Mahler Public Lecture: The theory of numbers, from ancient Greece to the 21st century

Presented by ANU College of Science

Description

Join us for a Mahler public lecture from Professor Matthew Emerton from the University of Chicago. Light refreshments will be served afterwards.

Mahler Lectures

The lecture series commemorates Kurt Mahler, an eminent number theorist of the mid-twentieth century who was at ANU from 1963-68 and 1972-1988. It is a biennial tour of Australian Universities by a prominent International Mathematician, delivering public lectures, seminars and talks. The Australian Mathematical Society proudly organises and is supported by The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute.

Abstract

This lecture, aimed at members of the public interested in mathematics, will explain some of the key ideas in the theory of numbers, as developed over the last two thousand-plus years. Beginning with the theory of geometric constructions from ancient Greek geometry, and its relationship to the discovery and properties of irrational numbers, I will sketch in broad outlines how these ideas evolved, through the theory of equations and their symmetries as developed by Galois, culminating in a description of some of the contemporary aspects of the theory. My focus will be on emphasizing how symmetries of mathematical problems, some obvious but some not-so-obvious, play a hidden role in the nature of their solutions.

About the speaker

Matthew Emerton is currently a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago.

Matthew does research in number theory and arithmetic geometry. He is particularly interested in the theory of automorphic forms and their relationship to Diophantine equations and the Galois theory of number fields (the area known as "The Langlands Program'').