Jan Bouwe van den Berg is a Professor of Mathematics and the Chair of the Department of Mathematics at VU Amsterdam. He was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in 1973. After completing two undergraduate degrees (MSc) in mathematics and physics at Leiden University, he pursued his PhD in mathematics at the same university. He then worked as an EPSRC Research Fellow at Nottingham University, before becoming an Assistant Professor at VU Amsterdam in 2003. In 2007 he became a Full Professor here at VU, and since 2021 he has also been the departmental Chair.
Raffaella Mulas interviewed him in April 2023.
Thank you so much for taking the time to meet me, Jan Bouwe. It is a great pleasure and honor for me to kick off my series of interviews with my colleagues at the mathematics department with an article about you. I would like to start from the beginning, by asking you when and how you decided to study mathematics.
I decided to study mathematics and physics at the age of 17 or 18, but it was a difficult choice. I really liked mathematics and I was good at it, but I was interested in so many different things.
What would have been your second option?
I thought about studying law, like both of my parents. But in the end, I went for the challenge of mathematics and physics.
Wow, this would have been a completely different path! What motivates you in your work today?
What motivates me the most is working together with other people. At school, mathematics looks like a very individual subject; but when you start working in mathematics, you see the social component and it's great! Also, I'm fascinated by the mystery that the open problems in mathematics have. I enjoy discovering things one piece at a time.
So it seems that, together with the social component, the challenge that made you choose mathematics is what still motivates you today –this is very nice! Now, you became Assistant Professor in 2003 and then you became Full Professor only four years later. How did this happen? ... I'm asking for a friend!
Haha! Well, this is very difficult to answer for me, but I would say that it happened because I brought something new to the department, both in terms of research and in terms of teaching. I got involved in many research projects and, at the same time, I had to bring something new to courses that had been taught by the same professors for twenty years. This was appreciated by the department.
Amazing! And what has been, or is still, your main research focus?
Everything I do is in dynamical systems. But my interests have been quite broad within this area, and every time I changed affiliation, I tried to learn new things from my new colleagues. Today, I focus mainly on pattern formation and computer-assisted proofs.
How did you end up choosing dynamical systems?
During my studies, I had a professor of dynamical systems, Bert Peletier, who really inspired me. So, I chose to do my PhD on this topic, and he became my PhD supervisor. If it wasn't for him, I would have even been undecided between mathematics and physics.
Well, then we must all be grateful to him, here at the department! What do you consider to be your greatest achievement in mathematics, or what are you most proud of?
Maybe the fact that, together with a small sub-community in dynamical systems, we have really brought computer-assisted proofs to people's attention. Does this answer the question?
Of course – it's a great answer! What is the most memorable thing that happened in your life?
My two daughters!
This is very nice! And what is the most memorable moment that happened in your career?
Twenty years ago, I spent quite a lot of time working on a very challenging problem with our colleague Robert Vandervorst. At some point, after not seeing each other for a couple of weeks, we had a phone call where we exchanged our latest ideas, and our chat suddenly led us to solve the problem! This was really incredible, and after twenty years, that moment is still with me.
Beautiful! Can you tell me about a difficult problem that, on the contrary, you were not able to solve?
About fifteen years ago, I gave a project to a PhD student that turned out to be much more difficult than I originally thought. I got very involved with the problem myself, and we talked to many people about it. The student was able to successfully finish the PhD anyway, but to this day, we still don't fully know how to solve the original problem.
Thank you for sharing this story. Since we are talking about difficulties and PhD projects, what general advice would you give to PhD students?
PhD students have to realize that all PhD students struggle. This is very important to understand because otherwise, you get very lonely. As a PhD student, you typically work with people who are ahead of you with their careers, but you shouldn't compare yourself to them. I also got this advice when I was a PhD student, and it was very important for me. Don't look up all the time, otherwise, you will get neck pain!
This is great advice. And what advice would you give to Assistant Professors who are just starting to have stability in their career?
Are you asking for the same friend as before? My advice is to realize that you have already done a fantastic job to get here. It is amazing! Don't worry too much about the future steps now and enjoy what you are doing.
Thanks, my friend will be very happy to hear this! What do you like the most about the mathematics department at VU?
The fact that, if someone has a problem, everyone else wants to help. This is particularly true for teaching duties, where we all share almost the same experiences, so it is easy to help each other.
Right, I know what you are talking about. There is a very friendly and supportive environment here. Who supported you the most throughout your career?
The support of my family has always been very important. Within mathematics, maybe Robert Vandervorst again. He was an Assistant Professor in Leiden when I was a PhD student there. He was not my supervisor, but we worked a lot together. I have learned so much mathematics from him, and he has supported me a lot at the beginning of my career. So, I'm of course very happy to have him as a colleague at VU today.
I guess he will be happy to read about this interview. And what are you looking forward to in the future?
In my life, seeing my kids growing up! Mathematically, I hope I will still solve some nice problems with friends.
Besides mathematics and your daughters, what makes you happy?
Hiking on a mountain, and being a referee for field hockey during the weekends. Both of my daughters play field hockey, and this is how I got interested in this sport. I really enjoy being a referee because it forces me to completely focus on what I'm doing, and to recharge myself.
This is amazing! I hope that your daughters don't get too annoyed at you when you are refereeing their games.
My older daughter does!
Haha! Thank you so much for this inspiring chat, and for everything you have shared.