This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

Biography

Akshay Venkatesh received his PhD in 2002 from Princeton University and his undergraduate degree from The University of Western Australia. His research is in pure mathematics — specifically, in number theory and related areas. His research interests are in the fields of counting, equidistribution problems in automorphic forms and number theory, in particular representation theory, locally symmetric spaces and ergodic theory. In 2008 he won the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize. This annual prize is for outstanding contributions to areas of mathematics influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Professor Venkatesh was a 2011 Institute of Advanced Studies Professor-at-Large.

• Colloquium: Monday 23 Sept, 14:00 (EST time);
  Lecture Theatre 214, Otto Hirschfeld Building Building 81, University of Queensland, St Lucia.
  Dynamics and the geometry of numbers

Abstract: It was understood by Minkowski that one could prove interesting results in number theory by considering the geometry of lattices in \mathbb{R}\sp n. (A lattice is simply a grid of points.) This technique is called the “geometry of numbers.” We now understand much more about analysis and dynamics on the space of all lattices, and this has led to a deeper understanding of classical questions. I will review some of these ideas, with emphasis on the dynamical aspects.

• Public Lecture: Monday 23 Sept, 18:00 (EST time);
  Lecture Theatre 358, Physiology Building 63, University of Queensland, St Lucia.
  How to stack oranges in three dimensions, 24 dimensions, and beyond

Abstract: How can we pack balls as tightly as possible? In other words: to squeeze as many balls as possible into a limited space, what's the best way of arranging the balls? It’s not hard to guess what the answer should be — but it’s very hard to be sure that it really is the answer! I'll tell the interesting story of this problem, going back to the astronomer Kepler, and ending almost four hundred years later with Thomas Hales. I will then talk about stacking 24-dimensional oranges: what this means, how it relates to the Voyager spacecraft, and the many things we don’t know beyond this.

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

Biography

Akshay Venkatesh received his PhD in 2002 from Princeton University and his undergraduate degree from The University of Western Australia. His research is in pure mathematics — specifically, in number theory and related areas. His research interests are in the fields of counting, equidistribution problems in automorphic forms and number theory, in particular representation theory, locally symmetric spaces and ergodic theory. In 2008 he won the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize. This annual prize is for outstanding contributions to areas of mathematics influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.

• Colloquium: Wednesday 25 Sept, 11:00 (WA time, 13:00 EST);
  AGR room, Science Library, University of Western Australia.
  The Cohen-Lenstra heuristics: from arithmetic to topology and back again

Abstract: I will discuss some models of what a “random abelian group” is, and some conjectures (the Cohen–Lenstra heuristics of the title) about how they show up in number theory. I'll then discuss the function field setting and a proof of these heuristics, with Ellenberg and Westerland. The proof is an example of a link between analytic number theory and certain classes of results in algebraic topology (“homological stability”).

• Public Lecture: Wednesday 25 Sept, 18:00 (WA time, 20:00 EST);
  Club Theatre Auditorium, University of Western Australia.
  Two centuries of prime numbers

Abstract: Surprisingly, there have been fundamental new discoveries about prime numbers in the last decade, most recently by Yitang Zhang a few months ago. I’ll survey some of our understanding of prime numbers in a nontechnical fashion, starting with the “music of the primes” — the strange oscillations between regions where primes are more common and more scarce — and concluding with a discussion of Zhang‘s discovery: prime numbers must occasionally come very close to one another.

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Public Lecture: Thursday 26 Sept, 18:00 (SA time, 18:30 EST);
  Horace Lamb Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide.
  How to stack oranges in three dimensions, 24 dimensions, and beyond
• Colloquium: Friday 27 Sept, 15:00 (SA time, 15:30 EST);
  Horace Lamb Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide.
  Dynamics and the geometry of numbers

Biography

Abstract

Venue: Sancta Sophia College, 8 Missenden Rd, Camperdown

• Steering Committee: 6–8pm Saturday 28 September in the Carslaw Building, Univ. of Sydney
• Editors' Committee: 9:15am Sunday 29 September in the McDonald Room, Sancta Sophia College
• AMPAI meeting: 11am Sunday 29 September in the McDonald Room, Sancta Sophia College

• AustMS AGM: Wednesday 2nd October, University of Sydney

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• AustMS Plenary Lecture (AM): Tuesday 1 Oct, ??:00 EST;
  Eastern Avenue Auditorium, University of Sydney.
  TBA
• Public Lecture: Thursday 3 Oct, 19:00 EST;
  Eastern Avenue Auditorium, University of Sydney.
  Two centuries of prime numbers

Biography

Abstract

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Colloquium: Friday 3 Oct, 14:00 EST;
  G001 Red Centre, University of NSW.
  The Cohen-Lenstra heuristics: from arithmetic to topology and back again

Biography

Abstract

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Colloquium: Monday 7 Oct, 11:00 EST;
  AGR room, University of Wollongong.
  Torsion in the homology of arithmetic groups
• Public Lecture: Monday 7 Oct, 17:00 EST;
  venue TBA, University of Wollongong.
  How to stack oranges in three dimensions, 24 dimensions, and beyond

Biography

Abstract

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Colloquium: Tuesday 8 Oct, 11:00 EST;
  AGR room, University of Newcastle.
  Dynamics and the geometry of numbers

Biography

Abstract

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Colloquium: Wednesday 9 Oct, 11:00 EST;
  venue TBA, Australian National University.
  The Cohen-Lenstra heuristics: from arithmetic to topology and back again

Biography

Abstract

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Colloquium: Thursday 10 Oct, 12:30 EST;
  Russell Love Theatre, University of Melbourne.
  From spherical harmonics to spherical varieties: harmonic analysis on homogeneous spaces and the Langlands program
• Public Lecture: Thursday 10 Oct, 18:00 EST;
  Michell Theatre, University of Melbourne.
  How to stack oranges in three dimensions, 24 dimensions, and beyond

Biography

Abstract

This year's Mahler Lecturer is Akshay Venkatesh, of Stanford University. He will be visiting various Australian universities throughout September and October 2013. (lecture tour)

• Colloquium: Friday 11 Oct, 11:00 EST;
  room 345 Bldg 28, Monash University.
  Dynamics and the geometry of numbers

Biography

Abstract