Math Professor Gets Landmark Grant to Fund Conference to Honor Nobel Laureate

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John Ryan, a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, is the co-investigator on a grant awarded by the National Science Foundation for a conference dedicated to Nobel Laureate Paul A.M. Dirac.

Ryan and co-investigator Craig Nolder, professor of mathematics at Florida State University, are organizing the conference “Clifford Analysis and Related Topics, a Conference in honor of Paul A. M. Dirac," Dec. 15-17, at Florida State University.

This grant is the first time the NSF has funded a conference on Clifford analysis. Clifford analysis is the study and application of Dirac type operators in analysis and geometry.

“Ryan is a leader in this active field and the department,” Chaim Goodman-Strauss, department chair, said. “This conference will bring visibility to the department and the University of Arkansas.”

Dirac shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1933 with Erwin Schrödinger for "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory."  After Dirac retired from Cambridge University he moved to Florida State University where he died in 1984.

The conference to honor Dirac is attracting both experts and newcomers to the field from the United States, South America and Europe. It is funded by matching funds from Florida State University.