The arithmetic of philanthropy: Lodha Foundation to set up India’s 1st privately funded maths institute in Mumbai

Top experts will gather in Mumbai next weekend for inauguration of the Lodha Mathematical Sciences Institute, India's first privately-funded math institute

MUMBAI: Next weekend, some of the top mathematicians from around the world, including a Fields Medal winner or two, will converge in Mumbai to inaugurate the country’s first privately-funded institute dedicated to mathematical sciences in recent years. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Chennai Mathematical Institute which had started as private institutions are now part of government-run educational and research institutions.

The arithmetic of philanthropy: Lodha Foundation to set up India’s 1st privately funded maths institute in Mumbai

The August 17 inaugural symposium marks the start of the Lodha Mathematical Sciences Institute (LMSI), the brainchild of Abhishek Lodha, chief executive officer, Lodha Group.

Describing mathematics as the universal language of progress, the Lodha Foundation spearheading the initiative said: “From error-correcting codes in satellite communications to computational geometry in robotic vacuum cleaners; from encrypted electronic transactions to topological analysis in big data, what started as mathematical innovations has now become a part of daily life. Mathematics is the stem cell of innovation—adaptable, foundational and far-reaching.”

Renowned mathematician Vijaya Kumar Murty, former director of The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, Toronto, and known for his significant contributions to number theory and arithmetic geometry, will head the institute. A 12-member scientific advisory panel comprising leading mathematicians from both India and overseas will steer LMSI in the direction of emerging as a leader in both fundamental and applied mathematical research.

Among them is Manjul Bhargava, mathematics professor at Princeton University who won the Fields Medal in 2014 for his groundbreaking work on arithmetic statistics. Among the advisors to the institute are another Fields Medal winner Ngo Bao Chau, who teaches at the University of Chicago, Sourav Chatterjee and Yakov Eliashberg from Stanford and Kavita Ramanan from Brown.

To begin, LMSI, based out of the Lodhas’ residential and commercials complex at New Cuffe Parade, Wadala, will organise six-month-long thematic programmes. Bhargava will lead the first thematic programme on arithmetic statistics that is scheduled to start later this month. LMSI also plans to organise an annual Indian Congress of Mathematicians and hold lecture series on various topics in pure and applied mathematics. It’s not yet clear how many applicants the institute will be taking initially or how it will proceed to grow.

“Abhishek is excellent at mathematics and he even finds the time to teach the subject to his three children after he is back from work. When he told us (Abhishek’s father is Maharashtra skill development minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha) that he wanted to start a maths institute in the city, we gave him our full support. It was his plan that some of the world’s best mathematicians should collaborate with LMSI to undertake research,” said Manju Lodha, chairperson, Lodha Foundation and Abhishek’s mother.

It was on Diwali last year that the Lodha Group announced that it would transfer a significant part of its shareholding in Macrotech Developers Ltd, the listed company, to the Lodha Philanthropy Foundation (LPF). With an initial corpus of ₹20,000 crore (US$2.5 billion), setting up a mathematics institute was listed among the foundation’s four initiatives.

“Abhishek decided that he would contribute this massive amount from his shares to the Foundation,” Manju Lodha told HT. “Only five to seven families in India have so far done so. Traditionally, intelligent children from India head overseas to study and work. Through LMSI, Abhishek wants Indians to return and work for India.”

Professor Shrikrishna Dani, eminent mathematician from TIFR, who is also an invitee to the symposium, said, “Developments in mathematical sciences have been at the foundation of the dramatic societal progress in recent centuries, and continue to be ever more relevant in our times. Massive investment of effort and funds focussed on research in mathematical sciences is called for to stay abreast. It is important to transcend the conventional framework in terms of programmes and institution-building to achieve this. The founding of the Lodha Mathematical Sciences Institute is a welcome development in this context. One hopes that this will prove to be a harbinger for further endeavours to promote mathematical sciences in various ways.”

Scientific advisory panel

Vikraman Balaji, Chennai Mathematical Institute,

Manjul Bhargava, Princeton University

Sourav Chatterjee, Stanford University

Yakov Eliashberg, Stanford University

François Labourie, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis

Alexander Lubotzky, Weizmann Institute of Science

Mahan Mj, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Siddhartha Mishra, ETH Zurich

Ngô Bảo Châu, University of Chicago

Parimala Raman, Emory University

Kavita Ramanan, Brown University

Ravi Vakil, President, American Mathematical Society, Stanford University