Speakers: Nelo Maestre and Carlos Vinuesa
Image: Cristina Medrano
Date and time: 15 November 2023, 19:00
Venue: Residencia de Estudiantes (Calle de Pinar, 21-23 28006 Madrid)
Abstract: You have to be careful with what you mix. Various experiments show that when you mix two compounds that do not get along too well… things can go badly wrong! Mixing two very different disciplines, such as magic and mathematics, can also be problematic. However, that small intersection that exists between the two has its charm. A mathematician can indulge in the illusion that they know something about magic, with little effort, and a magician, that they know something about mathematics. And who is anyone to take away that little pleasure from them both? Now, mixing two elements —magicians and mathematicians Carlos Vinuesa and Nelo Maestre— who, in turn, bring together the most rational and predictable side of mathematics with the poetic vision of the impossible from magic, does seem rather risky. And if, on top of that, you get them talking about shuffling cards, the results can be utterly unpredictable. If you want to see for yourself, don’t miss this magic-and-mathematics show created for Mathematics at the Residencia: Remixed.
About the speakers
Nelo Maestre Blanco is a science communicator, magician and trainer of mathematics teachers. He graduated in Mathematical Sciences in 2006 from the Complutense University of Madrid and has developed his professional career halfway between mathematics and magic. Over the last 25 years, he has been involved in illusionism events, television programmes (such as “Comecaminos” on Spanish National Television), and research groups on this artistic discipline. In 2010 he won the parlour magic category at the 30th National Magic Congress.
In 2011, he founded the DIVERMATES project, aimed at bringing mathematics in a fun way to students at different levels, through which he has developed content for textbooks, lectures, workshops and teacher training days. He has been a teacher on the ESTALMAT Madrid project since 2013 and a lecturer in Mathematics Education at the Faculty of Education of the Complutense University of Madrid since 2019. He is the author of the book Este no es el título de este libro (2019).
Carlos Vinuesa is a secondary school teacher in the Community of Madrid and also a teacher on the ESTALMAT Madrid project. A keen magic enthusiast, he has written, edited and contributed to several books and articles on the subject, as well as regularly teaching and lecturing on it. In 2019, together with Irene López, he founded the magic book publishing house El Caballo del Malo. In 2010 he was awarded the Ascanio “Magician of the Year” Prize in the Close-up Magic category and in 2013 the Second National Prize for Card Magic.
He graduated in Mathematics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, defended his doctoral thesis there in 2010, and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT).