Speaker: Sylvia Nasar (Columbia University)
Introduced by: Pablo Jáuregui (Science Editor-in-Chief at El Mundo)
Date and time: Thursday 16 April 2015, 19:30
Venue: Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid
Organised by: ICMAT, Residencia de Estudiantes, Deputy Vice-Presidency for Scientific Culture, CSIC
Abstract: What is it that fascinates us so much about figures like Alan Turing, John Nash or Grigori Perelman? What does this say about our contemporary culture? Sylvia Nasar, journalist and professor of science journalism, author of two bestsellers about geniuses in mathematics and economics, delves into the figure of the nerd as a media myth.
Sylvia Nasar is the author of the bestseller translated into thirty languages A Beautiful Mind (2001, Mondadori), on which the Oscar-winning film about mathematician and Nobel Prize laureate John Nash is based. She was an economics correspondent for the New York Times and is Professor of Economic Journalism at Columbia University. Her work has appeared in outlets such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Newsweek. Her most recent book is Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius (2012, Debate).