Illustration as a Mathematical Research Technique
Workshop 1: Rigorous Illustrations - Their creation and evaluation for mathematical research
January 19 to 23, 2026 - IHP, Paris
Summary
The beauty of mathematics can often be revealed in images, models and other illustrations. The structure iherant in the abstract ideas is sometimes easier to percieve using visual spatial senses, than the linguistic tools of proof. This makes illustration valuable to outreach and pedagogy, where it can reveal an intuition that can be validated by proof. For research it opens up an intuiguing possibility where we might be able to perceive new mathematical structure. Yet, by definition, this cannot be validated by a proof. In this meeting, and through the semester, we will be asking the question of how to ensure that research illustrations are really revealing mathematical structure not misleading, even when that structure is still being formed into conjecture.
List of speakers:
TBA.
Organising Committee:
- David Bachman (Pitzer College)
- Edmund Harriss (University of Arkansas)
- Martin Skrodzki (TU Delft)
