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Accolades

Claudia Fevola Honored with Otto Hahn Medal

Published June 12, 2024

© David Ausserhofer / Max Planck Society

At its annual meeting in Berlin, the Max Planck Society honored Claudia Fevola as one of its best junior scientists with the 2024 Otto Hahn Medal. This prestigious award recognizes her substantial contributions at the interface of algebraic geometry, computational mathematics, and fundamental physics.

Claudia Fevola was a PhD student and postdoctoral researcher in the Nonlinear Algebra group. She is interested in algebraic geometry and connections to combinatorics, real algebraic geometry, and nonlinear algebra. Her current research focuses on algebro-geometric questions in particle physics and integrable systems. Her thesis on “Computation and Physics in Algebraic Geometry” was supervised by Bernd Sturmfels and Daniele Agostini. Claudia currently holds a postdoctoral fellowship in the MATHEXP team at the research institute Inria in Saclay, France.

Every year since 1978, the Max Planck Society has awarded the Otto Hahn Medal to up to 30 young researchers for outstanding scientific achievements, primarily in connection with their doctorates. The medal is endowed with 7,500 euros of prize money and is intended to encourage them to pursue a scientific career.

Discover more about Claudia and her research in this excerpt from the award brochure.

My topic of interest:
I work at the interface between mathematics and its applications in physics. My works concern the study of solution sets of polynomial equations that arise from the study of two main physical objects: soliton solutions to the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation and Feynman integrals in scattering amplitudes.  My research provides new algebraic models to foster the synergy between algebra, geometry, and physics. As such, it seeks to result in significant advances in both mathematics and physics.

My motivation:
Each research question presents a narrative, and I'm intrigued to uncover the next chapter. I really want to see how the story ends. It is surprising how much abstract algebra and geometry can turn out useful to problems in physics ranging from elementary particle interactions to water wave evolution. I consider it a privilege to have the possibility of interacting with passionate mathematicians and physicists. The ideas I learn from this exchange fuel my enthusiasm.

My next professional station:
I currently pursue my research career as a postdoc at the research institute Inria in Saclay, France.

I would like to thank all of my amazing collaborators and my PhD advisors for their passion, knowledge, and competence. Their guidance and enthusiasm, together with working in a great environment like the MPI MiS, made receiving this award possible.” Claudia Fevola