Portraits Near Here

ROBERT SEELY - mathematician. "The essence of math is finding the underlying structure and pattern of all things; that gives reasons why things are and why they happen," said Seely, who has been teaching mathematical concepts at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue since 1979. "As a researcher, I enjoy looking at structural combinations to see how things fit and if they work well together. Is math hard? No, but it takes patience to be careful with the details, since math is unforgiving with sloppiness; it requires discipline, patience and the will to slow down to work things out. Math encourages patience", he said.

Photo and text by David Inglis (The Chronicle, 2001)