Título: What Kind of Story is Mathematics?
Ponente: Minhyon Kim
Fecha: 13 de mayo 2025
Hora: 10:00 horas
Transmisión por Facebook @Instituto de Matemáticas
Resumen:
Economist Ariel Rubinstein famously proclaims (quite frequently) that ‘economics is a story’. In this lecture, I will explain a bit my understanding of this statement--based on conversations with Rubinstein—and share some reflections on mathematics within a similar context of inquiry. In particular, the audience will be invited to ask themselves the following question:
It is obvious that a great theory of science, such as Newtonian mechanics or general relativity, helps us to understand the world, often in quite precise ways. A great novel also helps us understand the world. Are these two modes of understanding fundamentally different?
Semblanza:
Minhyong Kim is Director and Sir Edmund Whittaker Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh. He works on arithmetic geometry, the study of spaces built out of finitely-generated systems of numbers, employing ideas of mathematical physics, especially topological quantum field theory. He has held professorships at numerous institutions on three continents, including the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Purdue University, and the University of Oxford, where he was the Head of the Number Theory Research Group. Minhyong is a keen communicator of mathematics and has published 13 books in Korea for the general public. His latest project is a series of illustrated children's books featuring a mathematician (who quickly disappears), his family (who search for him), and Schroedinger's cat (who does both).