SMRI Public Lecture: 2024 Mahler Lecture Series with Matthew Emerton 'The theory of numbers, from ancient Greece to the 21st century'

SMRI Public Lecture:

2024 Mahler Lecture Series with Matthew Emerton

'The theory of numbers, from ancient Greece to the 21st century'

Location:

University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus
Sydney Nanoscience Hub (A31), Lecture Theatre 4002 (Messel)

Date and Time:

Monday, June 24th, 2024
Lecture: 5:30-6:30pm / Canapes & Drinks: 6:30-7:30pm

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, Professor Emerton 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. His 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: 

Professor Matthew Emerton is an Australian mathematician at the University of Chicago. He received his PhD from Harvard in 1998, under the supervision of Professor Barry Mazur. Following a postdoc at the University of Michigan, and an Assistant Professorship at the University of Chicago, he spent ten years as a faculty member at Northwestern University before returning to Chicago in 2011. He was an invited speaker at the 2014 ICM.

Professor Emerton’s areas of research are number theory, arithmetic geometry, and representation theory. He is known for his work on the Fontaine–Mazur conjecture, and for his construction (with Professor Toby Gee of Imperial College) of the eponymous Emerton–Gee Stacks, higher dimensional algebro-geometric objects which parameterize local Galois representations. Professor Emerton’s research is funded in part by both the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation.

In addition to researching mathematics and advising his own students, Professor Emerton enjoys walking and kayaking in Chicago with his wife Therese Calegari (weather permitting!), reading poetry, and long-distance running.

With Moderator Dmitry Badziahin (University of Sydney)

Mahler Lecture Series:

The Mahler lectures are a biennial activity organised by the Australian Mathematical Society, and supported by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute. The tour invites a prominent international mathematician to travel to Australian universities to deliver lectures at a variety of levels, including several public lectures.

*please note that this event will be subject to recordings by a photographer and a videographer