Athens, Ga. – David Mumford, University Professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University and winner of the Fields Medal (often called the Nobel Prize of mathematics) will deliver this year’s James C. Cantrell Lectures on the University of Georgia campus.
Mumford’s general lecture, “Mathematics and the Diversity of Cultures” will be delivered on Wednesday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. in room 102 of the Miller Student Learning Center. Refreshments will be served beginning at 3 p.m. in the lobby outside of Room 102.
The event is co-sponsored by the department of mathematics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.
Mumford will deliver two additional lectures during his visit to UGA. On Thursday, April 16, at 3:30 p.m., in room 328 of the Boyd Graduate Studies building on campus, his lecture will give a less technical introduction to the range of mathematical problems concerning “shape” that arise from object recognition and medical diagnosis.
On Friday, April 17, also in room 328, Boyd Graduate Studies, Mumford will continue his comments on the mathematical theory of shape and its applications to computer vision and medical imaging.
Refreshments will be served at 3 p.m. preceding each lecture.
Mumford was awarded a Fields Medal in 1974, was a MacArthur Fellow in 1987 and won the Shaw Prize in 2006. In 2007, he was awarded the Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition by the American Mathematical Society. In 2008, he was awarded the Wolf Prize.
He was elected president of the International Mathematical Union in 1995 and served from 1995 to 1999. In addition, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received several honorary degrees.
The Cantrell lectures were started in 1994,in honor of Professor Emeritus James Cantrell.Past speakers includeJohn Milnor,Michael Atiyah, Vaughan Jones and Steven Smale, all recipients of the Fields medal.
For further information, see
www.math.uga.edu/seminars_conferences/cantrell.html.
