Title

Invidious Comparisons: International Politics, the Fields Medal, and the Past, Present, and Future of Mathematics, 1936-1966 

Abstract 

First presented in 1936, the Fields Medal quickly became one of mathematicians’ most prestigious, famous, and in some cases notorious prizes. Because its deliberations are confidential, we know very little about the early Fields Medals: how winners were selected, who else was considered, what values and priorities were debated—all these have remained locked in hidden correspondence. Until now. This talk will analyze newly discovered letters from the 1950 and 1958 Fields Medal committees, which Dr. Barany claims demands a significant change to our understanding of the first three decades of medals. He will show, in particular, that the award was not considered a prize for the very best mathematicians, or even for the very best young mathematicians. Debates from those years also shed new light on how the age limit of 40 came about, and what consequences this had for the Medal and for the mathematics profession. ​This talk will argue that 1966 was the turning point that set the course for the Fields Medal’s more recent meaning.

This event is free and open to the public.
This event is part of the New York History of Science Lecture Series.

Where

513 Fayerweather Hall, Columbia University
1180 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 

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Come join us every Thursday (Fall term) at 2:40 pm in RM 520, Professor Paul Seidel (MIT) will be giving a series of lectures about “Automorphisms and Fibrations in Symplectic and Noncommutative Geometry.”

TITLE
“Automorphisms and fibrations in symplectic and noncommutative geometry”

ABSTRACT
“In algebraic geometry, there are special theories for a space equipped with a function, or with a vector field, or a group action. Such geometric features allow one both to analyze the given space, and to introduce new objects and structures on it. Motivated by mirror symmetry, we will try to reconsider such features from the more general viewpoint of noncommutative geometry. For instance, given an algebra A, thought of as corresponding to a noncommutative space, what is a function on A? What are the level sets of that function?

Symplectic geometry provides a rich source of situations where the answer to those questions is important, and makes a difference in concrete topological applications.”

LOCATION;

Thursdays 2:40 pm, Mathematics Hall, Room 520

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Dr. Herbert Spohn (TU Munich) will be focusing on “Large scale dynamics and their fluctuation theory”

Meeting Time: Friday 3:15-4:45 pm (preceded by tea in Math 508 at 3:00 pm) and Tuesday 10:00-11:30 am
Location: Math 407 (Friday) and Math 507 (Tuesday).

For more information please visit;

http://www.math.columbia.edu/department/probability/seminar/minerva.html

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This school is intended for graduate students and postdocs who are starting to learn random matrix theory and have some background in probability. Lecture notes will be distributed in advance for preparation and tutorials and problem sessions will be run throughout the school. For further information please click link below;

http://www.math.columbia.edu/department/probability/seminar/guionnet.html

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Participants, video presentations and topics from current/previous summers can be found at the link below.

http://www.math.columbia.edu/programs-math/undergraduate-program/summer-undergraduate-research/

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A list of our new phd students can be found at:

http://www.math.columbia.edu/programs-math/graduate-program/incoming-class/

As a reminder, fall classes begin Tuesday, September 5th, 2017.

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