2018 – A review

Posted on By jrogel

It is that time of year when we have an opportunity to look back and see what we have achieved while taking an opportunity to see what the next year will bring. This may be of interest just to me, so please accept my apologies… Here we go: 

In no particular order:

  • I signed up with my publisher Taylor & Francis to write a volume 2 for my “Data Science and Analytics with Python” book
  • During the year I had a opportunities to attend some great events such as the EGG Conference by Dataiku or the BBC Machine Learning Fireside Chats as well as multiple events with the Turing Institute
  • I continued delivering training at General Assembly, reaching out to people interested in learning more about Python and Data Science. It has been an interesting year and it is great to see what former students are currently doing with the skills learnt
  • The work delivered for companies such as Louis Vuitton, Volvo, Foster & Partners, and others was fantastic. I am also very proud to have tackled some strategy work for the Mayo Clinic and deliver a presentation in a lecture theatre at Mayo
  • I contributed to some open source software projects
  • It was a busy year in terms of speaking engagements having delivered keynotes at Entrepares 2018 and the IV Seminario de Periodismo Iberoamericano de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación both in Puebla, Mexico. I also ran an Introduction to Data Science workshop at ODSC18 in London and an Introduction to Python at Entrepares 2018. I gave a talk about Data Science Practices at Google Campus in London. The interactive Q&A session was an fun way to answer queries from the audience. I also was a member in various debate panels
  • I rekindled playing board games with a couple of good friends of mine, and it has been a geeky blast!
  • I started a new role and still looking to get my foot through the door with Apple
  • I’ve been delving more into Machine Learning systems and platforms, learning about interpretability, reliability, monitoring, and more. There is still plenty more to learn
  • I met Chris Robshaw and attended a bunch of rugby matches through the year

Looking forward to 2019, learning and developing more.

The Year in Math and Computer Science

Posted on By jrogel

A reblog from Quanta Magazine:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantas-year-in-math-and-computer-science-2018-20181221/

Several mathematicians under the age of 30, and amateur problem-solvers of all ages, made significant contributions to some of the most difficult questions in math and theoretical computer science.

Youth ruled the year in mathematics. The Fields Medals — awarded every four years to the top mathematicians no older than 40 — went out to four individuals who have left their marks all over the mathematical landscape. This year one of the awards went to Peter Scholze, who at 30 became one of the youngest ever to win. But at times in 2018, even 30 could feel old.

Two students, one in graduate school and the other just 18, in two separate discoveries, remapped the borders that separate quantum computers from ordinary classical computation. Another graduate student proved a decades-old conjecture about elliptic curves, a type of object that has fascinated mathematicians for centuries. And amateur mathematicians of all ages rose up to make significant contributions to long-dormant problems.

But perhaps the most significant sign of youth’s rise was when Scholze, not a month after the Fields Medal ceremony, made public (along with a collaborator) his map pointing to a hole in a purported proof of the famous abc conjecture. The proof, put forward six years ago by a mathematical luminary, has baffled most mathematicians ever since.