaborators. I also enjoy the mixture of research and teaching, indeed teaching and supervising students has been a meaningful and important part of my life.

The administrative duties and committee work for my university and for other universities and organizations have also been overall a very positive experience. It has meant meeting people outside of my field and getting to know institutions around the world.

You’ve held leadership roles in major scientific organizations and prize committees. What have you learned about how recognition, mentorship, or visibility affects a researcher’s career?

European Women in Mathematics has played an important role to support women and create networks. It was started partly as a reaction to the lack of women speakers at the 1986 International Congress of Mathematicians. In 2002 I was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union, as the first woman ever. I am pleased to see how the work of IMU has developed and how diversity with respect to gender and geography is now promoted. Still, only two women have won the Fields Medal and only one the Abel Prize. It is important to use the publicity that the prizes get, for example to promote the children and young people program associated with the Abel Prize and the Inspiring Minds program of the HLF.

As one of the early women to achieve distinction in a traditionally male-dominated field, what barriers did you encounter – and what changes have you seen since then?

I come from a family with strong academic traditions for generations, also for women. My father was a mathematician, who studied in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Göttingen. He then became a devoted high school teacher and later rector of the Teachers College. So it was quite natural for me to study mathematics. Though there were few women students and no women professors, I did not encounter any serious barriers as a student, in Oslo, Paris and MIT. Being a woman may also have a positive side, namely the visibility. At algebraic geometry conferences from the mid 70’s on, I was sometimes the only female speaker. The change came slowly, but the situation is better now.

If you could go back and give advice to your younger self, just starting out in mathematics, what would you say?

In afterthought, it is easy to see that I could have made up my mind earlier to pursue a career in mathematics and that I could have had more confidence in my own abilities. But I did make two important decisions that I never regretted: to go to Paris to study for a year just after my bachelor degree, and to go to MIT for my PhD studies two years after my master degree. The first choice was mine alone (I was not at all encouraged to do so), but for the second I got support and encouragement from professors in my department.