{"id":4136,"date":"2018-12-28T14:21:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/?p=4136"},"modified":"2019-01-06T02:05:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-06T07:05:53","slug":"the-best-and-worst-of-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/2018\/12\/28\/the-best-and-worst-of-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best and Worst of 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image via Flickr CC courtesy of @Morgan.<\/p><\/div>\n

We’ve made it through another year! So as is the custom, here’s a quick roundup of the best and worst things that happened in 2018. In math. <\/p>\n

Best of 2018<\/strong> <\/p>\n

There were two really exciting developments in quantum computing this year. One came from Urmila Mahadev<\/a>, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, who developed a protocol<\/a> that uses classical cryptography to verify quantum computations<\/a>. Mahadev’s result, which Thomas Vidick describes in context<\/a> on the blog Quantum Frontiers<\/em>, gives a method to check whether the results of a quantum computation are correct using only the power of classical computation. <\/p>\n

A second important result in quantum computing<\/a> came from Ewin Tang, an 18-year old recent graduate of the University of Texas, Austin. From prior results in quantum computing<\/a> it was thought that a certain Netflix-type recommendation algorithms was a strong candidate for exponential speedup with quantum algorithms as opposed to classical algorithms. But in this paper<\/a>, Tang showed that this is not actually the case, by giving a “quantum-inspired” classical algorithm. <\/p>\n

In academia, the use of Student Evaluations of Teaching for promotion and tenure were dealt a blow at Canada’s Ryerson University<\/a>, following in the footsteps of University of Southern California<\/a> and others. Hopefully this is a harbinger of things to come, given what we know<\/a> about SETs and the damage<\/a> they can do to minority groups in the profession. <\/p>\n

In gender equality news, Harvard hired its second ever female tenured professor<\/a>.
\nThe last senior female professor hire was Sophie Morel in 2009. She left the department after three years. Hopefully this will be a solid first step toward gender parity or at least non-zero representation. <\/p>\n

Worst of 2018<\/strong> <\/p>\n

A major bummer of 2018 was the dissolution of the partnership between the AMS and the MAA<\/a> to follow the 2021 Joint Meetings. Motivated by a desire to steer resources in a direction most beneficial to its members, the MAA will focus on the annual MathFest as its national meeting. This is sad news since the JMM is such a cherished institution, and also troubling since it seems to magnify the split between the teaching of math and the doing of math. You can read a more in depth statement on this decision in MAA Focus<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n

Sadly December 26th of this year marked the passing of Peter Swinnerton-Dyer<\/a>. Dyer made important contributions to number theory, most famously the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture<\/a>. Other mathematicians we lost this year are remembered in the AMS In Memory Of<\/a> announcements. <\/p>\n

And as I’ve done for the last<\/a> several years<\/a> I have an update on the status of the ABC Conjecture<\/a>, and I’m afraid it doesn’t look so good. Very broadly, a dealbreaking hole has finally been found in Mochizuki’s work, which has been under discussion for the past 6 years. The full saga is nicely told by Erica Klarreich for Quanta<\/em><\/a>. With this the ABC Conjecture can once again be regarded as open (that is, if you ever stopped regarding it as such). <\/p>\n

To everyone traveling to the 2019 JMM next month<\/a>, have a safe and pleasant journey. I’ll be there tweeting and blogging the whole thing @extremefriday<\/a>. Hope to see you in the new year! <\/p>\n

[01\/06\/19 Editors Note:<\/strong> In the original post the author referred to Ewin Tang as Edwin Tang. The post has been corrected and updated] <\/em><\/p>\n

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We’ve made it through another year! So as is the custom, here’s a quick roundup of the best and worst things that happened in 2018. In math. Best of 2018 There were two really exciting developments in quantum computing this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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