I. M. Gelfand Centennial Conference: A View of 21st Century Mathematics

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed conference "I. M. Gelfand Centennial conference: A view of 21st century mathematics" will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on August 28 - September 2, 2013. It will be a major gathering of mathematicians working in a large variety of fields, which will review some of the most significant advances in mathematics since the turn of the century, and commemorate the late I. M. Gelfand, a giant of modern mathematics, on the occasion of the centennial of his birth. The speakers at the conference are mostly mathematicians who have obtained fundamental results in the last ten years in areas that would be have been of interest to Gelfand, but not necessarily close to his work or the work of his students. I. M. Gelfand was one of the geniuses who laid the foundation for the main ideas of modern mathematics. He also created a unique school known for its breadth, open-mindedness and originality. The success of Gelfand's school was based on his remarkable ability to discover talented young students, to educate them, and to work in harmony with young and established researchers. The conference will continue this tradition by attracting outstanding mathematicians and will include many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The latter groups will especially benefit from the broad spectrum of the topics and big ideas to be presented at the conference. The slides of the talks and other conference information will be disseminated through its website, which will allow the discussed ideas to reach a wide audience throughout the world. The conference website is available at http://math.mit.edu/conferences/Gelfand/index.php