Never would I have imagined that mathematical curves like the graph of the exponential function would gain such importance for the wider public. I am less surprised that people find it difficult to interpret them and that they underestimate the danger so clearly signaled by their rapid growth. On my long way from the first day in school in a small town in Bavaria to a chair for mathematics at the University of Bern in Switzerland I was accompanied by stereotypes about a subject without which no modern society could live in health, security and prosperity and which, at the same time, is disregarded so much. Like most scientists I have also been accompanied by a lack of understanding for a profession that puts pure gain of knowledge and basic research above economical gain of profit and social prestige.

On March 3, 2020, when most people in Switzerland and in many other countries were still living their normal lives, for the first time ever in my university career, I stood in front of a ghostly empty big lecture hall in the building of Exact Sciences of the University of Bern. Usually, this hall is filled with more than 200 students of mathematics, physics and computer science whom I introduce into the abstract world of mathematical analysis. The transition of such large size lectures to online teaching had to be implemented over the weekend before, from Friday night to Monday morning. The transition of all other courses took place two weeks later, equally quickly, after the Swiss government’s decision on March 13 to shut down schools, universities and large parts of public life to prevent the spread of the novel corona virus. Nobody would have ever expected that centuries-old traditional institutions such as universities react so rapidly and efficiently to an unexpected crisis of this dimension.

Neither in the empty benches of the lecture hall of my ‘Analysis 2’ course nor in the screen of my laptop in my other course ‘Mathematics for Dara Science’ I could see interested faces or doubtful eyes from which I could guess where an additional explanation was needed. On the other hand, it was never easier to find timely examples and convincing applications for the topics of these lectures. In the analysis course I had just started a new topic, differential equations – which describe not only physical processes, but also the spread of epidemics. The solution of the simplest of all differential equations y’=cy with positive constant c exhibit exponential growth which also dominates the dramatic start of epidemics. The entire development of epidemiological events in time can be described, forecast and simulated by sophisticated mathematical models, e.g. to test the efficacy of political decisions to stop the spread before implementing them. All these tools have been developed over decades, driven by human curiosity and the ambition to unveil the secrets and laws of the universe, nature and live.

To study, model and control the spread of infectious diseases in our modern complex networks of worldwide mobile individuals many more tools are needed beyond the understanding of exponential growth. Mathematics offers a lot of them, including graph theory, spectral theory, probability theory and statistics. Will it still be socially acceptable to freely admit or even suggest that one was always bad in math after this crisis? Or should one, instead, rather dare to understand the seemingly incomprehensible? Why not give it a try with exponential growth, e.g. on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kas0tIxDvrg&feature=emb_title by 3blue1brown, a YouTube channel for `Animated Math'’ – not only for adults … .

While teaching changed rapidly and radically for all, the effects of the crisis on research differ substantially. Subjects where experiments and excursions are central have been badly hit by the lock-downs of universities. Scientists directly working in COVID19 related fields have been exposed to huge pressure from all sides to produce results and, at the same time, sometimes to unfair attacks which reveal the complete ignorance of how science and scientists work. Researchers in mathematics like me were luckier since we were not cut off from the basic infrastructures for our research: a powerful brain, a laptop or computer with fast internet connection and online access to international scientific journals and library resources. Whatever the circumstances or subject, and with the same worries about our loved ones at home, we have all continued to educate students and future scientists and to do our research quietly, almost unnoticed by the public.

My working days during the shutdown started early and ended very late, even later than usual. During the week, as director of the Mathematical Institute, I could spend them in the empty building of Exact Sciences where, in normal times, it is hard to concentrate on inventing difficult mathematical proofs, writing grant proposals or advancing joint research projects with international collaborators. In mathematics the almost unlimited means of communication around the globe already started to revolutionize research some decades ago. Hardly anyone these days works alone because it is simply more fun to work together – smashing yet another cliché. In the present crisis communication with colleagues all over the world has seen a further peak.

Yet, some essential things are missing, not only personal encounters such as meeting my research group for a coffee in my office, lively discussions and joint experiences at international conferences and workshops. In my work as Editor-in-Chief of a scientific journal, the dimension of this pandemic both in space and time became obvious to me very early when reading between the lines of the emails of authors or referees from China, and later from Italy, Spain or the UK. I have always been prepared to wait at least a year until anything else than discipline can come to our rescue against the new virus. Some things that we will have to miss for longer are not necessary for life, but still needed, especially in times of extreme workloads. These non-essential human needs are very personal. On February 11, 2020, after my last ‘real’ talk in the mathematical colloquium at University College London and its preparation the days before, though being tired, I went to see an opera in Covent Garden in the evening – something I did not have a chance to do when I was younger. Sometimes, when I listen to music now, it makes me very sad not to know when this will be possible again and, immediately, I dismiss this thought remembering the heart-breaking pictures from hospitals flooded with patients fighting for their lives … but after a while hope returns.

Having the stamina to wait long for results and success, to pursue a chosen path consequently, to sacrifice a lot for a distant goal, to endure psychologically difficult situations, and to share knowledge free of purpose and happily with others,: maybe it is these qualities of researchers and people in academia - which cannot be measured by any evaluation - that have been carrying universities through this crisis so successfully and that will eventually bring us the desired vaccine or cure for COVID19?

This text is an updated version of a text published in German on April 28, 2020, at https://www.unibe.ch/universitaet_bern_in_zeiten_coronas/carte_blanche/christiane_tretter/index_ger.html by the University of Bern, Switzerland.

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Christiane Tretter