Christof Schütte, MATH+ Chair, Professor for Scientific Computing at FU Berlin and President of Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB)

© Felix Noack

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The latest Tagesspiegel Newspaper Supplement of Freie Universität Berlin presents an interview with MATH+ chair Christof Schütte. He talked about his career path, research, and the crucial role of mathematics in the pandemic and society. Particularly in times of the coronavirus pandemic, mathematicians would often be requested to support the decision-making process by using mathematical modeling to show the dynamic of the coronavirus and the impact of certain counter-measurements.

As MATH+ chair, he stresses the potential of a research cluster like MATH+ in which the entire Berlin mathematics community is involved. The cluster would set out to make a difference in the real world. That’s why every new MATH+ call for proposals would be focused on this goal. Moreover, the mathematical diversity of the cluster enables fascinating interdisciplinary cooperation. So created MATH+ members models of the spread of Roman culture in North Africa. Together with the ancient sciences and geology, other mathematicians simulated how the woolly sheep spread worldwide after mutating in Asia Minor in the 6^th millennium BC. And focused on current topics, Schütte continued, mathematicians could also simulate and help predict which incentive systems are suitable to help electromobility make a breakthrough in Germany, for example.

Read the entire article (in German)