Explaining mathematics metaphorically

Research

10/17/2018

As clear as mathematics may be, for many it remains incomprehensible. That is why Katharina Schaar, a mathematician with a doctorate from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), uses analogies when talking about her work. She has now been awarded the KlarText Prize for Science Communication of the Klaus Tschira Foundation for her contribution "Pure Mathematics".

Dr. Katharina Schaar has been awarded the KlarText Prize for Science Communication in the Mathematics category. (Image: Nikola Neven Haubner / Klaus Tschira Foundation)

What do people sitting around a table in a café have in common with left- or right-rotating lactic acid molecules? In her contribution "Pure Mathematics", Katharina Schaar explains her research work on mathematical structures in such simple images. Those structures play a role in science in order to describe the relative positions of objects – for example the position of atoms in chemistry.

Katharina Schaar has now been awarded the KlarText Prize for Science Communication and won 5,000 euros from the Klaus Tschira Foundation. Schaar studied mathematics at the TUM and received her doctorate from the Chair of Geometry and Visualization.

Technical University of Munich

Corporate Communications Center