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News 2010
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Image courtesy of the City University of New York
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Image courtesy of Harvard University
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Dennis P. Sullivan (far left) and Shing-Tung Yau (left) have been selected to receive the 2010 Wolf Prize in Mathematics. Sullivan, who has joint appointments at the City University of New York and at Stony Brook University, has used his geometric insights to make fundamental contributions to diverse branches of mathematics, including homotopy theory, dynamical systems, and low-dimensional topology. Known as much for his specific results as for his cohesive vision of mathematics, Sullivan has been responsible for the recent emergence of conformal dynamics as a lively area of research and for the launching of the field of string topology. He received the AMS Veblen Prize in 1971 and the AMS Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2006. Yau, of Harvard University, is one of the pioneers of the applications of nonlinear analysis in differential geometry. Together with his students and collaborators, he is responsible for a large part of the progress in geometric analysis over the last 30 years. His results and ideas in this area have been very influential in many branches of geometry and in mathematical physics. Yau received the AMS Veblen Prize in 1981 and the Fields Medal in 1982. Sullivan and Yau will share the US$100,000 Wolf Prize, which will be presented at a ceremony in Israel in May 2010. [Item posted 2/4/10] |
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Arthur Benjamin (Harvey Mudd College) was the featured guest on the January 27 episode of The Colbert Report. He did some fast mental calculations involving squares of three-digit numbers and answered Colbert's question, "Why does math matter?" Benjamin said that there is a practical reason and a beautiful reason (although he didn't get much time for the latter): "The practical reason is the Department of Education has studies that have shown that the single best predictor of a person's total lifetime potential income is the number of math courses that they've taken in college." See the entire segment (you have to endure a 30-second ad first). (Photo: Richard Faverty/Beckett Studios.) [Item posted 1/28/10] |
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Robert Bosch, Artist/Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Oberlin College, has been awarded the Mathematical Art Exhibition First Prize for his work, "Embrace." The award was made at the 2010 Joint Mathematics Meetings held in San Francisco last week. Bosch's "Embrace" (2009) is made from stainless steel and brass, diameter 6 inches, thickness 0.25 inches. He describes his work in the exhibition catalog: "I began by converting a drawing of a two-component link into a symmetric collection of points. By treating the points as the cities of a Traveling Salesman Problem and adding constraints that forced the salesman's tour to be symmetric, I constructed a symmetric simple-closed curve that divides the plane into two pieces: inside and outside. With a water jet cutter, I cut along this Jordan curve through quarter-inch thick, six-inch diameter disks of steel and brass. By swapping inside pieces I obtained two copies of the sculpture. Here, steel is inside and brass is outside... After I get an idea for a piece, I translate the idea into a mathematical optimization problem. I then solve the problem, render the solution, and see if I'm pleased with the result. If I am, I stop. If not, I revise the mathematical optimization problem, solve it, render its solution, and examine it. Often, I need to go through many iterations to end up with a piece that pleases me. I do this out of a love of mathematical optimization--the theory, the algorithms, the numerous applications." |
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Second Prize was awarded for "The Vase" (giclee Print. 18" x 14.8", 2009), by Harry Benke, Artist / Mathematician, Visual Impact Analysis LLC,
Novato, CA, and Third Prize for "Meditations on f(x,y) = x2/2 + xy/2 - y4/8" (plastic and wood, two pieces, each 6"x7"x7", 1998), by Richard Werner, Mathematics Professor, Mathematics Department, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA.
The Mathematical Art Exhibition Prize "for aesthetically pleasing works that combine mathematics and art" was established in 2008 through an endowment provided to the American Mathematical Society by an anonymous donor who wishes to acknowledge those whose works demonstrate the beauty and elegance of mathematics expressed in a visual art form. The Mathematics Art Exhibition, including juried works in various media by 62 artists, was held at the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and Mathematical Association of America (MAA). [Item posted 1/22/10]
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Edward B. Burger, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Gaudino Scholar at Williams College, has been named the 2010 recipient of the $200,000 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. Burger is the author or co-author of more than 30 research articles and 21 books. He has been honored with numerous teaching and writing awards, including the MAA's Lester R. Ford Award (2006), Chauvenet Prize (2004), and Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College Teaching of Mathematics (2001). Burger recently consulted with NBC Learn, on a series "The Science of the Olympic Winter Games" and is featured in the "Mathletes" segment, in which he discusses the math found in the Olympic games. In his acknowledgment of the award, Burger said, "Now more than ever, our country is ready to begin a critical and honest discussion on the core tenets of education, which in my opinion include inspiring minds, fostering creative thinking and changing lives; and to consider imaginative means by which to realize these important goals." As part of the award, he will teach at Baylor in the fall 2010 semester. Lance Littlejohn, Baylor's math department chair, said, "Ed Burger is, quite simply, a teaching phenomenon. ... Taking a class from Ed Burger will, I am certain, be a positive experience that our students will never forget." The Cherry Award, awarded every two years, was created in 1991 to recognize exceptional teachers. Read more about Burger and the award. (Image courtesy of Ed Burger.) [Item posted 1/20/10]
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The 2011 von Neumann Symposium will be "Multimodel and Multialgorithm Approaches to Multiscale Problems," organized by John Bell (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Chair, and Alejandro Garcia (San Jose State University). Multiscale problems are of increasing importance in the fields of physics, biology, chemistry, fluid dynamics, environmental science, materials science, geophysics, and all branches of engineering. The symposium will bring groups together in four key areas (fluids, solids, earth sciences, and molecular dynamics), and will enable applied mathematicians and scientists to discuss current practices and future research directions in the development of hybrid methodologies for multiscale phenomena. The AMS von Neumann Symposia are made possible by the generous support of a fund established by Dr. and Mrs. Carrol V. Newsom in honor of the memory of John von Neumann. [Item posted 1/7/10]
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