“Hidden truths permeate our world; they're inaccessible to our senses, but math allows us to go beyond our intuition to uncover their mysteries.” - Cédric Villani
Cédric Villani is a celebrated French mathematician whose pathbreaking work in mathematical physics helps us understand and predict the movement and interaction of things—from cars on streets, to gases in the sky, to waves in space. For his contributions, he was awarded the Fields Medal, mathematics' highest honor (often compared to the Nobel Prize) in 2010.
For all his intellectual achievements, Cédric believes that math is a deeply connected approach to understanding and engaging with the world – much more than a solo intellectual pursuit. “One of the greatest misconceptions about mathematics is that it’s a solitary activity in which you work with your pen, alone, in a room. But in fact, it’s a very social activity. You constantly seek inspiration in discussions and encounters and randomness and chance and so on” he said. For the mathematician, he continued, it is necessary to have both an “intense interior life” in which there is space for deep reflection as well as time in discussion with people, in community.
He embodies this sensibility fully. Far from the stereotypical image of a mathematician, Villani pairs intellectual brilliance with a striking sense of sartorial and social style. Often seen in his signature three-piece suit, silk cravat, pocket watch, and a custom spider brooch, he’s graced the covers of French fashion magazines, with The New Yorker once calling him the “Lady Gaga of French mathematicians.”
But what truly leaves a lasting impression in people’s hearts is not his intellectual brilliance or stylishness, but something much more simple and universal – his deep, genuine sincerity to connect with everyone. As The Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr observed, “He delivered brilliant, arm-flailing, passionate expositions of the beauty of mathematics and why it matters. But what really marked him out of the norm wasn’t that, or the spiders and neckerchiefs: it was his intense engagement with the world around him. He listened—intently—to almost half of the other talks. And afterwards, he talked—delightedly—to random well-wishers, stray journalists, and the idly curious. He takes on all comers, equally, with an openness and interest that is vanishingly rare in public life.”
Villani’s enthusiasm for engagement is abundantly felt and seen even off-stage. Despite his demanding schedule, he has a practice of replying to (almost!) every email he receives. Additionally, he passionately chairs Musaïques Association, a non-profit that empowers individuals with autism and other disabilities to express their creativity through innovative musical instruments.
In 2017, Villani entered national politics as a member of the French Parliament, and in 2022, he founded his own political movement, Ecologie, Démocratie, Solidarité (Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity), focusing on policies that integrate science, technology, and sustainability to address modern societal challenges. He focused on state regulation of artificial intelligence and authored the 2018 report, “AI for Humanity,” in which he posited that AI can be used for common good with cooperation and the creation of open data platforms.
His research has led to significant breakthroughs in areas like Optimal Transport (optimizing resource movement), Boltzmann Equations (understanding gas behavior), and Landau Damping (explaining wave movement in plasma) with far reaching applications in fields ranging from economics to artificial intelligence to climate science.
After receiving the Fields Medal, Villani took on a role many would shy away from—becoming a mathematical ambassador. His TED Talk, “What’s So Sexy About Math?” quickly garnered over a million views, a rare feat for such a specialized topic.
Villani has authored several books that delve into the beauty and impact of mathematics, including the bestseller Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure and the comic Les Rêveurs Lunaires: Quatre Génies Qui Ont Changé l’Histoire (Moonstruck Dreamers: Four Geniuses Who Changed History).
From 2009 to 2017, Villani served as director of the Henri Poincaré Institute, one of the world’s oldest research institutions in mathematics and theoretical physics. Since September 2022, he has been a professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) at Université Paris-Saclay. Despite his many accolades, Villani remains grounded, often crediting his collaborators: “We mathematicians are small in front of the mathematical accomplishment.”
Join us on March 1 for a conversation with Cédric Villani—a man who does not merely solves equations which explain the world, but seeks to bring its hidden beauty to light in everyday encounters.
