The South American Adventist News Agency (ASN) spoke with Dr. Carlos Chirre, an Adventist mathematician, who currently lives in Norway, where he works alongside world leaders in his field. 

In November 1989, Celia Lupe Chávez and her husband Andrés Chirre Vega welcomed the arrival of their third child, Carlos Andrés. From his childhood, the little one had the ways of God instilled in him by his mother. As a result, at age 15, he decided to be baptized.

Carlos, the third of four siblings, was born and raised in the Lima district of Villa María del Triunfo, located in the capital of Peru. As a school student, he had his father as a mathematics teacher, who was his inspiration, as he describes it himself. That led to math becoming one of his favorite courses.

Upon completing his secondary studies, he applied to study mathematics at two of the most recognized national universities in Peru, gaining entry to both. He made the decision to attend the National University of Engineering.

Loyalty to the test

Studying at a state university in Peru is, for Sabbathkeepers, without a doubt a great challenge, as many of the courses are taught on Saturday. For Carlos, it was not easy at all; however, he decided to remain faithful to God in keeping the holy day according to the Bible (Exodus 20: 8-11).

He shares a story as illustration: “I remember that once a required course was scheduled for Saturdays. So, that year I didn't sign up and I waited until the next year to do it. But to my surprise, the following year it was also scheduled for Saturdays. When the first day of class arrived, I put on my suit, took my Bible, and went to the university to tell the professor that I couldn't attend class because I was going to worship God at church. To my surprise, when I arrived the teacher was not there. I waited for him a bit and then I decided to go to church and I told myself that I would contact him to explain my absence.”

Despite the fact that his friends made fun of him for showing up on campus to explain himself, Carlos says that those reactions did not affect him; he preferred to be faithful in all circumstances in which could prove his faith. Days later, close friends informed him that the teacher did not come to any classes on Saturdays, as he had been fired.

“During my years of study I have seen the hand of God at all times; even changing courses that would be taught on Saturdays to another day of the week, because God listened to my prayers,” he says.

The professors came to know Carlos for his responsibility, friendship, and for being an excellent student. And upon completing his university studies, he tried to do the best he could to continue growing professionally.

His commitment and dependence on God led him to graduate with a master's degree in mathematics from the Institute of Mathematics and Related Sciences (IMCA, Peru), and a doctorate in mathematics from the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA, Brazil). These actions led him to travel and live in Brazil, where "without thinking," as he himself puts it, he would go even further professionally.

Recognition of effort: 

CAPES Award

As a new doctor in mathematics, Carlos participated in the contest sponsored by the Coordination of Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), in Brazil. To qualify for that competition, IMPA held an internal contest for the theses defended in 2019, where Carlos’ thesis was the winner. It was in this way that the IMPA nominated him as a representative in the contest, his research focusing on the interface between analytical number theory and Fourier analysis.

Gutiérrez Award

This award, sponsored by the ICMC of Sao Paulo and the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM), also recognizes the best thesis defended in 2019. 

“In particular, this award is something special, because it is given on behalf of the Peruvian mathematician Carlos Gutiérrez, who is an inspiration for all Peruvian mathematicians who have studied in Brazil,” says Carlos. “At first, it was never in my plans to participate in these competitions; I just wanted to do good thesis work, and for that, I had to dedicate a lot of time to work on it.”

A new life in Norway

Currently, Carlos resides in Norway and works alongside the Norwegian mathematician Dr. Kristian Seip, known for being a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

"My job consists of writing research articles and publishing them in scientific journals, and my goal is to find results in number theory using Fourier analysis," Carlos explains.

Reason for effort

Carlos shares some words of encouragement for all those who are in search of academic excellence: “God must be in the first place in our lives, and we must not doubt that he is always with us. A classic phrase by Albert Einstein says: ‘God does not play dice,’ but I believe God plays chess because every move he makes is always to guide us to victory. Let's trust him, and he will surely solve any difficult situation in the way we least expect.”

This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site