On the Mutual Fertilization of Theory, Application, and Experiment in Math & CS Research

Abstract: Academic research, briefly stated, aims to deepen our understanding of the world and improve our everyday lives. But who sets the objectives, how is research stimulated and how does research in mathematics and computer science unfold? Having spent over fifty years conducting research in these areas and their applications, I have reached a personal conclusion: the setting of goals and the execution of meaningful research are a blend of curiosity, pure thought, hands-on applications, and well-designed experiments. Their productive interplay is a powerful source of inspiration for scientists, often leading to deep insights and success stories in practice.

In my lecture I will share experiences – surprising, successful, and disappointing – from interdisciplinary and collaborative projects of this nature I was involved in. They range from theoretical research in geometry, convexity, combinatorics, numerical analysis, and optimization through the design, complexity analysis, and implementation of algorithms, to applications in telecommunications, gas pipeline network and VLSI design, public transport, logistics, healthcare, physics, and manufacturing. I will outline these applications, discuss their contributions to theory development, and explore how theory impacts real-world practice.

Bio: Martin Grötschel’s main areas of research are discrete mathematics, optimization, and operations research. He has made significant contributions to polyhedral combinatorics, the development of methods for proving the polynomial time solvability of optimization problems, and the design of practically efficient algorithms for hard combinatorial optimization problems appearing in practice. Cutting plane algorithms for integer programming are among his favorites. The application areas include telecommunications, chip design, energy, production planning and control, logistics, and public transport. He is currently involved in investigating Maths and CS aspects of the humanities, i.e., in fostering digital humanities.

Grötschel’s scientific achievements were honored with several distinctions including the Fulkerson, the Dantzig, the Leibniz, the Beckurts, the John von Neumann Theory Prize, and the Cantor Medal. He holds four honorary degrees and is a member of seven scientific academies, including the US National Academy of Engineering.
Martin Grötschel studied mathematics at U Bochum, he received his PhD in economics (1977) and habilitation in operations research (1981) at U Bonn. He was professor of applied mathematics at U Augsburg (1982-1991), professor of information technology at TU Berlin and vice president/president of the Zuse Institute for Information Technology Berlin (1991-2015). Grötschel chaired the German Mathematical Society (1993-1994), the DFG Research Center MATHEON “Mathematics for Key Technologies” (2002-2008),and the Einstein Foundation (2011-2015). He was Secretary General of the International Mathematical Union (2007-2014) and President of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2015-2020).

http://www.zib.de/groetschel/
https://praesidenten.bbaw.de/de/063/