As a reporter intern for www.itb.ac.id, today I had the opportunity to interview Cédric Vilani, the 2010 Fields medalist.

The Fields medal is sort of like the Nobel prize for mathematics. Apparently there isn’t a Nobel prize for mathematics – I just realized that myself, haha. So the Fields medal is an award that’s pretty close to that, and Professor Cédric Vilani apparently won it last year.

So I asked a few questions, from what he thought about Bandung to how he was able to win the Fields medal.

But it was his answer to my last question that struck me most.

When I asked him, “Do you have a dream?” he replied,

“Yes, but it’s not mathematics. If there is one thing among the most beloved things for me on this Earth – maybe you’ll find it silly – it’s orangutans. Orangutans are the most lovely creatures, I think. They are soft, and tender, and nice, and they’re intelligent. So peaceful animals, I really love them. But they’re threatened very much. Some people say they’re facing possible extinction in 10 or 20 years. This for me would be a totally dramatic event. So for me to be able to do something to save these orangtuans – that would be my dream.”

…an answer I did not expect, and a cute one at that :3