Topological data analysis: Light in complex data jungles

Michael Kerber and his team in the library. Lunghammer - TU Graz. By Birgit Baustädter - Michael Kerber from the Institute of Geometry at TU Graz uses topological methods - a branch of mathematics and geometry - to extract the secrets of complex data sets. Asking Michael Kerber a question is like knocking on a door and tearing the person behind it away from their thoughts. And when he answers, it feels as if he is opening this door and giving a glimpse into a hidden world of numbers, shapes and high-dimensional spaces. He is often to be found in the well-stocked library of the Institute of Geometry - a whole landscape of shelves and jungles of books on mathematics, geometry and topology, cut through by desks and computer screens. Here he stands together with his working group, discussing problems and laughing almost non-stop about jokes and small mathematical allusions that are difficult to fathom by people from outside the profession and which trickle through as if from an unknown world - Topology - between mathematics and geometry.