Pierre Nyquist
@pierrenyquist.bsky.social
Assoc. prof. in mathematics at Chalmers/University of Gothenburg. Mainly probability, analysis and computational methods, but I like to visit most areas of mathematics. Elected member Young Academy of Sweden. Mostly here for the science, some for the jokes
This is highlighting something that I believe is becoming increasingly problematic at technical universities in Sweden, and more generally (Swedish) society as far as education goes.
The dj on the MIT station just went on a gorgeous tangent about how this semester he’s taking all liberal arts classes, and instead of asking him to reproduce established knowledge (as in most MIT courses) they push him to think about how he thinks.
My Super Bowl MVP.
My Super Bowl MVP.
February 9, 2026 at 1:43 AM
This is highlighting something that I believe is becoming increasingly problematic at technical universities in Sweden, and more generally (Swedish) society as far as education goes.
Reposted by Pierre Nyquist
The similarities between writing mathematics and writing novels are piling up.
And the thing that will have the most value for me is that people will see my name and know that a human being worked on this book and did her best to make it the best, and most meaningful, book she could.
February 8, 2026 at 2:00 PM
The similarities between writing mathematics and writing novels are piling up.
For over a week I have been trying to remember why I had put "Blocked" (and nothing else) in my calendar for all of Monday. Today it hit me: Sunday is the Super Bowl. Once again, the time difference struggle is real.
February 7, 2026 at 10:51 PM
For over a week I have been trying to remember why I had put "Blocked" (and nothing else) in my calendar for all of Monday. Today it hit me: Sunday is the Super Bowl. Once again, the time difference struggle is real.
I guess now that it is official: excited to have joined the APT editorial board. Journal of Applied Probability is another journal that has always felt like "home" to me, so happy to be able to contribute more to it on the editorial side.
Applied Probability Trust - Editorial Board
Editorial office
Peter Taylor, University of Melbourne, Editor in Chief Research interests: Stochastic Networks, Queueing Theory, Matrix-Analytic Methods, Economic Applications, Markov Decision Proces...
www.appliedprobability.org
February 2, 2026 at 10:22 AM
I guess now that it is official: excited to have joined the APT editorial board. Journal of Applied Probability is another journal that has always felt like "home" to me, so happy to be able to contribute more to it on the editorial side.
As 3/5ths of the family has been down with the flu for over a week, I have had a lot of "free" (aka cannot work but also not directly occupied) time and have gone through lots of episodes of the InControl podcast that I had saved "for later". Supreme content for anyone in control/PDE/probability
inControl
The first podcast on control theory. inControl shop: https://incontrolpodcast.myshopify.com/
www.incontrolpodcast.com
January 31, 2026 at 9:03 PM
As 3/5ths of the family has been down with the flu for over a week, I have had a lot of "free" (aka cannot work but also not directly occupied) time and have gone through lots of episodes of the InControl podcast that I had saved "for later". Supreme content for anyone in control/PDE/probability
Managed to set up an exam problem that was at the same time (much!) easier than I intended and just horrible to grade.
January 30, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Managed to set up an exam problem that was at the same time (much!) easier than I intended and just horrible to grade.
Second time in a row I have submitted something with several hours left until deadline. Feels strange to not have the adrenaline rush of "what if the submission portal does not load".
January 30, 2026 at 10:28 AM
Second time in a row I have submitted something with several hours left until deadline. Feels strange to not have the adrenaline rush of "what if the submission portal does not load".
As I have seen some complaints (rightfully so) about the peer review system in the last 24hrs, here is an example where the process—note, ignoring all the bad parts about rights, financial stakes etc.—very much made our paper better. The paper was just accepted to Bernoulli after a first (1/8)
Large deviations for Independent Metropolis Hastings and Metropolis-adjusted Langevin algorithm
In this paper, we prove large deviation principles for the empirical measures associated with the Independent Metropolis Hastings (IMH) sampler and the Metropolis-adjusted Langevin Algorithm (MALA). T...
arxiv.org
January 29, 2026 at 11:00 AM
As I have seen some complaints (rightfully so) about the peer review system in the last 24hrs, here is an example where the process—note, ignoring all the bad parts about rights, financial stakes etc.—very much made our paper better. The paper was just accepted to Bernoulli after a first (1/8)
I know they’re sent out automatically, but how about we make sure journals do not send out review request or reminders during weekends or holidays? I know, I should not be checking my email etc., but c’mon now. You can guess what prompted this…
December 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I know they’re sent out automatically, but how about we make sure journals do not send out review request or reminders during weekends or holidays? I know, I should not be checking my email etc., but c’mon now. You can guess what prompted this…
Reading about school shooting over the years, I have always thought "but I would not happen here". Surreal to now read about a shooting at Brown—my wife and I both walking around the house in Brown sweaters—in one of the buildings that I have spent countless of hours in, right next to Applied Math.
December 14, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reading about school shooting over the years, I have always thought "but I would not happen here". Surreal to now read about a shooting at Brown—my wife and I both walking around the house in Brown sweaters—in one of the buildings that I have spent countless of hours in, right next to Applied Math.
Viktor Nilsson’s PhD defense is now on the way at KTH. Prof Luc Rey-Bellet setting things off.
December 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Viktor Nilsson’s PhD defense is now on the way at KTH. Prof Luc Rey-Bellet setting things off.
First batch of new additions to the office, some new and some replacing lost/worn out copies. Holiday reading seems covered.
December 10, 2025 at 10:58 AM
First batch of new additions to the office, some new and some replacing lost/worn out copies. Holiday reading seems covered.
Happy to be invited as a Tandem Fellow at @aiasdk.bsky.social this coming February. Will be working on large deviations, simulations and points processes with Christian Hirsch. Also great to visit Århus again, it has been too long since last time.
AIAS
aias.au.dk
December 8, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Happy to be invited as a Tandem Fellow at @aiasdk.bsky.social this coming February. Will be working on large deviations, simulations and points processes with Christian Hirsch. Also great to visit Århus again, it has been too long since last time.
🚨New work alert🚨
With (soon to defend) graduate student Viktor Nilsson we study large deviations for dynamic Schrödinger bridges using the weak convergence/control-theoretic framework. We prove uniform Laplace principles for bridge processes and combine with an LDP for the static problem.
With (soon to defend) graduate student Viktor Nilsson we study large deviations for dynamic Schrödinger bridges using the weak convergence/control-theoretic framework. We prove uniform Laplace principles for bridge processes and combine with an LDP for the static problem.
A weak convergence approach to the large deviations of the dynamic Schrödinger problem
In this paper, we consider large deviations for dynamical Schrödinger problems, using the variational approach developed by Dupuis, Ellis, Budhiraja, and others. Recent results on scaled families of S...
arxiv.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:08 AM
🚨New work alert🚨
With (soon to defend) graduate student Viktor Nilsson we study large deviations for dynamic Schrödinger bridges using the weak convergence/control-theoretic framework. We prove uniform Laplace principles for bridge processes and combine with an LDP for the static problem.
With (soon to defend) graduate student Viktor Nilsson we study large deviations for dynamic Schrödinger bridges using the weak convergence/control-theoretic framework. We prove uniform Laplace principles for bridge processes and combine with an LDP for the static problem.
Donning the gown and beret of @tudelfteemcs.bsky.social for today's PhD defence by Serena Della Corte (here together with her supervisor Richard Kraaij). Really nice thesis and wonderful defence on PDEs, HJB equations and large deviations.
November 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Donning the gown and beret of @tudelfteemcs.bsky.social for today's PhD defence by Serena Della Corte (here together with her supervisor Richard Kraaij). Really nice thesis and wonderful defence on PDEs, HJB equations and large deviations.
Roughly 5 months later, can you guess what email I had to write once more?
Currently writing an email to an editor asking when we can expect reports on a paper we submitted in one of my students first year. She is defending her thesis in two months; we have 5 year PhD programs.
September 3, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Roughly 5 months later, can you guess what email I had to write once more?
Reposted by Pierre Nyquist
Anyone in the math GR / geometric analysis communiy know anyone who's in need of a postdoc around 1 year from now and would be interested in coming to the frozen wastelands of the north? (And has/will have a non-Euro PhD)
August 30, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Anyone in the math GR / geometric analysis communiy know anyone who's in need of a postdoc around 1 year from now and would be interested in coming to the frozen wastelands of the north? (And has/will have a non-Euro PhD)
New opinion piece on the Swedish AI commission’s report and proposals, from @sverigesungaakademi.se
Försvaga inte det som ger AI dess styrka
DEBATT: Sverige har allt som krävs för att leda AI-utvecklingen: stark forskning, digital infrastruktur och en tradition av teknisk utveckling. AI kan göra mycket nytta, men bara om vi satsar på rätt ...
www.di.se
August 21, 2025 at 6:40 PM
New opinion piece on the Swedish AI commission’s report and proposals, from @sverigesungaakademi.se
Re-reading this gem more than a decade after the first time. Great for beginning students as the similarities with,
and lessons for, research are everywhere. Or just life in general really.
and lessons for, research are everywhere. Or just life in general really.
August 19, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Re-reading this gem more than a decade after the first time. Great for beginning students as the similarities with,
and lessons for, research are everywhere. Or just life in general really.
and lessons for, research are everywhere. Or just life in general really.
100% here for this.
Since it's 5 PM here, let me follow up this post with my top 10 negroni variations.
Revisiting Sutton’s Bitter Lesson in the wake of GPT-5.
August 12, 2025 at 7:42 AM
100% here for this.
Making a list of papers to bring on upcoming trips, mostly things that are not in my "main areas"—any suggestions for good papers from the last couple of years? Any suggestions welcomed; so far I have *a lot* on the overlap gap property and computational hardness (Gamarnik, Ben Arous and others...)
July 10, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Making a list of papers to bring on upcoming trips, mostly things that are not in my "main areas"—any suggestions for good papers from the last couple of years? Any suggestions welcomed; so far I have *a lot* on the overlap gap property and computational hardness (Gamarnik, Ben Arous and others...)
And we’re off! Great start but as usual too many interesting talks/sessions. And, of course, the heat. But, first world problems and all that…
June 30, 2025 at 7:10 PM
And we’re off! Great start but as usual too many interesting talks/sessions. And, of course, the heat. But, first world problems and all that…
Spending most of the week in Atlanta, anyone with rec's for where to go for food, drinks etc?
June 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Spending most of the week in Atlanta, anyone with rec's for where to go for food, drinks etc?
Chasing characters to remove in a "paper" for a class on pedagogy and it is a real "kill your darlings"-situation over here
June 26, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Chasing characters to remove in a "paper" for a class on pedagogy and it is a real "kill your darlings"-situation over here