Copy of "In Class With Harkness Fellow David Mumford '53" by Jeff Ibbotson (excerpt from The Exeter Bulletin, Winter 2007)

Exeter students and instructor Jeff Ibbotson with Mathematician David Mumford '53

A self-described science nerd while at Exeter who went on to become a MacArthur Fellow, Mumford (second from right) served up a "mathematical feast" to students in Multivariable Calculus

It was an exciting moment for the students in Math 510. In response to a student’s question, David Mumford leaned back in his chair and offered, “Well, that’s an interesting question…perhaps we can look at curvature in a different way?”

The exchange took place on a grey Friday afternoon in November. The day, however, was full of bright conversation and deep questions as students in my Multivariable Calculus class got to interact with a major figure in the world of modern mathematics, who just happened to be an alumnus of Exeter. David Mumford ’53, winner of the math world’s highest honor—the Fields Medal—had returned to Exeter to participate in the 75th anniversary celebration of Harkness pedagogy. It was only his second visit back since graduating as a self-professed science “nerd” in 1953. Mumford delivered a lively assembly that Friday morning in which he sketched the importance of both the pure and applied sides of the world of mathematical research.