R. Kent Nagle

The R. Kent Nagle Lecture Series

The Nagle Lecture Series (NLS) was established in honor of the late R. Kent Nagle, a mathematician deeply interested not only in mathematics in itself, but also in mathematics education and the impact of mathematics on society.

In this spirit, the NLS has invited world-renowned scholars to speak on such matters in lectures designed for the general public.

Next Lecture: November 1, 2007 (see below)

Image courtesy of Chaim Goodman-Strauss.

November 1, 2007

John H. Conway explores the topic “From Topology to Symmetry”

Audience: The talk is open, intended for the general public, and it is free.

Date: November 1, 2007

Time: Thursday evening 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Place: BSF 100, at USF-Tampa (For a map of the campus, click here.)

Parking: Free parking is available in Lots 2A and 2B (adjacent to the Bio-Science lecture hall BSF 100).

John Horton Conway

John H. Conway

From Topology to Symmetry

A description of the talk:

It is well known that the symmetries of repeating patterns in the Euclidean plane belong to just one of 17 groups. Less well-known are the corresponding enumerations for frieze patterns (7 types) and patterns on the sphere (7 particular groups + 7 infinite series) and the hyperbolic plane, which supports a multiple infinity of groups. I shall describe some of these, and perhaps say something about the corresponding enumerations in 3 and more dimensions.

A description of the speaker:

John Horton Conway is one of the world's most celebrated and prolific mathematicians. His contributions span through many fields, including finite group theory, knot theory, number theory, and coding theory. His work in combinatorial game theory and cellular automata include not only major advances in those fields but also popular works on games and his Game of Life automaton, the latter of which appeared in Scientific American in 1970 and is now a popular animation on the web.

Born December 26, 1937, in Liverpool, England, Conway studied mathematics at Cambridge, where he started research under Harold Davenport. He has held positions at CalTech, the University of Illinois in Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Conway is currently a John von Neumann Professor at Princeton University. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Junior Berwick Prize (1975), the first Polya Prize of the London Mathematical Society (1987), the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics (1998), and the American Mathematical Society Steele Prize (2000). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1981.

Previous Nagle Lecturers

Here is a list of the Nagle Lecturers, including their affiliation when they delivered their address, and the title and date of their lecture, in reverse chronological order:

Fang-Hua Lin, Silver Professor of Mathematics, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University

Problems for the Millennium: The Navier-Stokes Equations
March 29, 2007

Louis H. Kauffman, Professor of Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Unknots, Collapsing Tangles and DNA Recombination
February 16, 2006

Andrew M. Odlyzko, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota

Cybersecurity, Mathematics, and Limits on Technology
February 24, 2005

F. Alberto Grünbaum, Professor of Mathematics at UC Berkeley

Mathematics in Medical Imaging: the Present and the Future
November 1, 2001

A. K. Dewdney, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo

Do Aliens Do Math?
October 12, 2000

Jerrold Marsden, Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems at the California Institute of Technology

Dynamical Systems and Space Mission Design
March 9, 2000

Simon Levin, George Moffett Professor of Biology at Princeton University

The Rise and Fall of Biodiversity
January 21, 1999

Joseph Keller, Professor of Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering (Emeritus) at Stanford University

Mathematics of Games and Sports
November 5, 1998

Steven Krantz, Professor of Mathematics at Washington University

Contemporary Issues in Mathematics Education
March 19, 1998

Arjen Lenstra, Corporate Technology Office of Citibank

Securing the Net: The Fruits of Incompetence
October 23, 1997

Persi Diaconis, Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University

Mathematics and Magic Tricks
March 20, 1997

Robert Devaney, Professor of Mathematics at Boston University

Chaos, Fractals, and Dynamics
February 13, 1997

George Andrews, Evan Pugh Professor of Mathematics at Pennsylvania State University

Ramanujan, Sums, and the Lost Notebook
November 14, 1996

Peter Borwein, Professor of Mathematics at Simon Fraser University

Mathematics in the Presence of Computers: The Rapidly Changing Face of Pure Mathematics
October 17, 1996

Harold Stevenson, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan

Asia's Young Achievers in Mathematics
September 19, 1996