MATHEMATICS CONFERENCE TACKLES THE SHAPE OF THE UNIVERSE, UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A mathematician who works with cosmologists to determine the shape of the universe and a math professor known for tackling unsolved problems will both visit the University of Arkansas this week as part of the 28^th annual Arkansas Spring Lecture Series, hosted by the mathematics department April 10-12.

Mathematician Jeff Weeks will present a public lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in the Center for Continuing Education auditorium off of the Fayetteville square. Weeks, a freelance mathematician and MacArthur Fellow who lives in Canton, N.Y., will discuss the shape of the universe. Weeks works with cosmologists to test the shape of the universe using satellite data. He has developed a presentation that involves interactive three-dimensional graphics that take the viewer on a tour of several possible shapes for space. He will also discuss how data released in February of this year have begun to reveal the true shape of the universe.

Weeks’ talk is open to all members of the community but is especially geared to middle school, high school, and college students.

In addition to the public talk, there will be numerous lectures on mathematical topics. This year’s lecture series, which will feature 9-10 invited speakers, will focus on three-dimensional geometry known as topology. The keynote speaker, Andrew Casson, will discuss the Poincare Conjecture, an algebraic tool used to give the geometry of spaces. When the solution to the algebraic equation is zero or trivial, the Poincare Conjecture suggests the shape is a sphere, but no one has proved this conjecture to be true. A solution to the Poincare' conjecture has resisted the efforts of the world's best mathematicians for over a century.

Many people will come just to hear what Casson has to say, said Chaim Goodman-Strauss, who together with mathematics professor Yo’av Rieck organized this year’s lecture. Twenty years ago, Casson gave talks on the Poincare Conjecture that led to the development of the Casson Invariant, a tool that has become the centerpiece of successful careers.

The conference is funded by the National Science Foundation, by the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and by the department of mathematics.