Dec. 19, 2017: Mochizuki ’88 *92’s Cracks Math Proof; Li ’99 To Head Google A.I. Center; and More

Shinichi Mochizuki ’88 *92, a Kyoto University mathematician, may finally have solved the ABC Conjecture, a mathematical problem on par with the proof behind Fermat’s Last Theorem. — The Asahi Shimbun
 
Google’s new artificial-intelligence center in China will be led by Fei-Fei Li ’99, a professor at Stanford who directed the school’s acclaimed Artificial Intelligence Lab. — The New York Times
 
Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell ’04 is expected to become the city’s next council president in January. — Boston Globe

Princeton professor Janet Currie *88, University of Chicago professor Michael Greenstone *98, and UCLA professor Katherine Meckel found that mothers living within half a mile of a hydraulic fracturing sites were more likely to give birth to low-weight infants. — The Washington Post
 
President Donald Trump plans to nominate lawyer Dan Berkovitz ’78, who worked on the passage and implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, as a Democratic commissioner to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. — The Wall Street Journal
 
As acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper ’91 has reached out to many ambassadors in Seoul to discuss the American strategy toward North Korea. — The Wall Street Journal
 
Nicholas Rasmussen *90, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, notes that the “array of information available” has reduced the amount of time needed to radicalize an individual to a matter of a few weeks. — CBS News

“In New Yorkers’ nonchalant reaction, there is a counterintuitive kernel of good news. Exposure to repeated acts of terrorism may help habituate people to terrorism, effectively defusing its intended psychological effect: a widespread sense of vulnerability and fear in a community.” 

— Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux ’11, writing about the local response to a man who set off an explosion in an underground walkway in New York City last week. Read more at FiveThirtyEight.com

Pandora Radio named former Gap and Banana Republic executive Aimee Lapic ’92 as the company’s chief marketing officer. — Street Insider
 
Former U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman ’78, University of Virginia Law Dean Risa Goluboff *03, and Ramona Romero, Princeton’s general counsel, are among the new members of the American Law Institute. — American Law Institute
 
Brandon Clifford *11, an assistant professor of architecture at MIT, is spending his yearlong American Academy residency in Rome, where he is using computer technology to re-create architectural fabrication events. — MIT News
 
Nevada state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Dan Schwartz ’72 says that advocating for better health care for veterans will be a top priority if he is elected. — Nevada Appeal
 
The Seattle Mariners selected first baseman Mike Ford ’15 from the New York Yankees’ minor-league system in the Rule 5 draft. — Seattle Times
 
Princeton economics professor Anne Case *88 explains that what she loves most in her field is that “you can follow your nose” and “discover things you never dreamed of.” — Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis