/ Jana Winkler
Uni-Einblick at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
On Tuesday, June 14, employees and students of the University of Basel visited the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science as part of the «Uni-Einblicke» event series.
The program started with an introduction to the sections of Mathematics and Computer Science by Prof. Dokmanić and Prof. Černý: Mathematics is an ancient science. But it's also very timely since it forms the basis for numerous technical and scientific applications. Computer science, on the other hand, is a very young science that deals with the automated processing of information and has become an integral part of everyday life. In 2010, the Mathematical Institute, with its centuries-old history, and the relatively young Department of Computer Science merged to form the joint Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Basel. With the merger, synergies between the two disciplines can be better utilized.
During the subsequent tour of several floors of the building, visitors had the opportunity to take a look at the library and marvel at a few architectural features that still remind us of the fact that the building at Spiegelgasse 1 once belonged to the Basler Kantonalbank. Furthermore, the MicroCluster of the High Performance Computing (HPC) research group was shown. In two VR deployments by the Databases and Information Systems (DBIS) research group, visitors also had the opportunity to play a room escape and view exhibits from the Basel Historical Museum (HMB) in a virtual museum.
During the aperitif that followed, the visitors were able to ask some final questions and engage with professors from both the Mathematics and the Computer Science section. One feature surely did not go unnoticed: «There's even a blackboard in the kitchen - that's when you realize people around here are doing math.» The evening ended with a piece of chalk in one hand, breadsticks in the other, and the search for answers to the question of what distinguishes an «elegant mathematical proof» from an «ugly proof».
Uni-Einblicke Event Series
Numerous departments, museums, and institutions covering a wide range of topics are brought together under the umbrella of the University of Basel or are associated with it. The «Uni-Einblicke» series of events aims to introduce these institutions to employees and students and allow them to get to know the university, its partners, and topics better.