Monday 30 January 2017
Monday 23 January 2017
PETER SARNAK
Peter Sarnak, the Eugene Higgins Professor of
Mathematics, was awarded the 2014 Wolf Prize in Mathematics. The Wolf Prizes
are awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in the fields of agriculture, chemistry,
mathematics, medicine, physics and the arts. The prize was awarded to Sarnak,
along with seven laureates from other fields, by Israeli President Shimon Peres
on June 1, 2014, at the Knesset.
The Wolf Foundation noted that Sarnak is “a mathematician of an extremely
broad spectrum with a far-reaching vision. He has impacted the development of
several mathematical fields, often by uncovering deep and unsuspected
connections.” The award citation further noted his work on eigenfunctions of
quantum mechanical Hamiltonians, his work on L-functions, and the exploration
of the link between random matrix theory and the statistical properties of
zeros of the Riemann zeta function. Sarnak’s work has also had “a huge impact
on combinatorics and computer science,” according to the citation, which also
noted: “By his insights and his readiness to share ideas he has inspired the
work of students and fellow researchers in many areas of mathematics.”MANJUL BHARGAVA,
Manjul Bhargava, the Brandon Fradd, Class of 1983, Professor of Mathematics, was awarded the 2014 Fields Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics, in recognition of his work in the geometry of numbers. The International Mathematical Union (IMU) presents the medal every four years to researchers under the age of 40 based on the influence of their existing work and on their “promise of future achievement.”
The honor, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of mathematics,” was awarded to four researchers at the 2014 IMU International Congress of Mathematicians held in Seoul, South Korea. The prize committee commended Bhargava “for developing powerful new methods in the geometry of numbers, which he applied to count rings of small rank and to bound the average rank of elliptic curves.”
The IMU further wrote that his “work in number theory has had a profound influence on the field. A mathematician of extraordinary creativity, he has a taste for simple problems of timeless beauty, which he has solved by developing elegant and powerful new methods that offer deep insight. … He surely will bring more delights and surprises to mathematics in the years to come.”
–By Morgan Kelly
Five famous female Mathematicians
Hypatia
c.370 – 415
Hypatia of Alexandria was the first woman to make a substantial contribution to
the development of mathematics.
Hypatia was the daughter of the
mathematician and philosopher Theon of Alexandria and it is fairly certain that
she studied mathematics under the guidance and instruction of her father. It is
rather remarkable that Hypatia became head of the Platonist school at
Alexandria in about 400 AD. There she lectured on mathematics and philosophy,
in particular teaching the philosophy of Neoplatonism. Hypatia based her teachings on
those of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism, and Iamblichus who was a developer of Neoplatonism
around 300 AD.
Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville
1780 - 1872
Mary Somerville was born at a time when it wasn’t seen as necessary to give girls a good education. Mary was very interested in mathematics however, and tried to study whenever she could. She taught herself at home and spent time learning with friends and family members.Marys second husband William was also interested in science and encouraged her to pursue her studies. In 1827 Mary was asked to translate a book by the French mathematician Laplace and her work was an immediate success. After this, Mary continued to do lots of important research for the rest of her life. Mary was given lots of honours for her work. Somerville College at Oxford University is named after her.
Ada Lovelace
1815-1852
Ada Lovelace was fortunate that her mother Anne was passionate about
mathematics and made sure her daughter received an excellent education, which
was unusual for girls at the time. By the age of 17 Ada had met Charles
Babbage, a famous mathematician and engineer. Babbage was busy working on
developing his 'analytical engine' - which was essentially a programmable
computer.
Ada began to extend and develop this mathematical work and
even wrote what is now considered to be the first computer programme. Sadly the
analytical engine was never built and it wasn’t until the 1940s when
programmable computers became a reality. Ada Lovelace will be forever
remembered as the world’s first computer programmer. This is a very great
honour when you think of the impact computers have on our lives.
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
1820-1910
You might have heard of Florence Nightingale referred to as 'the lady with the lamp'. She is famous for being a nurse who was full of compassion and the founder of modern nursing. What is less well known is that Florence was a pioneering statistician who used her work to dramatically cut death rates .When Florence went to be a nurse in the Crimean war she used statistics to show that lots of the soldiers were dying due to the conditions of the hospitals, rather than from fighting. Florence’s use of statistics helped to show governments why people were dying. As a result she helped reduce mortality rates in both the army and at home.
In particular Florence developed lots of innovative graphs and charts which made statistics easy to understand for politicians. Before this time it was not common to represent statistics in this way.
Florence Nightingale’s work is so important that for nearly 20 years her image was on the back of the British £10 note.
Maryam Mirzakhani
1977
Maryam was born and raised in Iran. During her teenage years took part in the International Mathematical Olympiads, becoming the first Iranian student to achieve a perfect score and win two gold medals. In 2014 Maryam Mirzakhani was the first ever female mathematician to receive the Fields Medal, which is sometimes described as a Nobel prize for mathematics.
She is now a mathematics Professor at Stanford University in the U.S. and is considered one of the greatest living female mathematicians. In a recent newspaper article Maryam described how her love of mathematics grew from her teenage years onwards: ‘The more time I spent on maths, the more excited I got’
Wednesday 4 January 2017
The beauty of the concept of mathematics
The beauty of the concept of mathematics
We heard them say, “Nothing is perfect.” Well, there are two things in this
world that are perfect. One is Mother Nature, the other is mathematics. When I
say perfect, I mean it cannot get better than this.
Every day there are new discoveries that are made in nature, and in maths as well. We are just getting more aware of the truth, which exists independently of our acknowledgement.
Maths is founded on simple yet powerful elements — numbers. Numbers, just like the elements of nature, share a complex relationship with every other element in that set.
This relationship is universally valid. The equation, (a+b)2 = a2+b2+2ab, stands true on Earth, on Jupiter and even if the sun goes down. Because, math doesn’t exist in this physical dimension. It exists entirely in the human mind, it’s a mental concept, and I think this is the most beautiful concept ever made by the human mind. Maths and human beings are co-dependent to aid each other’s growth.
When we get to the bottom of it, we see that math is an abstract representation of nature — element to element, shape to shape and relation to relation. This fundamental reason suggests that maths is no different from nature. Hence, any real-world problem can be solved in maths and any maths solution is effective in the real world. Of course this statement doesn’t hold true in love and war. Those topics are out of the scope of this discussion.
What is the largest number your mind can conceive? What is the size of the universe? The answer to both these questions is one and the same. The answer is not infinity, it is zero. Yes! The size of the universe is zero, and so is the largest number!
Let me explain. For every positive number there exists a negative number in maths. For every matter there exists anti-matter in nature. This is the big picture. Therefore when you put everything together, the size of the universe is zero. Zero is thus simultaneously everything as well as nothing. That’s why it’s called a whole number. You add or remove anything from this whole, it still remains a whole.
This beautiful conception was made in ancient India at a time when the rest of the world was busy figuring out whether the earth is flat or round.
It’s really astonishing and makes me proud of the intellectual wisdom of ancient India, making such a ground-breaking revelation that changed the human thought process once and for all!
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