Radha Kessar is a mathematician and educator working in the representation theory of finite groups, a branch of abstract algebra.
She is a professor in pure mathematics at the University of Manchester, having previously been a professor at City, University of London and the University of Aberdeen. She is the only woman to have been a professor of mathematics at the University of Aberdeen.
Earlier in her career, Radha held a Weir Junior Research Fellowship at University College, Oxford. Her career has spanned both sides of the Atlantic, and she has held positions at The Ohio State University, The University of Minnesota and Yale University. Besides research and teaching, Radha serves on the board of several prestigious international mathematics journals and has co authored the book “Fusion Systems in Algebra and Topology”.
Radha has won the Berwick prize of the London Mathematical Society, the first woman recipient since the prize’s inception in 1946. Other honors include a Simon’s Visiting Professorship at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, and an invited lecture at the European Congress of Mathematicians.
Key themes emerging out of our conversation:
- Comparing oneself to others.
- Self doubt, is this the right thing.
- Cultural differences between the east and west.
- Find something that gives you joy in the doing of it.
- How women approach things differently as compared to men.
- You can make valuable contributions, without being the most brilliant mathematician.
- Mathematics is uncovering some deep mysteries, moments of gratification are few and far between.
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