You can think of the different fields of geometry as existing along a spectrum from the most rigid to the most flexible. And what really attracted me to symplectic and contact geometry is that it is somewhere in the middle. I find that middle intriguing, because it\u2019s very mysterious. And it\u2019s also where a lot of the most visual geometry happens. When you go to a totally flexible world, it\u2019s hard to explain why, but everything becomes algebra in a sense. And when you go into an extremely rigid world, so much depends on precise measurements. Whereas in between, visual thinking is more useful.<\/p>\n

Something else I like is that it\u2019s a very young field. Symplectic geometry has only been seriously studied for maybe 35 years, so people don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on all that well. Because of that, it brings in all these other fields and throws them in a mixing pot. And that makes it compelling.<\/p>\n