Issue No. 3, Autumn 2004 Leicester The Maths Wrangler From the mathematicians at the University of Leicester http://www.math.le.ac.uk/ email:
[email protected] WELCOME TO The Wrangler This is the third issue of our maths newsletter from the University of Leicester’s Department of Mathematics. You can pick it up on-line and all the back issues at our new web address http://www.math.le.ac.uk/WRANGLER. If you would like to be added to our mailing list or have suggestions, just drop us a line at
[email protected], we’ll be flattered! What do we have here in this new issue? You may wonder what wallpaper and frying pans have to do with each other. We will tell you a fascinating story how they come up in new interdisciplinary research linking geometry and physics. We portrait our chancellor Sir Michael Atiyah, who recently has received the Abel prize, the maths equivalent of the Nobel prize. Sir Michael Atiyah will also open the new building of the MMC, which will be named after him, with a public maths lecture. Everyone is very welcome! More info at our new homepage http://www.math.le.ac.uk/ Contents Welcome to The Wrangler Wallpaper and Frying Pans - Linking Geometry and Physics K-Theory, Geometry and Physics - Sir Michael Atiyah gets Abel Prize The GooglePlexor The Mathematical Modelling Centre MMC The chancellor of the University of Leicester and world famous mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah (middle) receives the Abel Prize of the year 2004 together with colleague Isadore Singer (left) during the prize ceremony with King Harald of Norway.