Portrait of the mathematical genius elected President of Romania

On May 26, 2025, Nicușor Dan, a two-time IMO Gold Medalist, officially became the seventh President of Romania, marking a major turning point in the country's modern political history. More than 10 million Romanians voted in the election, with nearly 54% of the votes going to Nicușor Dan.

New President Nicurso Dan of Romania. Photo: ABC News.

Two IMO Gold Medals and the Journey to Politics

Nicușor Daniel Dan, born on December 20, 1969 in Făgăraș, Brașov County, Romania in a typical Romanian family at that time, with his mother being an accountant and his father being a worker.

Nicușor Dan showed exceptional talent in mathematics from his early childhood. He won two Gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 1987 and 1988, both with perfect scores of 42/42. This achievement not only brought pride to Romania but also affirmed his position in the international mathematical community.

Mr. Nicusor Dan (bottom row, far right) and the Romanian team participated in the 1988 IMO in Australia. Photo: Nicusordan.ro.

After IMO, Dan pursued Mathematics at the University of Bucharest. Graduating in 1992, he went to France, where he obtained a master's degree from the École Normale Supérieure and a PhD in Mathematics from the Sorbonne Paris Nord (Paris 13) in 1998.

His doctoral thesis revolved around Arakelov theory, a complex field that connects arithmetic and geometry. The work was published in 2002 in the journal Mathematische Annalen, in the Q1 group.

In the late 1990s, returning to Romania, Nicușor Dan founded the Bucharest College of Sciences to train and guide talented students pursuing scientific research. In 2006, he founded the Association "Save Bucharest" (Asociația Salvați Bucureștiul) to fight against illegal construction projects and protect the architectural heritage of the capital.

In 2015, he founded the Save Bucharest Coalition (USB), which evolved into the Save Romania Coalition (USR) in 2016. However, he left the USR in 2017 due to disagreements over its participation in the referendum on same-sex marriage.

In 2020, Nicușor Dan was elected Mayor of Bucharest as an independent candidate, focusing on improving infrastructure and increasing transparency in urban management. Despite the challenges he faced, he was highly regarded for his integrity and efficiency in his work.

Interesting conversation with Professor Ngo Bao Chau

In an article in 2021, Professor Ngo Bao Chau shared that he studied with Mr. Nicușor Dan at École Normale nearly thirty years ago. Professor Ngo Bao Chau expressed his admiration for his classmate Nicușor Dan for his intelligence and revealed that he himself had been taught by Nicușor.

Professor Ngo Bao Chau and the new President of Romania - Nicușor Dan. Photo: FBNV.

On May 14, 2024, Professor Ngo Bao Chau posted a photo with the new President of Romania and wrote: "Nicușor Dan won two Gold Medals with perfect scores at the International Mathematical Olympiad for Romania before going to study in France - where we became close friends. After completing his PhD thesis, Nicușor returned to Bucharest to work at the Institute of Mathematics...

From his civic activities, Nicușor gradually became more involved in politics and ran for the position of Mayor of Bucharest. He failed the first time, but won 9% of the votes. The second time he won. As Mayor, Nicușor completed the city's wastewater treatment system, renovated the public hot water heating system, and continued to face real estate 'sharks' to preserve the city's appearance...

Last night, we had dinner with his family in the modest apartment he rented in a low-income housing complex.

"I was both surprised and not surprised by his success in politics. I was surprised because it is rare for a scientist to succeed in politics - two fields that require very different qualities, sometimes even opposing ones - as can be seen in Villani's case," Professor Ngo Bao Chau shared.

Conversation between Professor Ngo Bao Chau and his old classmate, Mr. Nicușor Dan (screenshot from video ).

Nicușor Dan's page posted a conversation between Nicușor Dan and Professor Ngo Bao Chau, a year ago, when he was preparing to run for re-election as mayor of Bucharest. The conversation revealed many interesting aspects about him, both in Mathematics and politics. This video was posted on Nicușor Dan's page.

Nicușor Dan admits that he no longer does mathematics professionally, but before that, he devoted half of his time to mathematics, until around 2008–2010. 2010 was the last time he did serious mathematics while in Paris. However, mathematics haunted him for a long time: "After that, for a year or two, I still dreamed about mathematics. Problems I had thought about came back to me in my dreams," he shares.

He has also enjoyed participating in organizing activities related to mathematics. He was on the exam committee when the Olympics were held in Romania. I also gave lectures to students competing in the Olympics. “One Christmas, I invited the Mathematical Olympiad team to participate and open the ceremony – I was very happy,” he shared.

The conversation sheds light on the path that led Nicușor Dan into politics. According to him, in 2006, when things began to stabilize at the institute, he planned to “go back to doing real math”. But at that time, a mayor wanted to build a large building in the middle of Bucharest’s central square. This event triggered the scientist’s spirit of protest.

He started protesting, then he started a civic organization. At first, the press was very interested. But then a new mayor came along, who bought the press, and he lost influence. So he started suing the mayor, 400 lawsuits, and won about 200 of them. But he realized the limits of the legal path: "But lawsuits don't change much. I spent too many years on that. So I decided to go into politics," he said.

Both Nicușor Dan and Professor Ngo Bao Chau agree that it is impossible to do both high-level mathematics and real politics. “No, that is impossible,” Dan asserts. Mathematics requires a calm, undisturbed thinking space, something that the turbulent world of politics can hardly provide.

The hardships and pressures of political work were also revealed by the new President through a memory. "One Friday night, the city was in debt, I didn't know what to do... I woke up at 4am, tried to remember the content but couldn't, so I drove to the office at 4:30am to read it again, then went back to sleep," he shared.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/chan-dung-thien-tai-toan-hoc-dac-cu-tong-thong-romania-post1543622.html