12/4/2020 Math Science Literature Lecture

Nigel Hitchin (University of Oxford)

Title: Michael Atiyah: Geometry and Physics

Abstract: In mid career, as an internationally renowned mathematician, Michael Atiyah discovered that some problems in physics responded to current work in algebraic geometry and this set him on a path to develop an active interface between mathematics and physics which was formative in the links which are so active today. The talk will focus, in a fairly basic fashion, on some examples of this interaction, which involved both applying physical ideas to solve mathematical problems and introducing mathematical ideas to physicists.