MIMA - Is it prime or just pretending?

by Mara Pompili (University of Graz)

Friday 12 Jun 2026, 00:00 → 13:30 Europe/Vienna

SR 11.33 (University of Graz)

We grow up believing that numbers behave nicely: every number can be split into prime pieces, and those pieces are unique. Simple, clean, reliable. Or so it seems.

In this talk, we’ll see what happens when that comforting idea suddenly stops being true. A failed attempt to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem revealed that some numbers only look well behave, and that one hidden mistake was enough to change the course of modern mathematics.

From there, I’ll take you into the world of my own PhD research in Graz, where I study when factorization works, when it breaks, and how this appears inside mysterious modern objects called cluster algebras.

I’ll also share what doing a PhD abroad feels like: moving countries, getting stuck for weeks, doubting yourself, discovering unexpected joy, and learning that not understanding something can actually be part of the job.