47 Lecture Series

Wednesday, October 28, 4:00 PM, Argue Auditorium, Estella Laboratory

Program

4:00pm: Improvisational Music
4:15pm: 47 Lecture
5:30pm: Reception

Mathematics has played a largely unseen role in democracy for centuries, influencing everything from how votes are counted to how political boundaries are drawn. Today, classical mathematical ideas are finding unexpected new applications, while unprecedented computational resources are opening new avenues for analyzing and improving democratic systems. This talk will explore the historical connections between mathematics and democracy and survey contemporary research at this intersection, including voting theory, districting, apportionment, proportional representation, and digital democracy. Along the way, it will consider how mathematical rigor can be brought into productive dialogue with the complex human realities of politics, an increasingly important challenge at a time of profound strain on democratic institutions. 

Ismar Volić is a Professor of Mathematics and the Director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College. He graduated from Boston University and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Brown University. His research is in topology and social choice theory. He is the author of many articles and books and has delivered more than three hundred lectures in over twenty countries. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Virginia, and is a 2026 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. His writing has appeared in publications such as The Hill, TIME, and LitHub. His latest book, Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation, won the Mathematical Association of America’s Euler Prize and was a finalist for the PROSE award given by the Association of American Publishers. The book is based on The Mathematics of Democracy, a popular course he created and has taught for several years at Wellesley. His TEDx talk which highlights the main ideas from the book, The Hidden Math that Shapes Democracy, was selected as a TED Editors’ Pick.

On Thursday October 16, Robert J. Lang, origami artist and theorist, gave a talk titled “From Tsuru to Satellites: The Modern Science of Origami.” In his talk, Lang described how geometric ideas have transformed the art and science of origami, enabling increasingly complex and realistic designs. He also showed how origami-inspired algorithms have shed light on mathematical questions and solved practical engineering problems. He illustrated his points with examples of origami-inspired applications such as safer airbags and large space telescopes, as well as intricate visuals of his own origami creations.

The lecture was preceded by a reception.

Robert Lang’s visit to Pomona College was partially co-sponsored by the Pomona College Art Department, and also included “Learn to Fold Origami Figures,” a hands-on origami workshop where attendees had the chance to fold paper with him.

Robert J. Lang has been an avid student of origami for over fifty years and is now recognized as one of the world’s leading masters of the art. He is one of the pioneers of the cross-disciplinary marriage of origami with mathematics, and his design techniques have been adopted by origami artists worldwide. He has consulted on applications of origami to medical devices, air-bag design, and space telescopes; he is the author, co-author, or editor of twenty-one books and numerous articles on origami; and he lectures on the connections between origami, mathematics, science, and technology.

On Thursday October 17, Tim Chartier, Professor of Mathematics at Davidson College, gave a talk titled “Math: The Real Matrix.” In his talk, Professor Chartier showed that mathematics is a playground of engaging ideas that can delight and inspire us. He illustrated his point by describing the many roles mathematics plays within areas such as art, entertainment, and sports.

The lecture was preceded by a reception and followed by a book signing.

Professor Chartier’s visit to Pomona College was partially co-sponsored by the Pomona College Theatre Department, and also included “Mime-matics,” a performance featuring Tim and Tanya Chartier, which explored mathematical concepts such as estimation, tiling and infinity.

Professor Tim Chartier is the Joseph R. Morton Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Davidson College. He specializes in sports analytics and has shared his expertise on media outlets such as CBS Evening News, The New York Times, and ESPN. Dr. Chartier has also worked with teams in the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NASCAR, as well as the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Additionally, he has a background in mime, having trained with Marcel Marceau, and has performed a mime show that introduces mathematical concepts in countries including Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, France, and Panama

On Thursday October 19, Moon Duchin, Professor of Mathematics and Senior Fellow in the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University, gave a talk titled “Rethinking Representation.” In their talk Professor Duchin shared insights from their research at the intersection of geometry, topology, and social choice theory. Using examples from redistricting and gerrymandering, they demonstrated how mathematical tools can reveal hidden biases in electoral maps and help evaluate the fairness of representational systems.

The lecture was preceded by a reception and followed by a book signing.

Professor Duchin’s visit to Pomona College was partially co-sponsored by the Pomona College Department of Politics, and also included “Communities of Disinterest: Redistricting, Gerrymandering, and Vote Dilution,” a conversation featuring Assistant Professor of Politics Sara Sadhwani.

Professor Moon Duchin runs the MGGG (Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group) Redistricting Lab, an interdisciplinary group of researchers working on the basic science of democracy. They help commissions and state governments collect public feedback and find better redistricting maps around the country in the last cycle, and Duchin has served as an expert in state and federal court cases in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas.

On Thursday October 20, Eugenia Cheng, Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, gave a talk titled “X+Y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender.” In her talk Professor Cheng applied category theory, which studies relationships and context, to gender, arguing that gender politics appear different depending on perspective. She also introduced the terms “ingressive” (individualistic , single-track) and “congressive” (collective, bringing things together) to describe behaviors, suggesting that society should value congressive traits more than it has before to achieve true equality.

The lecture was preceded by a reception and followed by a book signing.

Professor Cheng’s visit to Pomona College was partially co-sponsored by the Pomona College Department of Music, and also included “Redefining Woman's Life and Love,” a lecture-performance featuring Assistant Professor and soprano Melissa Givens and pianist Eugenia Cheng in Robert Schumann's Frauenlieben und – leben with a newly-created text by Dr. Cheng, written from a contemporary woman's perspective — a recasting from the original text written by Adelbert von Chamisso in 1830 describing the course of a woman's love for her man.

Professor Eugenia Cheng earned her doctorate in pure math from Cambridge and won tenure at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is a Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and is an early pioneer of maths on YouTube, with videos that have over 20 million views. Her popular math book How to Bake Pi was featured on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her book, Beyond Infinity was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2017. She also wrote The Art of Logic, X + Y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Re-thinking Gender, and two children's books. Her next book, The Joy of Abstraction, came out in September 2022, and Is Math Real? came out in 2023. Professor Cheng writes the Everyday Math column for The Wall Street Journal and is a commissioned composer for GRAMMY-nominated soprano Laura Strickling.