SEECS Colloquium

This lecture is about symmetry.

I will begin by explaining that some obvious aspects of symmetry provide via geometry (mathematics)a rigorous derivation of some nonobvious laws of nature (like platonic solids, the configurations of atoms in crystalline structure).

I will continue by reviewing for the audience's attention some more subtle aspects of symmetry discovered only in the last 15 years in art by R. Penrose (Penrose tilling) and in solid state physics by MacKay, Shechtman et al., (quasi crystals).

In my view, they do provide a challenge for geometry and mathematics in general, a potential new role for computer science in geometry, and they might have concrete applications in biology.

The research contributions of Prof. Dan Burghelea are in: Topology (algebraic and geometric), Differential and Geometric Analysis, Homological Algebra and K-theory. Since 1979 he is Professor of Mathematics at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He had visiting research positions at the Insitute for Advaced Study, Princeton N.J, Insitute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, Bures sur Yvette, France, and Max Plank Institute, Bonn, Germany, etc. and visiting professorships at ETH (Federal Polytechnic School) Zurich, Schwitzerland, Univ. of Paris, France, Univ. of Bonn, Germany, and several other institutions. Prof. Burghelea is Doctor Docent in Sciences (Romanian Academy) and Doctor Honoris Causa, Univ. of Timisoara, Romania