Related papers: Patrick Moss 25/10/1947--17/3/2024
In this study, we present profiles of some distinguished graduates in mathematics of the Jagiellonian University from the years 1918-1939. We discuss their professional paths and scholarly achievements, instances of scientific…
The development of a mathematics for living systems is one of the most challenging prospects of this century. The search began with the pioneering contribution of Ilia Prigogine, who developed methods from statistical physics to describe…
About 45,000 years ago, symbolic and technological complexity of human artefacts increased drastically. Computer simulations of Powell, Shennan and Thomas (2009) explained it through an increase of the population density, facilitating the…
Around 20 years ago, M. Van den Bergh introduced double Poisson brackets as operations on associative algebras inducing Poisson brackets under the representation functor. Weaker versions of these operations, called modified double Poisson…
Eric H. Strach (1914-2011) studied medicine at University of Prague and graduated in 1938. Strach dedicated a great part of his life to astronomy becoming a consistent and meticulous observer. He joined the Liverpool Astronomical…
I review aspects of Michael Atiyah's research in fundamental theoretical physics during the last ten years of his life, and contrast his deliberate interest in physics during this period with the inadvertent impact on physics of his early…
Despite being a major component in the teaching of special relativity, the twin `paradox' is generally not examined in courses on general relativity. Due to the complexity of analytical solutions to the problem, the paradox is often…
25th anniversary and new building dedication Centre de Recherches Math\'{e}matiques Montr\'{e}al, Canada, October 1994
Professor Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) was one of the most influential philosophers of science of the twentieth century, best known for his doctrine of falsifiability. His axiomatic formulation of probability, however, is unknown to current…
Stein's method compares probability distributions through the study of a class of linear operators called Stein operators. While mainly studied in probability and used to underpin theoretical statistics, Stein's method has led to…
This is a pedagogic introduction to certain aspects of inverse spectral theory for Schr\"{o}dinger operators and Jacobi matrices that revolves around my joint work with Fritz Gesztesy whose $70^{th}$ birthday we are honoring.
In 1953 I heard of an experiment in 1925 by Bengt Str\"omgren where he observed transit times with the meridian circle at the Copenhagen University Observatory measuring the current in a photocell behind slits when a star was crossing. In…
The two of us have shared a fascination with James Victor Uspensky's 1937 textbook $Introduction \, to \, Mathematical \, Probability$ ever since our graduate student days: it contains many interesting results not found in other books on…
Remarks on mathematical proof and the practice of mathematics.
The present paper gives an account for the general mathematical reader of the life and work of Martin Davis. Since two rather comprehensive autobiographical accounts and two long biographical interviews already exist, the present work…
This is the English version of my inaugural lecture at Coll\`ege de France in 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxktplKMhKU. I reflect on the difficulty of multi-disciplinary research, which often hinges of unexpected…
Charles Lewis Brook, MA, FRAS, FRMetS (1855 - 1939) served as Director of the BAA Variable Star Section from 1910 to 1921. During this time he was not merely interested in collecting the observations of the members (to which he also…
This is a survey paper on several aspects of differential geometry for the last 30 years, especially in those areas related to non-linear analysis. It grew from a talk I gave on the occasion of seventieth anniversary of Chinese Mathematical…
This article is a brief Retrospective on the life and work of Robert W. Zwanzig, who formulated nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and who passed away in May of this year.
Remarks on the life and work of Paul Erdos.