The Thesis Review [15] Christian Szegedy - Some Applications of the Weighted Combinatorial Laplacian
Dec 22, 2020
Christian Szegedy, a Research Scientist at Google, delves into his journey from pure mathematics to groundbreaking machine learning. He shares insights on his PhD work, focusing on the Weighted Combinatorial Laplacian and its surprising applications in chip design. Szegedy explores the philosophical debate of whether mathematics is invented or discovered, and discusses the challenges of implementing mathematical reasoning in AI. His passion for meaningful projects over mere productivity offers inspiration for aspiring researchers.
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Mathematics: Composed, Not Invented or Discovered
- Christian Szegedy believes mathematics is composed like music, driven by beauty and practicality.
- He speculates other civilizations would discover similar basic math, but divergence is expected as the field expands.
Family Influence and Thesis Origin
- Christian Szegedy's family heavily influenced his math career; his parents were teachers, and his brothers studied math.
- His PhD thesis topic stemmed from his master's thesis, which explored Penrose's work on graph representation.
Weighted Combinatorial Laplacian and a Bet
- Christian Szegedy's thesis focuses on the weighted combinatorial Laplacian, a matrix with interesting properties related to graph theory.
- One result stemmed from a bet about a matroid, showcasing the unexpected applications of this concept.