Math Camp, Aniruddha, Artin

On this blog, it will be my goal to post information and resources for high school students (especially Indian students) who really love math and science, and really want to go beyond the narrow confines of IIT-JEE.

http://www.mathcamp.org/

The Canada/US Math Camp is held every summer. A good number of international participants attend this camp every year: even scholarships are offered. I think this is a really good opportunity for all school students to get exposed to some "real" math. Getting to visit another country is, of course, an added benefit that gives you a perspective on your culture, value system and upbringing.

I got to know about this from Aniruddha Bapat, a student from Pune (now going to class 12) who attended the 2009 camp. He also visited MIT, and talked to professors in the Physics department. Here is a small anecdote:

Me, Aniruddha and his sister, Asilata Bapat, were coming down the stairwell opening near the ATM machines in building 10 on the infinite corridor. Walking past us was an elderly man. Asilata and I nodded to him, and he waved back to Asilata - she had taken a course with him. He went his way - we went ours. After the gentleman was a few paces away, Aniruddha asked, "Who was that guy?". "Michael Artin". And... you should have seen the look on the boy's face: amazement, thrill, joy !! As if he had met one of the greatest people in this world. I saw in him a deep sense of appreciation of "academic culture". I think this emotion, if brought to every student in India, can potentially lead to us being a better nation !

Of course, having a good background in math, Aniruddha knew Artin as the author of the famous Algebra textbook, which is, in fact, given out to all the Junior participants in the Indian IMOTC (Int'l Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp - held in Mumbai every summer).