ISSN 0002-9920 (print)

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of the American Mathematical Society

May 2016 Volume 63, Number 5

In Memoriam
John Forbes Nash Jr.
page 486

The Quantum Computer Puzzle

page 508
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Notices
of the American Mathematical Society
“You
“You don't
to
don't have
to have
have to
have aa feel
feel for
to be
be aa mathematician
for numbers.
mathematician
numbers.””
—— John
John F.
F. Nash
Nash Jr.
Jr.

May 2016

FEATURES

486 508 524

In Memoriam John Forbes The Quantum Computer The Graduate Student
Nash Jr. Puzzle Section
Interview with Abel Laureate John by Gil Kalai Melanie Wood Interview by
F. Nash Jr. by Martin Raussen and
Christian Skau Alexander Diaz-Lopez

WHAT IS...Nash Equilibrium?

John Forbes Nash Jr (1928–2015)
Camillo De Lellis, Coordinating Editor by Rajiv Sethi and Jörgen Weibull
Nash and the NSA by Allyn Jackson A New Installment of the original
Notices comic strip My Professor
Open Problems in Mathematics by
Allyn Jackson Graduate Student Blog

We honor John F. Nash Jr. on this the first anniversary of his dramatic last week of life, when he received the 2015
Abel Prize from King Harald of Norway.

You can post general comments and suggestions for this and future issues at www.ams.org/notices.
—Frank Morgan, Editor-in-Chief

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Communicating Mathematics to Children 518 Negotiating for Release Time and Leave 562
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in Mathematics 561
Elaine Kehoe
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 Interview with Abel Laureate
John F. Nash Jr.
This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of the Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society
www.ems-ph.org/journals/newsletter/pdf/2015-09-97.pdf, pp. 26–31, and is reprinted here with permission of
the EMS. (An analogous interview with Louis Nirenberg appeared in the February issue of the Notices.)

Martin Raussen and Christian Skau

The Prize
Raussen and Skau: Professor Nash, we would like to
congratulate you as the Abel laureate in mathematics for
2015, a prize you share with Louis Nirenberg. What was
your reaction when you first learned that you had won
the Abel Prize?
Professor Nash: I did not learn about it like I did
with the Nobel Prize. I got a telephone call late on
Courtesy of Eirik Baardsen.

the day before the announcement, which was confusing.

However, I wasn’t entirely surprised. I had been thinking
about the Abel Prize. It is an interesting example of a
newer category of prizes that are quite large and yet not
entirely predictable. I was given sort of a pre-notification.
I was told on the telephone that the Abel Prize would be
announced on the morning the next day. Just so I was
John F. Nash Jr. prepared.
Raussen and Skau: But it came unexpected?
Professor Nash: It was unexpected, yes. I didn’t even
know when the Abel Prize decisions were announced.
This interview took place in Oslo on May 18, 2015, the day I had been reading about them in the newspapers but
before the prize ceremony and only five days before the not following closely. I could see that there were quite
tragic accident that led to the death of John Nash and his respectable persons being selected.
wife Alicia. Nash’s untimely death made it impossible to
follow the usual procedure for Abel interviews where inter-
Youth and Education
viewees are asked to proof-read and to edit first drafts. All Raussen and Skau: When did you realize that you had an
exceptional talent for mathematics? Were there people that
possible misunderstandings are thus the sole responsibility
encouraged you to pursue mathematics in your formative
of the interviewers.
years?
Professor Nash: Well, my mother had been a school
teacher, but she taught English and Latin. My father
Martin Raussen is professor of mathematics of Aalborg Univer- was an electrical engineer. He was also a schoolteacher
sity, Denmark. His email address is [email protected].
immediately before World War I.
Christian Skau is professor of mathematics at the Norwegian Uni- While at the grade school I was attending, I would
versity of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. His email typically do arithmetic—addition and multiplication—
address is [email protected].
with multi-digit numbers instead of what was given at the
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: reprint- school, namely multiplying two-digit numbers. So I got to
[email protected]. work with four- and five-digit numbers. I just got pleasure
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1383 in trying those out and finding the correct procedure. But

486 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

the fact that I could figure this out was a sign, of course, the Nobel Prize in economics. But not everyone is aware
of mathematical talent. that the Nobel Prize idea was contained in your PhD thesis,
Then there were other signs also. I had the book by E. which was submitted at Princeton in 1950, when you were
T. Bell, “Men of Mathematics”, at an early age. I could read twenty-one-years-old. The title of the thesis was “Noncoop-
that. I guess Abel is mentioned in that book? erative games.”
Raussen and Skau: Yes, he is. In 1948, when you were Did you have any idea how revolutionary this would
twenty years of age, you were admitted as a graduate turn out to be? That it was going to have impact, not only
student in mathematics at Princeton University, an elite in economics but also in fields as diverse as political science
institution that hand-picked their students. How did you and evolutionary biology?
like the atmosphere at Princeton? Was it very competitive? Professor Nash: It is hard to say. It is true that it can
Professor Nash: It was stimulating. Of course it was be used wherever there is some sort of equilibrium and
competitive also—a quiet competition of graduate stu- there are competing or interacting parties. The idea of
dents. They were not competing directly with each other evolutionists is naturally parallel to some of this. I am
like tennis players. They were all chasing the possibility getting off on a scientific track here.
of some special appreciation. Nobody said anything about Raussen and Skau: But you realized that your thesis
that but it was sort of implicitly understood. was good?
Professor Nash: Yes. I had a longer version of it but it
Games and Game Theory was reduced by my thesis advisor. I also had material for
Raussen and Skau: You were interested in game theory cooperative games but that was published separately.
from an early stage. In fact, you invented an ingenious Raussen and Skau: Did you find the topic yourself when
game of a topological nature that was widely played, by you wrote your thesis or did your thesis advisor help to find
both faculty members and students, in the Common Room it?
at Fine Hall, the mathematics building at Princeton. The Professor Nash: Well, I had more or less found the
game was called “Nash” at Princeton but today it is com- topic myself and then the thesis advisor was selected by
monly known as “Hex”. Actually, a Danish inventor and the nature of my topic.
designer Piet Hein independently discovered this game. Raussen and Skau: Albert Tucker [1905–1995] was
Why were you interested in games and game theory? your thesis advisor, right?
Professor Nash: Well, I studied economics at my pre- Professor Nash: Yes. He had been collaborating with
vious institution, the Carnegie Institute of Technology in von Neumann and Morgenstern.
Pittsburgh (today Carnegie Mellon University). I observed
people who were studying the linkage between games
Princeton
and mathematical programming at Princeton. I had some
Raussen and Skau: We would like to ask you about your
ideas: some related to economics, some related to games
study and work habits. You rarely attended lectures at
like you play as speculators at the stock market—which
Princeton. Why?
is really a game. I can’t pin it down exactly but it turned
Professor Nash: It is true. Princeton was quite liberal.
out that von Neumann [1903–1957] and Morgenstern
[1902–1977] at Princeton had a proof of the solution to They had introduced, not long before I arrived, the concept
a two-person game that was a special case of a general of an N-grade. So, for example, a professor giving a course
theorem for the equilibrium of n-person games, which would give a standard grade of N, which means “no
is what I found. I associated it with the natural idea of grade”. But this changed the style of working. I think
equilibrium and of the topological idea of the Brouwer that Harvard was not operating on that basis at that
fixed-point theorem, which is good material. time. I don’t know if they have operated like that since.
Exactly when and why I started, or when von Neumann Princeton has continued to work with the N-grade, so
and Morgenstern thought of that, that is something I am that the number of people actually taking the courses
uncertain of. Later on, I found out about the Kakutani fixed- (formally taking courses where grades are given) is less
point theorem, a generalisation of Brouwer’s theorem. I in Princeton than might be the case at other schools.
did not realise that von Neumann had inspired it and that Raussen and Skau: Is it true that you took the attitude
he had influenced Kakutani [1911–2004]. Kakutani was a that learning too much second-hand would stifle creativity
student at Princeton, so von Neumann wasn’t surprised and originality?
with the idea that a topological argument could yield Professor Nash: Well, it seems to make sense. But what
equilibrium in general. I developed a theory to study a is second-hand?
few other aspects of games at this time. Raussen and Skau: Yes, what does second-hand mean?
Raussen and Skau: You are a little ahead of us now. Professor Nash: Second-hand means, for example, that
A lot of people outside the mathematical community know you do not learn from Abel but from someone who is a
that you won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sci- student of abelian integrals.
ences in 1994. Raussen and Skau: In fact, Abel wrote in his mathemat-
Professor Nash: That was much later. ical diary that one should study the masters and not their
Raussen and Skau: Yes. Due to the film “A Beautiful pupils.
Mind”, in which you were played by Russell Crowe, it be- Professor Nash: Yes, that’s somewhat the idea. Yes,
came known to a very wide audience that you received that’s very parallel.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 487

 Raussen and Skau: While at Princeton you contacted Raussen and Skau: John Milnor, who was awarded the
Albert Einstein and von Neumann, on separate occasions. Abel Prize in 2011, entered Princeton as a freshman the
They were at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, same year as you became a graduate student. He made
which is located close to the campus of Princeton University. the observation that you were very much aware of un-
It was very audacious for a young student to contact such solved problems, often cross-examining people about these.
famous people, was it not? Were you on the lookout for famous open problems while
Professor Nash: Well, it could be done. It fits into the at Princeton?
idea of intellectual functions. Concerning von Neumann, Professor Nash: Well, I was. I have been in general.
I had achieved my proof of the equilibrium theorem Milnor may have noticed at that time that I was looking
for game theory using the Brouwer fixed-point theorem, at some particular problems to study.
while von Neumann and Morgenstern used other things Milnor made various spectacular discoveries himself.
in their book. But when I got to von Neumann, and I was For example, the nonstandard differentiable structures
at the blackboard, he asked: “Did you use the fixed-point on the seven-sphere. He also proved that any knot has a
theorem?” “Yes,” I said. “I used Brouwer’s fixed-point certain amount of curvature although this was not really
theorem.” a new theorem, since someone else had—unknown to
I had already, for some time, realized that there was Milnor—proved that.
a proof version using Kakutani’s fixed-point theorem,
which is convenient in applications in economics since
the mapping is not required to be quite continuous. It
has certain continuity properties, so-called generalized

Courtesy of the Institute for Advanced Study.

continuity properties, and there is a fixed-point theorem
in that case as well. I did not realize that Kakutani proved
that after being inspired by von Neumann, who was using
a fixed-point theorem approach to an economic problem
with interacting parties in an economy (however, he was

Photo by Serge J.-F. Levy.

not using it in game theory).
Raussen and Skau: What was von Neumann’s reaction
when you talked with him?
Professor Nash: Well, as I told you, I was in his office
and he just mentioned some general things. I can imagine
now what he may have thought, since he knew the
Kakutani fixed-point theorem and I did not mention that
(which I could have done). He said some general things, John F. Nash Jr. at the Common Room, Institute for
like: “Of course, this works.” He did not say too much Advanced Study.
about how wonderful it was.
Raussen and Skau: When you met Einstein and talked
with him, explaining some of your ideas in physics, how A Series of Famous Results
did Einstein react? Raussen and Skau: While you wrote your thesis on game
Professor Nash: He had one of his student assistants theory at Princeton University, you were already working
there with him. I was not quite expecting that. I talked on problems of a very different nature, of a rather geomet-
about my idea, which related to photons losing energy ric flavor. And you continued this work while you were on
on long travels through the Universe and as a result the staff at MIT in Boston, where you worked from 1951
getting a red-shift. Other people have had this idea. I to 1959. You came up with a range of really stunning re-
saw much later that someone in Germany wrote a paper sults. In fact, the results that you obtained in this period
about it but I can’t give you a direct reference. If this are the main motivation for awarding you the Abel Prize
phenomenon existed then the popular opinion at the time this year. Before we get closer to your results from this
of the expanding Universe would be undermined because period, we would like to give some perspective by quoting
what would appear to be an effect of the expansion of Mikhail Gromov, who received the Abel Prize in 2009. He
the Universe (sort of a Doppler red-shift) could not be told us, in the interview we had with him six years ago, that
validly interpreted in that way because there could be a your methods showed “incredible originality”. And more-
red-shift of another origin. I developed a mathematical over: “What Nash has done in geometry is from my point
theory about this later on. I will present this here as a of view incomparably greater than what he has done in
possible interpretation, in my Abel lecture tomorrow. economics, by many orders of magnitude.” Do you agree
There is an interesting equation that could describe with Gromov’s assessment?
different types of space-times. There are some singulari- Professor Nash: It’s simply a question of taste, I say. It
ties that could be related to ideas about dark matter and was quite a struggle. There was something I did in algebraic
dark energy. People who really promote it are promoting geometry, which is related to differential geometry with
the idea that most of the mass in the Universe derives some subtleties in it. I made a breakthrough there. One
from dark energy. But maybe there is none. There could could actually gain control of the geometric shape of an
be alternative theories. algebraic variety.

488 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Raussen and Skau: That will be the subject of our next And Conway said: “What he did was one of the most
question. You submitted a paper on real algebraic mani- important pieces of mathematical analysis in the twentieth
folds when you started at MIT, in October 1951. We would century.” Well, that is quite something!
like to quote Michael Artin at MIT, who later made use Professor Nash: Yes.
of your result. He commented: “Just to conceive such a Raussen and Skau: Is it true, as rumours have it, that
theorem was remarkable.” you started to work on the embedding problem as a result
Could you tell us a little of what you dealt with and what of a bet?
you proved in that paper, and how you got started? Professor Nash: There was something like a bet. There
Professor Nash: I was really influenced by space-time was a discussion in the Common Room, which is the
and Einstein, and the idea of distributions of stars, and meeting place for faculty at MIT. I discussed the idea of
I thought: “Suppose some pattern of distributions of an embedding with one of the senior faculty members
stars could be selected; could it be that there would in geometry, Professor Warren Ambrose [1914–1995]. I
be a manifold, something curving around and coming
got from him the idea of the realization of the metric by
in on itself that would be in some equilibrium position
an embedding. At the time, this was a completely open
with those distributions of stars?” This is the idea I was
problem; there was nothing there beforehand.
considering.
I began to work on it. Then I got shifted onto the
Ultimately, I developed some mathematical ideas so
𝐶1 case. It turned out that one could do it in this case
that the distribution of points (interesting points) could
be chosen, and then there would be some manifold that with very few excess dimensions of the embedding space
would go around in a desired geometrical and topological compared with the manifold. I did it with two but then
way. So I did that and developed some additional general Kuiper did it with only one. But he did not do it smoothly,
theory for doing that at the same time, and that was which seemed to be the right thing—since you are given
published. something smooth, it should have a smooth answer.
Later on, people began working on making the repre- But a few years later, I made the generalisation to
sentation more precise because I think what I proved may smooth. I published it in a paper with four parts. There
have allowed some geometrically less beautiful things in is an error, I can confess now. Some forty years after the
the manifold that is represented, and it might come close paper was published, the logician Robert M. Solovay from
to other things. It might not be strictly finite. There might the University of California sent me a communication
be some part of it lying out at infinity. pointing out the error. I thought: “How could it be?” I
Ultimately, someone else, A. H. Wallace [1926–2008], started to look at it and finally I realized the error in
appeared to have fixed it, but he hadn’t—he had a flaw. that if you want to do a smooth embedding and you have
But later it was fixed by a mathematician in Italy, in Trento, an infinite manifold, you divide it up into portions and
named Alberto Tognoli [1937–2008]. you have embeddings for a certain amount of metric on
Raussen and Skau: We would like to ask you about each portion. So you are dividing it up into a number of
another result, concerning the realisation of Riemannian things: smaller, finite manifolds. But what I had done was
manifolds. Riemannian manifolds are, loosely speak- a failure in logic. I had proved that—how can I express
ing, abstract smooth structures on which distances it?—that points local enough to any point where it was
and angles are only locally defined in a quite abstract spread out and differentiated perfectly if you take points
manner. You showed that these abstract entities can be close enough to one point; but for two different points
realised very concretely as sub-manifolds in sufficiently it could happen that they were mapped onto the same
high-dimensional Euclidean spaces. point. So the mapping, strictly speaking, wasn’t properly
Professor Nash: Yes, if the metric was given, as you say,
embedded; there was a chance it had self-intersections.
in an abstract manner but was considered as sufficient
Raussen and Skau: But the proof was fixed? The mis-
to define a metric structure then that could also be
take was fixed?
achieved by an embedding, the metric being induced by
Professor Nash: Well, it was many years from the
the embedding. There I got on a side-track. I first proved it
publication that I learned about it. It may have been
for manifolds with a lower level of smoothness, the 𝐶1 case.
Some other people have followed up on that. I published known without being officially noticed, or it may have
a paper on that. Then there was a Dutch mathematician, been noticed but people may have kept the knowledge of
Nicolaas Kuiper [1920–1994], who managed to reduce the it secret.
dimension of the embedding space by one. Raussen and Skau: May we interject the following to
Raussen and Skau: Apart from the results you obtained, highlight how surprising your result was? One of your col-
many people have told us that the methods you applied leagues at MIT, Gian-Carlo Rota [1932–1999], professor of
were ingenious. Let us, for example, quote Gromov and mathematics and also philosophy at MIT, said: “One of the
John Conway. great experts on the subject told me that if one of his grad-
Gromov said, when he first read about your result: “I uate students had proposed such an outlandish idea, he
thought it was nonsense, it couldn’t be true. But it was true, would throw him out of his office.”
it was incredible.” And later on: “He completely changed Professor Nash: That’s not a proper liberal, progressive
the perspective on partial differential equations.” attitude.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 489

 Professor Nash: Their use of entropy is quite essential.
Hamilton used it first and then Perelman took it up
from there. Of course, it’s hard to foresee success. It’s
a funny thing that Perelman hasn’t accepted any prizes.
He rejected the Fields Prize and also the Clay Millennium
Prize, which comes with a cash award of one million
dollars.
Raussen and Skau: Coming back to the time when you
Courtesy of Erik Baardsen.

and De Giorgi worked more or less on the same problem.

When you first found out that De Giorgi had solved the
problem before you, were you very disappointed?
Professor Nash: Of course I was disappointed but one
tends to find some other way to think about it. Like
water building up and the lake flowing over, and then the
outflow stream backing up, so it comes out another way.
Raussen and Skau: Some people have been speculating
Nash interviewed by Christian Skau and Martin
that you might have received the Fields Medal if there had
Raussen.
not been the coincidence with the work of De Giorgi.
Professor Nash: Yes, that seems likely; that seems a
natural thing. De Giorgi did not get the Fields Medal
Partial Differential Equations either, though he did get some other recognition. But
Raussen and Skau: But nevertheless it seems that the re- this is not mathematics, thinking about how some sort
sult you proved was perceived as something that was out of selecting body may function. It is better to be thought
of the scope of the techniques that one had at the time. about by people who are sure they are not in the category
Professor Nash: Yes, the techniques led to new meth- of possible targets of selection.
ods to study PDEs in general. Raussen and Skau: When you made your major and
Raussen and Skau: Let us continue with work of yours really stunning discoveries in the 1950s, did you have any-
purely within the theory of PDEs. If we are not mistaken, body that you could discuss with, who would act as some
this came about as a result of a conversation you had with sort of sounding board for you?
Louis Nirenberg, with whom you are sharing this year’s Professor Nash: For the proofs? Well, for the proof
Abel Prize, at the Courant Institute in New York in 1956. He in game theory there is not so much to discuss. Von
told you about a major unsolved problem within non-linear Neumann knew that there could be such a proof as soon
as the issue was raised.
partial differential equations.
Raussen and Skau: What about the geometric results
Professor Nash: He told me about this problem, yes.
and also your other results? Did you have anyone you
There was some work that had been done previously by a
could discuss the proofs with?
professor in California, C. B. Morrey [1907–1984], in two
Professor Nash: Well, there were people who were
dimensions. The continuity property of the solution of
interested in geometry in general, like Professor Ambrose.
a partial differential equation was found to be intrinsic
But they were not so much help with the details of the
in two dimensions by Morrey. The question was what proof.
happened beyond two dimensions. That was what I Raussen and Skau: What about Spencer [1912–2001]
got to work on, and De Giorgi [1928–1996], an Italian at Princeton? Did you discuss with him?
mathematician, got to work on it also. Professor Nash: He was at Princeton and he was on my
Raussen and Skau: But you didn’t know of each other’s General Exam committee. He seemed to appreciate me.
work at that time? He worked in complex analysis.
Professor Nash: No, I didn’t know of De Giorgi’s work Raussen and Skau: Were there any particular mathe-
on this, but he did solve it first. maticians that you met either at Princeton or MIT that you
Raussen and Skau: Only in the elliptic case though. really admired, that you held in high esteem?
Professor Nash: Yes, well, it was really the elliptic case Professor Nash: Well, of course, there is Professor
originally but I sort of generalized it to include parabolic Levinson [1912–1975] at MIT. I admired him. I talked with
equations, which turned out to be very favorable. With Norman Steenrod [1910–1971] at Princeton and I knew
parabolic equations, the method of getting an argument Solomon Lefschetz [1884–1972], who was Department
relating to an entropy concept came up. I don’t know; I Chairman at Princeton. He was a good mathematician.
am not trying to argue about precedents but a similar I did not have such a good rapport with the algebra
entropy method was used by Professor Hamilton in New professor at Princeton, Emil Artin [1898–1962].
York and then by Perelman. They use an entropy which
they can control in order to control various improvements The Riemann Hypothesis
that they need. Raussen and Skau: Let us move forward to a turning point
Raussen and Skau: And that was what finally led to the in your life. You decided to attack arguably the most fa-
proof of the Poincaré Conjecture? mous of all open problems in mathematics, the Riemann

490 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

Hypothesis, which is still wide open. It is one of the Clay Interests and Hobbies
Millennium Prize problems that we talked about. Could Raussen and Skau: Can we finally ask you a question that
you tell us how you experienced mental exhaustion as a we have asked all the previous Abel Prize laureates? What
result of your endeavor? are your main interests or hobbies outside of mathemat-
Professor Nash: Well, I think ics?
it is sort of a rumor or a myth Professor Nash: Well, there are various things. Of
that I actually made a frontal I am a little course, I do watch the financial markets. This is not
attack on the hypothesis. I was entirely outside of the proper range of the economics
cautious. I am a little cautious
cautious … Nobel Prize but there is a lot there you can do if you
about my efforts when I try to
attack some problem because the
when I try to think about things. Concerning the great depression, the
crisis that came soon after Obama was elected, you can
problem can attack back, so to attack some make one decision or another decision which will have
say. Concerning the Riemann Hy- quite different consequences. The economy started on a
pothesis, I don’t think of myself problem recovery in 2009, I think.
as an actual student but maybe Raussen and Skau: It is known that when you were
some casual—whatever—where I because the a student at Princeton you were biking around campus
whistling Bach’s “Little Fugue”. Do you like classical music?
could see some beautiful and
interesting new aspect.
problem can Professor Nash: Yes, I do like Bach.
Raussen and Skau: Other favorite composers than
Professor Selberg [1917–2007], attack back. Bach?
a Norwegian mathematician who
was at the Institute for Advanced Study, proved back in Professor Nash: Well, there are lot of classical com-
the time of World War II that there was at least some posers that can be quite pleasing to listen to, for instance
finite measure of these zeros that were actually on the when you hear a good piece by Mozart. They are so much
critical line. They come as different types of zeros; it’s better than composers like Pachelbel and others.
like a double zero that appears as a single zero. Selberg Raussen and Skau: We would like to thank you very
much for a very interesting interview. Apart from the two
proved that a very small fraction of zeros were on the
of us, this is on behalf of the Danish, Norwegian and Euro-
critical line. That was some years before he came to the
pean Mathematical Societies.
Institute. He did some good work at that time.
Afterword: After the end of the interview proper,
And then, later on, in 1974, Professor Levinson at MIT,
there was an informal chat about John Nash’s main
where I had been, proved that a good fraction—around
current interests. He mentioned again his reflections
1/3—of the zeros were actually on the critical line. At
about cosmology. Concerning publications, Nash told us
that time he was suffering from brain cancer, which he
about a book entitled “Open Problems in Mathematics”
died from. Such things can happen; your brain can be
that he was editing with the young Greek mathematician
under attack and yet you can do some good reasoning for
Michael Th. Rassias, who was conducting postdoctoral
a while. research at Princeton University during that academic
year.
A Very Special Mathematician?
Raussen and Skau: Mathematicians who know you de-
scribe your attitude toward working on mathematical
problems as very different from that of most other people.
Can you tell us a little about your approach? What are
your sources of inspiration?
Professor Nash: Well, I can’t argue that at the present
time I am working in such and such a way, which is
different from a more standard way. In other words, I
Photo by Danielle Alio, Princeton University,

try to think of what I can do with my mind and my

experiences and connections. What might be favourable
for me to try? So I don’t think of trying anything of the
latest popular nonsense.
Raussen and Skau: You have said in an interview (you
Office of Communications.

may correct us) something like: “I wouldn’t have had good

scientific ideas if I had thought more normally.” You had
a different way of looking at things.
Professor Nash: Well, it’s easy to think that. I think
that is true for me just as a mathematician. It wouldn’t be
worth it to think like a good student doing a thesis. Most
mathematical theses are pretty routine. It’s a lot of work
but sort of set up by the thesis advisor; you work until John F. Nash Jr. and wife Alicia.
you have enough and then the thesis is recognized.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 491

 John Forbes Nash Jr.
(1928–2015)
Camillo De Lellis, Coordinating Editor

John Forbes Nash Jr. was born in Bluefield, West Virginia,

on June 13, 1928 and was named after his father, who
was an electrical engineer. His mother, Margaret Virginia
(née Martin), was a school teacher before her marriage,
teaching English and sometimes Latin. After attending the
standard schools in Bluefield, Nash entered the Carnegie
Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mel-
lon University) with a George Westinghouse Scholarship.
He spent one semester as a student of chemical engi-
neering, switched momentarily to chemistry and finally
decided to major in mathematics. After graduating in

Courtesy of John D. Stier.

1948 with a BS and a MS at the same time, Nash was of-
fered a scholarship to enter as a graduate student at either
Harvard or Princeton. He decided for Princeton, where in
1950 he earned a PhD de-
gree with his celebrated
work on noncooperative
games, which won him the
John and Alicia Nash on the day of their wedding.
Nobel Prize in Economics
thirty-four years later.
In the summer of 1950 groundbreaking paper “Real algebraic manifolds”, cf. [39],
Courtesy of Martha Nash Legg and John D. Stier.

he worked at the RAND (Re- much of which was indeed conceived at the end of his
search and Development) graduate studies: According to his autobiographical notes,
Corporation, and although cf. [44], Nash was prepared for the possibility that the
he went back to Princeton game theory work would not be regarded as acceptable
during the autumn of the as a thesis at the Princeton mathematics department.
same year, he remained a Around this time Nash met Eleanor Stier, with whom he
consultant and occasion- had his first son, John David Stier, in 1953.
ally worked at RAND for After his work on real algebraic manifolds he began his
the subsequent four years, deep studies on the existence of isometric embeddings
as a leading expert on of Riemannian manifolds, a fundamental and classical
the Cold War conflict. He open problem, which Nash solved completely in his two
was fired from RAND in subsequent revolutionary papers [40] and [41]. During
1954 after being arrested the academic year 1956–1957 he received an Alfred
A picture of Nash taken the for indecent exposure in P. Sloan grant and decided to spend the year as a
day of his graduation in Santa Monica, although the temporary member of the Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton. charges were dropped. Princeton. It is during this period that he got interested in
In 1951 he joined the mathematics faculty of MIT as another classical question, the continuity of solutions to
a C.L.E. Moore Instructor, where he remained until his uniformly elliptic and parabolic second order equations,
resignation in the spring of 1959. In 1951 he wrote his which would have lead to a solution of the 19th Hilbert
problem. Nash published his solution [42] and learned
Camillo De Lellis is professor of mathematics at Universität Zürich. slightly after that a different independent proof, in the
His email address is [email protected]. case of elliptic equations, had just been given by De Giorgi
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: reprint- [14].
[email protected]. During his academica sabbatical at the Institute for
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1366 Advanced Study Nash married Alicia Lopez-Harrison de

492 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

Lardé and shortly after, in 1958, he earned a tenured the subject, and over the years, they have become basic
position at MIT. In the last months of 1958 and the early and central in fields as diverse as economic theory and
months of 1959 the first signs of mental disorder had evolutionary biology. (See the exposition by Nachbar and
become evident, while his wife was pregnant with their Weinstein below.)
child, John Charles. This was the start of a long miserable In 1952, Nash created a relation between differential
period of mental illness, during which Nash still managed and algebraic manifolds by showing that every smooth
to produce some remarkable pieces of mathematics, such compact manifold is diffeomorphic to an essentially
as [45], [43], [46] (published a couple of decades later) isolated smooth subset of some real algebraic variety.
and the idea of the “Nash blow-up.” (See the exposition by Henry King below. One important
Nash and de Lardé divorced in 1962. However, after his application was given by Michael Artin and Barry Mazur
final hospital discharge in 1970, Nash lived in the house [4] thirteen years later: For any smooth compact manifold
of his former wife and the couple eventually remarried in 𝑀, they used Nash’s result in proving that any smooth
2003. After a long period Nash gradually recovered from mapping from 𝑀 to itself can be smoothly approximated
his paranoid delusions, was allowed by Princeton to audit by one for which the number of isolated periodic points of
classes and finally to teach again. period 𝑛 grows at most exponentially with 𝑛. For related
After he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic results by V. Kaloshin, see [27].)
Sciences in 1994, jointly with John Harsanyi and Reinhard Nash had not forgot-
Selten, Nash’s dramatic life attracted the attention of the ten about application
media and was the subject of Sylvia Nasar’s bestseller A of mathematical ideas An amazing
Beautiful Mind, which inspired the 2001 movie with the to real world prob-
same title. During this period Nash became an icon of lems. A 1954 RAND
person, highly
genius in popular culture.
In 1978 he was awarded the John von Neumann Theory
Corporation memoran-
dum described his
original, and
Prize for his discovery of the Nash Equilibria. In 1999 he ideas for the architec- determined to
received a Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution ture and programing
to Research from the American Mathematical Society and of a parallel process- make a name for
finally in 2015 he was one of the two recipients of the ing computer. This was
Abel Prize, the other one being Louis Nirenberg. On May well before any such himself.
23, 2015, on their way back home after spending one machine existed. In
week in Oslo on the occasion of the Abel prize ceremony, 1955, he wrote a letter to the National Security Agency
John and Alicia Nash were killed in a taxi accident on the which proposed an encypherment procedure, and ex-
New Jersey Turnpike. plained his ideas about computational complexity and
cryptography. Long before such ideas were generally
John Milnor known, he realized that a key criterion for secure cryptog-
raphy is that the computation time for determining the
About John Nash key, given other information about the system, should in-
John Forbes Nash was an amazing person, highly original, crease exponentially with the key length. He conjectured
and determined to make a name for himself by attacking that this criterion should be satisfied, but very hard to
the most difficult and important mathematical problems. prove, for many possible encryption schemes. (This is
His most widely influential work is surely the 1950 perhaps an early relative of the P versus NP problem,
Princeton Thesis, in which he introduced what we now call which was posed by Stephen Cook sixteen year later, see
a Nash equilibrium . I have heard that this was described [12].) More explicitly, Nash stated that “I cannot prove
by von Neumann as “just another fixed point theorem”. [this conjecture], nor do I expect it to be proven.” His
Whether or not this is a true quotation, this evaluation is message was filed and presumably forgotten by the NSA,
certainly valid from the point of view of pure mathematics. but declassified and released in 2012.
However, when mathematics is applied to the real world, Returning to the study of smooth manifolds, the fol-
the important question is not whether it represents lowing classical statement could easily have been proved
the most cutting edge mathematical techniques, but by Gauss, if he had considered such questions: A com-
whether it tells us something meaningful about reality. pact surface which is smoothly embedded in 3-dimensional
The theory of two-person zero-sum games had been Euclidean space must have points of positive Gaussian cur-
firmly established by the work of Zermelo, von Neumann vature. More precisely, the proof requires that the
and Morgenstern; but before Nash’s work the theory of embedding should be twice continuously differentiable. A
any more general form of conflict between two or more reasonable person would assume that 𝐶2 -differentiability
parties was a wasteland of complicated mathematics with is just a technicality, but Nash was never a reasonable
no apparent relation to reality. Nash’s ideas transformed person. His 1954 paper, as sharpened one year later by
Nicholaas Kuiper, shows in particular that every compact
John Milnor is professor of mathematics at the Stony Brook Uni- surface with a smooth Riemannian metric can be 𝐶1 -
versity. His email address is [email protected]. isometrically embedded in Euclidean 3-space. Such exotic
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: 𝐶1 -embeddings are very hard to visualize, and it is only
[email protected]. in the last year or so that a determined French team

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 493

 Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was full of
ideas on every subject. At Courant he was talking about
partial differential equations and fluid mechanics, for
example, with Louis Nirenberg and Peter Lax. In Princeton
he was talking with number theorists such as Atle Selberg
about ideas towards the Riemann Hypothesis, and arguing
with physicists such as Robert Oppenheimer about the
foundations of quantum mechanics.
Nash’s work was drastically interrupted by a breakdown
in early 1959. (Many years later, he blamed his collapse
on efforts to resolve the contradictions in quantum
mechanics.) Whatever the cause, the next thirty years were
quite miserable for Nash and for his friends, although
he did manage to write a few more papers. It was a
wonderful relief when he began to recover in the early
Courtesy of John D. Stier.

1990s. It was also wonderful that he lived to see his life’s

work validated, both by a Nobel Prize in Economics in
1994, and by an Abel Prize in Mathematics this May, just
a few days before his untimely death.

Comments and Further References

Nash and his first son John David Stier in a picture One convenient source is The Essential John Nash, edited
taken at Princeton in the mid-1970s. by Harold Kuhn and Sylvia Nasar, Princeton University
Press, 2002. This includes biographical and autobiograph-
ical material, as well as the complete texts of a number
of papers, including the following:
has managed to provide computer visualizations, and
even 3-D printed models, for a flat torus 𝐶1 -isometrically Real Algebraic Manifolds [39].
embedded in 3-space (see [7]). Parallel Control [an otherwise unpublished RAND
For 𝑘 > 1, the problem of 𝐶𝑘 -isometric embedding of Corporation memorandum from 1954].
a smooth manifold in a suitable Euclidean space is less The Imbedding Problem for Riemannian Mani-
dramatic, but far more important for most applications. Its folds [41], plus an erratum.
effective solution by Nash in 1956 required the invention Continuity of Solutions of Parabolic and Elliptic
Equations [42].
of new and important methods in the study of partial
differential equations. One step in the proof was extracted For Nash’s letter to the NSA, see https://www.nsa.gov/
by Jürgen Moser ten years later [32], [33] and used to public_info/_files/nash_letters/nash_letters1.
study periodic orbits in celestial mechanics. The resulting pdf . For a discussion of Nash’s cryptosystem by Ron
Nash-Moser Inverse Function Theorem is a basic tool; but Rivest and Adi Shamir, see www.iacr.org/conferences/
is not easy to explain. (Richard Hamilton in 1982 took eurocrypt2012/Rump/nash.pdf .
more than 150 pages to explain it, see [23].) For video illustrating a flat torus in 3-space, see
Further informa- hevea.imag.fr/Site/Hevea_images-eng.html.
tion on Nash’s Embed-
A reasonable ding Theory can be
found in the article by John Nachbar and
person would De Lellis and Székely- Jonathan Weinstein
assume that hidi below. This was
just the beginning of
2 Nash Equilibrium
𝐶 -differentiability Nash’s work in partial Game theory is a mathematical framework for analyzing
differential equations. conflict and cooperation. It was originally motivated by
is just a For his 1957–1958 recreational games and gambling, but has subsequently
study of parabolic and
technicality, but elliptic equations, see
seen application to a wide range of disciplines, including
the social sciences, computer science, and evolutionary
the article by Villani
Nash was never a below. It is hard for John Nachbar is professor in economics at the Washington Uni-
reasonable person. a nonspecialist to un-
derstand the details of
versity in St. Louis. His email address is [email protected].
Jonathan Weinstein is professor in economics at the Wash-
this work, but it is ington University in St. Louis. His email address is
surely notable for its originality and depth. [email protected].
During these years, Nash was bouncing back and forth For permission to reprint this article, please contact:
between the Courant Institute in New York and the [email protected].

494 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

biology. Within game theory, the single most important
tool has proven to be Nash equilibrium. Our objective
here is to explain why John Nash’s introduction of Nash
equilibrium (Nash called it an “equilibrium point”) in [37]
and [38] caused a radical shift in game theory’s research
program.
We start with some terminology. A finite strategic-form
game (henceforth simply game), is a triple 𝐺 = (𝑁, 𝑆, 𝑢)
where 𝑁 = {1, … , 𝑛} is a finite set of players, 𝑆 = ∏𝑖∈𝑁 𝑆𝑖 ,
where 𝑆𝑖 denotes the finite set of strategies available to
player 𝑖, and 𝑢 = (𝑢1 , … , 𝑢𝑛 ) where 𝑢𝑖 ∶ 𝑆 → ℝ describes
the utility achieved by player 𝑖 at each strategy profile
𝑠 ∈ 𝑆. A mixed strategy 𝜎𝑖 is a probability distribution

Courtesy of John D. Stier.

over 𝑆𝑖 . Players attempt to maximize their utilities, or,
if facing randomness, the expected value of their utili-
ties; we extend our notation by letting 𝑢𝑖 (𝜎1 , … , 𝜎𝑛 ) be
the expectation of 𝑢𝑖 with respect to the independent
distribution over strategy profiles induced by (𝜎1 , … , 𝜎𝑛 ).
Two-player zero-sum games (two-player games for
which 𝑢1 (𝑠) + 𝑢2 (𝑠) = 0 for all 𝑠 ∈ 𝑆) are games of
pure conflict. The central result for such games was first Nash and his second son John Charles.
established by von Neumann ([55]):
Theorem 1 (Minimax Theorem). For every two-player
form. For games in coalition form, VN-M proposed a so-
zero-sum game, there is a number 𝑉 such that:
lution concept now called a stable set, consisting of a set
𝑉 = max min 𝑢1 (𝜎1 , 𝜎2 ) = min max 𝑢1 (𝜎1 , 𝜎2 ). of payoff profiles with certain properties. Finally, VN-M
𝜎1 𝜎2 𝜎2 𝜎1
proposed that for a general 𝑛-player game in strategic
Player 1 can thus guarantee an average utility of at least form, the solution is the set of utility profiles that cor-
𝑉, called the security value of the game, while Player 2 can respond to elements of the stable set for the associated
guarantee that Player 1 achieves at most 𝑉, or equivalently (𝑛 + 1)-player game in coalition form, with the additional
(since the game is zero-sum) that Player 2 achieves at restriction that the solution maximize the total utility to
least −𝑉. This provides a strong basis for the prediction the nondummy players.
that players will achieve average utilities of 𝑉 and −𝑉. The VN-M solution is difficult to compute for games
Any other outcome involves some player achieving less of four or more players. When there are only two players,
than he or she could have guaranteed. In standard however, the VN-M solution is simply the set of all utility
formalizations of Rock-Paper-Scissors, for example, 𝑉 = 0, profiles such that (1) each player gets at least his security
which players can guarantee by randomizing equally over value (which is defined even in a nonzero-sum game) and
“rock”, “paper”, and “scissors”. (2) the sum of player utilities is maximal. We refer to such
At the time Nash be- utility profiles as efficient.
gan working on game Consider, in particular, a game of the Prisoner’s
theory, the de facto In game theory, Dilemma form.
bible in the disci- 𝐶 𝐷
pline was [56] by von
the single most 𝐶 4, 4 0, 5
𝐷 5, 0 1, 1
Neumann and Morgen-
stern (hereafter VN-M).
important tool has Here, player 1 is the row player and player 2 is column.
VN-M made the follow- proven to be Nash If they play the strategy profile (𝐶, 𝐷), for example, then
ing proposal for how player 1 gets 0 and player 2 gets 5. The VN-M solution
to extend the Minimax equilibrium. for this game is the set of utility profiles such that the
Theorem to general utilities sum to 8 and each player gets at least 1.
games, games that may combine elements of both co- As an alternative to the VN-M solution, Nash ([37])
operation and conflict. Given a general 𝑛-player game, proposed what is now called a Nash equilibrium (NE): a NE
construct an (𝑛 + 1)-player zero-sum game by adding is a strategy profile (possibly involving mixed strategies)
a dummy player. For each coalition (nonempty set of such that each player maximizes his or her own expected
players), construct a two-player zero-sum game in which utility given the profile of (mixed) strategies of the other
the two players are the coalition and its complement; im- players. The focus of NE is thus on individual, rather than
plicitly, each coalition is assumed to cooperate perfectly collective, optimization.
within itself. The value of the coalition is the value 𝑉 from The zero-sum game Rock-Paper-Scissors has a unique
the Minimax Theorem in the induced two-player zero-sum NE in which each player randomizes equally over “rock”,
game. VN-M thus converted a general 𝑛-player game in “paper”, and “scissors”. This NE yields an expected utility
strategic form into an (𝑛 + 1)-player game in coalition profile of (0,0), which is the VN-M solution.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 495

 On the other hand, in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the
unique NE is (𝐷, 𝐷). The induced utility profile (1, 1) is
inefficient, hence is not an element of the VN-M solution.
The Prisoner’s Dilemma is the canonical example of a
game in which individual incentives lead players away

Photo credit: Princeton University.

from collective optimality. The VN-M solution, in contrast,
assumes this inefficiency away.
Nash proved:
Theorem 2 (Existence of Nash Equilibrium). For every fi-
nite game, there is a Nash Equilibrium profile (𝜎1∗ , … , 𝜎𝑛∗ ).
As noted in [37], Theorem 2 is an almost immediate
consequence of [26], which extended Brouwer’s fixed point
theorem to correspondences for the express purpose
of aiding proofs in economics and game theory. ([38] A press conference in Princeton on occasion of Nash
provided an alternate proof directly from Brouwer.) In winning the 1994 Nobel Prize. At left facing the
contrast, it was unknown at that time whether every finite camera is Princeton mathematician and game
game had a VN-M solution; [30] later provided an example theorist Harold Kuhn.
of a game with no VN-M solution.
That Theorem 2 is a generalization of the Minimax
Theorem can be seen by noting that Theorem 1 is allows us to investigate when, or to what degree, cooper-
equivalent to: ation can be sustained. Such questions could not even be
posed within the research program advocated by VN-M.
Theorem 3 (Minimax Theorem, Equilibrium Version). For
Noncooperative game theory has become the dominant
every two-player zero-sum game, there is a pair (𝜎1∗ , 𝜎2∗ )
branch of game theory, and research on noncooperative
such that
game theory began with Nash’s formulation of NE, [37]
𝑢1 (𝜎1∗ , 𝜎2∗ ) = max 𝑢1 (𝜎1 , 𝜎2∗ ) and [38]. It was appropriate, therefore, that the 1994
𝜎1
Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Science in Memory
and of Alfred Nobel (the Nobel Prize in Economics), which
Nash shared with two other prominent game theorists,
𝑢2 (𝜎1∗ , 𝜎2∗ ) = max 𝑢2 (𝜎1∗ , 𝜎2 ). cited Nash not only for Nash equilibrium, but also for
𝜎2
launching noncooperative game theory as a whole.
Thus, both the VN-M solution and NE generalize the
Minimax Theorem, but along very different paths. To Additional Reading
characterize the difference between the approaches, Nash For more on game theory generally, see [17] and [48]. For
([38]) coined the terms cooperative game theory (for games motivation for, and interpretation of, NE, see [8] (intro-
in coalition form, solved by concepts such as the stable set) spective reasoning), [36] (learning), and [49] (evolution).
and noncooperative game theory (for games in strategic For a gloss on whether NE is predictively accurate, and
form, solved by NE and related concepts). This choice of why testing this is not straightforward, see [29]. For con-
language can be deceptive. In particular, noncooperative nections between cooperative and noncooperative game
game theory does not rule out cooperation. theory (often called the Nash program), see [52]. Finally,
For example, a standard explanation for cooperation see [35] for a more thorough history of NE. In particular,
in the Prisoner’s Dilemma is that the players interact [35] discusses at length an issue that we omitted: the
repeatedly. But if this is the case, then the actual game relationship between Nash’s work and that of Cournot
isn’t the Prisoner’s Dilemma as written above but a more ([13]).
complicated game called a repeated game. If, in this
repeated game, players are sufficiently patient, then there Henry C. King
are NE that are cooperative: the players play (𝐶, 𝐶) in
every period, and this cooperation is enforced by the Nash’s Work on Algebraic Structures
threat of retaliation in future periods if either player ever I first learned of Nash’s work on algebraic structures
deviates and plays 𝐷. from Dick Palais who shaped my understanding of the
As this example illustrates, noncooperative game the- subject. I never met Nash, but am grateful to him for the
ory requires that the analyst specify the strategic options many enjoyable mathematical excursions his work made
for the players correctly: if the game is played repeatedly, possible.
or if players can negotiate, form coalitions, or make bind-
ing agreements, then all of that should be represented Henry C. King is professor emeritus of mathematics at the Uni-
in the strategic form. By highlighting both individual versity of Maryland. His email address is [email protected].
optimization and the importance of the fine details of For permission to reprint this article, please contact:
the strategic environment, non-cooperative game theory [email protected].

496 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 An 𝑚-dimensional differentiable submanifold 𝑀 of near 𝑝. But 𝐾(𝑝)𝑃(𝑥)𝑢(𝑥) = 0 implies 𝑃(𝑥)𝑢(𝑥) = 0
ℝ𝑛 is locally given as the zeroes of 𝑛 − 𝑚 differentiable near 𝑝, so we have a one-to-one correspondence between
functions 𝑓𝑖 with linearly independent gradients. By asking 𝑀 and the components of {𝑥 ∣ 𝑃(𝑥)𝑢(𝑥) = 0} near
that each 𝑓𝑖 be polynomial (or a generalization now called 𝑀. If we approximate 𝐾(𝑥) by a polynomial 𝐿(𝑥) we
a Nash function1) we get an algebraic structure on 𝑀. would not expect 𝐿 to have rank 𝑛 − 𝑚. But let 𝛼(𝑡) =
In [39], Nash showed that any compact differentiable 𝑡𝑚 + 𝛿1 𝑡𝑚−1 + ⋯ + 𝛿𝑚 = (𝑡 − 𝑟1 )(𝑡 − 𝑟2 ) ⋯ (𝑡 − 𝑟𝑚 ) where
manifold 𝑀 has a unique algebraic structure. The meat the 𝑟𝑖 are the eigenvalues of 𝐿(𝑥) close to 0. Then
of this result is showing existence, in particular that 𝑀 𝑃(𝑥) = 𝛼(𝐿(𝑥)) has rank 𝑛 − 𝑚 and 𝑃(𝑥) ≈ 𝐾𝑚 (𝑥) = 𝐾(𝑥).
has a representation as a submanifold 𝑉0 of ℝ𝑛 locally The coefficients 𝛿𝑖 are polynomially related to 𝑥, set to
given by polynomials 𝑓𝑖 as above. This is what Nash 0 the remainder of the quotient of the characteristic
calls a proper representation: There is a real algebraic polynomial of 𝐿(𝑥) by 𝛼. So at the expense of adding
set 𝑉 ⊂ ℝ𝑛 ; i.e., 𝑉 is the set of solutions of a collection the auxiliary variables 𝛿𝑖 , we can perturb 𝑀 to a proper
of polynomial equations in 𝑛 variables, and 𝑉0 is a algebraic representation.
union of connected components of 𝑉. If 𝑉 = 𝑉0 it is Nash’s paper mentions the following questions, among
called a pure representation. There is also a plain old others.
representation (where the 𝑓𝑖 are Nash functions), an (1) Can every compact differentiable submanifold 𝑀
example being the image of a polynomial embedding of a of ℝ𝑛 be approximated by a proper algebraic rep-
proper representation. resentation in ℝ𝑛 ? He tried proving this without
Here are some examples if 𝑀 is the circle. The algebraic success.
set 𝑋 in ℝ2 given by 𝑥2 + 𝑦2 = 1 is a pure representation (2) Can every compact differentiable submanifold 𝑀
of the circle. Let 𝑌 be the cubic 𝑦2 = 𝑥3 − 𝑥. The portion of ℝ𝑛 be approximated by a pure algebraic rep-
𝑌0 of 𝑌 with −1 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 0 is a proper representation of the resentation in ℝ𝑛 ? He speculated that this is
circle2. The cubic 𝑌 contains other points 𝑌1 with 𝑥 ≥ 1 plausible.
but these are in a different connected component of 𝑌. (3) Does every compact differentiable manifold 𝑀 have
Now consider the image 𝑝(𝑌) under the map a pure algebraic representation in some ℝ𝑛 ? He
𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦) = (𝑥 − 𝑥2 (𝑥 + 1)2 /2, 𝑦). thought this was probably true.
Elimination theory tells us that this image is an algebraic In [57], Wallace claimed to prove conjecture 1. Unfortu-
set 𝑍, as long as we include any real images of complex nately, there was a serious error (he neglected to include
solutions3 of 𝑦2 = 𝑥3 − 𝑥. Then 𝑝(𝑌0 ) is a representation the real images of complex solutions in his projections).
of the circle but is not proper since 𝑝(𝑌1 ) intersects 𝑝(𝑌0 ) However he did prove conjecture 3 in the case where 𝑀
at (−1, 0) = 𝑝(1, 0) = 𝑝(−1, 0). is the boundary of a compact differentiable manifold 𝑊.
Nash finds an algebraic representation of 𝑀 by writing Glue two copies of 𝑊 together along 𝑀. By Nash, we may
𝑀 ⊂ ℝ𝑛 as the zeroes of some differentiable functions, assume this is a component 𝑉0 of an algebraic subset 𝑉
approximating these functions by polynomials, and con- of some ℝ𝑛 . Let 𝑓 be a differentiable function which is
cluding that the zeroes of the polynomials have connected positive on one copy of 𝑊, negative on the other copy of
components which are a slightly perturbed copy of 𝑀. 𝑊, zero on 𝑀, and positive on 𝑉 − 𝑉0 . Approximate 𝑓 by a
Unfortunately, to make this work Nash must add some polynomial 𝑝 and then 𝑉∩𝑝−1 (0) is a pure representation
auxiliary variables and the proper representation ends up of 𝑀.
in ℝ𝑛+𝑚 . In [53], Tognoli proved conjecture 3 by greatly improv-
Let 𝑦(𝑥) denote the closest point in 𝑀 to 𝑥; then 𝑀 ing on this idea of Wallace. By work of Thom and Milnor,
is the zeroes of 𝑥 − 𝑦(𝑥). Approximate 𝑥 − 𝑦(𝑥) (and its we know that any compact differentiable manifold 𝑀 is
derivatives) near 𝑀 by some polynomial 𝑢(𝑥). We would cobordant to a nonsingular real algebraic set 𝑆; i.e., there
not expect the zeroes of 𝑢 to approximate 𝑀; after all, is a compact differentiable manifold 𝑊 whose boundary is
𝑢(𝑥) = 0 is 𝑛 equations in 𝑛 unknowns so we expect its 𝑀 ∪ 𝑆 where 𝑆 is a pure representation of some manifold.
solutions to have dimension 0. Let 𝐾(𝑥) be the matrix of Glue two copies of 𝑊 together along their boundaries.
orthogonal projection to the 𝑛 − 𝑚 plane normal to 𝑀 Tognoli then does a careful version of Nash to make
at 𝑦(𝑥). If we could approximate 𝐾(𝑥) by a polynomial the result a component 𝑉0 of a real algebraic set 𝑉 so
𝑃(𝑥) so that 𝑃(𝑥) had rank 𝑛 − 𝑚 near 𝑀 we would be that 𝑆 ⊂ 𝑉 is still a nonsingular algebraic set. Let 𝑓 be a
in business; {𝑥 ∣ 𝑃(𝑥)𝑢(𝑥) = 0} would have connected differentiable function which is positive on one copy of
components which are a perturbed copy of 𝑀. To see this, 𝑊, negative on the other copy of 𝑊, zero on 𝑀 and 𝑆,
restrict to the plane normal to 𝑀 at a point 𝑝, 𝐾(𝑝)𝑃(𝑥)𝑢(𝑥) and positive on 𝑉 − 𝑉0 . Approximate 𝑓 by a polynomial
approximates the identity and thus has a unique zero 𝑝, being careful to ensure that 𝑝 still vanishes on 𝑆, and
then 𝑉 ∩ 𝑝−1 (0) = 𝑀′ ∪ 𝑆 is an algebraic set with 𝑀′
1
Nash functions are only needed for uniqueness; we shall ignore diffeomorphic to 𝑀. It turns out that 𝑀′ is by itself an
them here. algebraic set and the conjecture is proven.
2 This method of Tognoli ends up being very useful
The map (𝑥, 𝑦) ↦ (2𝑥 + 1, 2𝑦/√1 − 𝑥) gives a Nash diffeomor-
phism from 𝑌0 to 𝑋. and gives us a general rule of thumb: If a differentiable
3 4
We’ll have to include (2 − 2√3, ± √12) = 𝑝((−√3 ± situation is cobordant to a real algebraic situation, then
4
√−5)/2, ± √12). it can be perturbed to be real algebraic.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 497

 In [54], Tognoli claimed to prove conjecture 2 but the In local coordinates the condition (ii) amounts to the
proof had serious errors detailed in [2]. This inspired following system of partial differential equations
Akbulut and me to prove Conjecture 1 [2] and to use the 𝑁
above rule of thumb [1] to reduce conjecture 2 to a cobor- (2) ∑ 𝜕𝑖 𝑢𝑘 𝜕𝑗 𝑢𝑘 = 𝑔𝑖𝑗 , 𝑖, 𝑗 = 1 … 𝑛
dism statement: A compact differentiable submanifold 𝑀 𝑘=1
of ℝ𝑛 can be approximated by a pure representation if and consisting of 𝑠𝑛 ∶= 𝑛(𝑛 + 1)/2 equations in 𝑁 unknowns.
only if there is a compact differen- An important relaxation of the concept above is that of
Photo credit: Robert P. Matthews, Princeton

tiable submanifold 𝑊 of ℝ𝑛 ×[0, 1] short embedding. A 𝐶1 embedding 𝑢 ∶ 𝑀 → ℝ𝑁 is called

whose boundary is 𝑀 × 0 ∪ 𝑆 × 1 short if it reduces (rather than preserving) the length of
where 𝑆 ⊂ ℝ𝑛 is a pure representa- all curves, i.e. if (1) holds with ≤ replacing the equality
tion of some manifold. The proof sign. In coordinates this means that (𝜕𝑖 𝑢 ⋅ 𝜕𝑗 𝑢) ≤ (𝑔𝑖𝑗 ) in
in [2] consists of being careful with the sense of quadratic forms.
the images of complex solutions. Nash realized that given a smooth embedding 𝑢 ∶
Nash’s proof gives a nonsingular 𝑀 → ℝ𝑁 , which is not necessarily isometric but it is
component 𝑉0 of a real algebraic short, one may try to solve (2) via local perturbations
set 𝑉 and a polynomial embed- which are small in 𝐶0 , because being an embedding
University.

ding 𝑝 ∶ 𝑉0 → ℝ𝑛 so that 𝑝(𝑉0 ) is is a stable property with respect to a large class of

a perturbation of 𝑀. We alter one such perturbations (since (2) alone guarantees that the
coordinate of 𝑝 to make sure that differential of 𝑢 has maximal rank, i.e. that 𝑢 is an
𝑝(𝑉 − 𝑉0 ) is far from 𝑝(𝑉0 ) and also any real images of immersion). Let us assume for simplicity that 𝑔 ∈ 𝐶∞ .
nonreal solutions of the polynomial equations of 𝑉 lie The three main theorems concerning the solvability of
far from 𝑝(𝑉0 ). Then 𝑝(𝑉0 ) is a proper representation the system of partial differential equations (2) are the
approximating 𝑀. following:
(A) If 𝑁 ≥ 𝑛 + 1, then any short 𝐶1 embedding can be
Camillo De Lellis and uniformly approximated by isometric embeddings
of class 𝐶1 (Nash [40] proved the statement for
László Székelyhidi Jr. 𝑁 ≥ 𝑛 + 2, Kuiper [28] extended it to 𝑁 = 𝑛 + 1) .
(B) If 𝑁 ≥ 𝑠𝑛 + max{2𝑛, 5}, then any short 𝐶1 embed-
Nash’s Work on Isometric Embeddings ding can be uniformly approximated by isometric
Nash wrote three papers on isometric embeddings of embeddings of class 𝐶∞ (Nash [41] proved the exis-
Riemannian manifolds in Euclidean space, which are tence of isometric embeddings for 𝑁 ≥ 3𝑠𝑛 + 4𝑛; the
landmark papers not only for the mathematical problem approximation statement above was first shown by
they solved, but more importantly because of the impact Gromov and Rokhlin for 𝑁 ≥ 𝑠𝑛 + 4𝑛 + 5 [20]; sub-
they had on other fields, encompassing applications that sequently the threshold was lowered by Gromov
go well beyond differential geometry. In these papers [19] to 𝑁 ≥ 𝑠𝑛 + 2𝑛 + 3 and by Günther [21] to
Nash studied the following problem: 𝑁 ≥ 𝑠𝑛 + max{2𝑛, 5}, see also [22]).
Given a smooth compact 𝑛-dimensional Riemannian (C) If 𝑔 is real analytic and 𝑁 ≥ 𝑠𝑛 +2𝑛+3, then any short
manifold 𝑀 with metric 𝑔, can we find an embedding 𝐶1 embedding can be uniformly approximated by
of 𝑀 into some Euclidean space ℝ𝑁 which preserves analytic isometric embeddings (Nash [43] extended
the metric structure? his 𝐶∞ existence theorem to the analytic case,
This was a fundamental issue, aimed at linking the notion whereas the approximation statement was shown
of submanifolds of ℝ𝑁 , and hence of classical surfaces, first by Gromov for 𝑁 ≥ 𝑠𝑛 +3𝑛+5 [18] and lowered
to the abstract concept arising from the pioneering work to the threshold above [19]).
of Riemann and his contemporaries. Corresponding
In the statement of the problem there are two theorems can
complementary requirements on the map 𝑢 ∶ 𝑀 → ℝ𝑁 : Nash’s papers on also be proved
(i) it should be a topological embedding, that is, continu- for noncompact
ous and injective;
isometric embeddings manifolds 𝑀,
(ii) it should be continuously differentiable and preserve
the length of curves; in other words the length of any
of Riemannian but they
more subtle (for
are

rectifiable curve 𝛾 ⊂ 𝑀 should agree with the length manifolds in instance the non-
of its image 𝑢(𝛾) ⊂ ℝ𝑁 : compact case of
(1) ℓ(𝑢 ∘ 𝛾) = ℓ(𝛾) for all rectifiable 𝛾 ⊂ 𝑀.
Euclidean space are (C) was left in
[43] as an open
László Székelyhidi Jr. is professor of Mathematics at the Universität
landmark papers. problem; we refer
Leipzig. His email address is [email protected] the reader to [18],
leipzig.de. [19] for more details).
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: For 𝑀 compact, any 𝐶1 embedding of 𝑀 into ℝ𝑁 can
[email protected]. be made short after multiplying it by a sufficiently small

498 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 𝑤𝑘 should increase lengths and thus it makes sense to
choose 𝑤𝑘 normal to the image 𝑢𝑘 (𝑀). This amounts to
the differential condition 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑤𝑘 = 0, from which one
easily deduces 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 = −𝑑2 𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑤𝑘 .
For the construction in (B)-(C) the idea is now to
follow the Newton scheme: assuming that 𝑤𝑘 and 𝑑𝑤𝑘 are
comparable and small, 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 is much smaller than
the linear term [𝑑𝑤𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 + 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ], hence a good
approximation can be obtained by solving for 𝑤𝑘 the
linearization
[𝑑𝑤𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 + 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ] = 𝑔 − 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 .
This can be reduced to an algebraic system for 𝑤𝑘 by
using 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑤𝑘 = 0 and 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 = −𝑑2 𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑤𝑘 . The central
analytic difficulty in carrying out the iteration is that, by
Photo: Berit Roald, NTB scanpix.

solving the corresponding algebraic system, estimates on

𝑤𝑘 will depend on estimates of 𝑑2 𝑢𝑘 - the mathematical
literature refers to this phenomenon as loss of derivative
and Nash dealt with this by introducing an additional
regularization step.
The latter obviously perturbs the estimates on how
small 𝑢𝑘+1 − 𝑢𝑘 is. However, Nash’s key realization is that
Newton-type iterations converge so fast that such loss in
the regularization step does not prevent the convergence
The award ceremony of the Abel prize, with King
of the scheme. Regularizations are obviously easier in the
Harald V of Norway and Louis Nirenberg. Courtesy of
𝐶∞ category, where for instance standard convolutions
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
with compactly supported mollifiers are available. It is
thus not surprising that the real analytic case requires a
subtler argument and this is the reason why Nash dealt
constant. Thus, (A), (B) and (C) are not merely existence
with it much later in the subsequent paper [43].
theorems: they show that the set of solutions is huge
Nash’s scheme has numerous applications in a wide
(essentially 𝐶0 -dense). Naively, this type of flexibility could
range of problems in partial differential equations where a
be expected for high codimension as in (B) and (C), since
purely functional-analytic implicit function theorem fails.
then there are many more unknowns than equations in
The first author to put Nash’s ideas in the framework of an
(2). Statement (A) on the other hand is rather striking, not
abstract implicit function theorem was J. Schwartz, cf. [51].
just because the problem is formally over-determined in
However the method became known as the Nash-Moser
dimension 𝑛 ≥ 3, but also when compared to the classical
iteration shortly after Moser succeeded in developing a
rigidity result concerning the Weyl problem: if (𝑆2 , 𝑔)
general framework going beyond an implicit function
is a compact Riemannian surface with positive Gauss
theorem, which he applied to a variety of problems in
curvature and 𝑢 ∈ 𝐶2 is an isometric immersion into ℝ3 ,
his fundamental papers [32], [33], in particular to the
then 𝑢 is uniquely determined up to a rigid motion [11, 24].
celebrated KAM theory. Several subsequent authors gen-
Notice on the other hand that if 𝑢 is required merely to
eralized these ideas and a thorough mathematical theory
be Lipschitz, then condition (ii) still makes sense in the
has been developed by Hamilton [23], who defined the
form (1) and it is not difficult to construct a large class of
categories of “tame Fréchet spaces” and “tame nonlinear
non-equivalent isometric embeddings of any (orientable)
maps.”
surface in ℝ3 : just think of crumpling paper!
It is rather interesting to notice that in fact neither the
The results (A) and (B)-(C) rely on two, rather different,
results in (B) nor those in (C) ultimately really needthe
iterative constructions, devised by Nash to solve the
Nash-Moser hard implicit function theorem. In fact in
underlying set of equations (2). In order to explain the
case (B) Günther has shown that the perturbation 𝑤𝑘
basic idea, let us write (2) in short-hand notation as
can be generated inverting a suitable elliptic operator
(3) 𝑑𝑢 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢 = 𝑔. and thus appealing to standard contraction arguments
Assuming that we have an approximation 𝑢𝑘 , i.e. such in Banach spaces. Case (C) can instead be reduced to the
that 𝜀𝑘 ∶= ‖𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 − 𝑔‖𝐶0 is small, we wish to add local solvability of (2) in the real analytic case (already
a perturbation 𝑤𝑘 so that 𝑢𝑘+1 ∶= 𝑢𝑘 + 𝑤𝑘 is a better known in the thirties, cf. [25], [9]); such reduction uses
approximation. The quadratic structure of the problem another idea of Nash on approximate decompositions of
yields the following equation for 𝑤𝑘 : the metric 𝑔 (compare to the decomposition in primitive
metrics explained below).
[𝑑𝑤𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 + 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ] + 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 = 𝑔 − 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 . Contrary to the iteration outlined above to handle the
A basic geometric insight in both constructions is that, results in (B) and (C), in the construction used for (A)
assuming 𝑢𝑘 is a short embedding, the perturbation 𝑤𝑘 and 𝑑𝑤𝑘 have different orders of magnitude. More

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 499

precisely, if 𝑤𝑘 is a highly oscillatory perturbation of the
type
𝑎𝑘 (𝑥) 𝑖𝜆𝑘 𝑥⋅𝜉𝑘
(4) 𝑤𝑘 (𝑥) ∼ Re ( 𝑒 ),
𝜆𝑘
then the linear term is 𝑂(𝜆−1
𝑘 ) whereas the quadratic term
is 𝑂(1). For the sake of our discussion, assume for the
moment the following:

Photo: Eirik Furu Baardsen.

(*) 𝑤𝑘 can be chosen with oscillatory structure (4) in such
a way that 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑤𝑘 ∼ 𝑔 − 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 .
Then the amplitude of the perturbation will be ‖𝑎𝑘 ‖𝐶0 ∼
1/2
‖𝑔 − 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ‖𝐶0 whereas the new error will be 𝜀𝑘+1 =
−1
𝑂(𝜆𝑘 ). Since
‖𝑑𝑢𝑘+1 − 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ‖𝐶0 = ‖𝑑𝑤𝑘 ‖𝐶0 ∼ ‖𝑎𝑘 ‖𝐶0 ,
1
the 𝐶 convergence of the sequence 𝑢𝑘 is guaranteed Nash at the Abel Lectures. Courtesy of the University
when ∑𝑘 √𝜀𝑘 < ∞, which is easily achieved by choosing of Oslo.
a sequence 𝜆𝑘 which blows up sufficiently rapidly. Fur-
thermore, ‖𝑢𝑘+1 − 𝑢𝑘 ‖𝐶0 = 𝑂(𝜆−1 𝑘 ), so that topological
properties of the map 𝑢𝑘 (e.g. being an embedding) will numerical implementation has been attempted only in
be easily preserved. On the other hand it is equally clear the last few years. After overcoming several hard com-
that in this way ‖𝑢𝑘 ‖𝐶2 → ∞, so that the final embedding putational problems, a team of French mathematicians
will be 𝐶1 but not 𝐶2 . have been able to produce its first computer-generated
It should be added that in fact illustrations, cf. [7].
it is not possible to achieve (*) as
Nirenberg stated above: it is easy to check that Cedric Villani
a single oscillatory perturbation of
did not the type (4) adds a rank-1 tensor to On Nash’s Regularity Theory for Parabolic
Equations in Divergence Form
hesitate to 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 , modulo terms of order
𝑂(𝜆−1 In the fall of 1958 the American Journal of Mathematics
𝑘 ). Nash overcame this diffi-
use the culty by decomposing 𝑔 − 𝑑𝑢𝑘 ⋅ 𝑑𝑢𝑘 published what may possibly be, to this date, the most
famous article in its long history: Continuity of solutions of
as a sum of finitely many (sym-
word metric and positive semidefinite) elliptic and parabolic equations, by John Nash. At twenty-
rank-1 tensors, which nowadays four pages, this is a quite short paper by modern standards
‘genius’. are called primitive metrics: the in partial differential equations; but it was solving a major
actual iterative step from 𝑢𝑘 to open problem in the field, and was immediately considered
𝑢𝑘+1 consists then in the (serial) addition of finitely many by experts (Carleson, Nirenberg, Hörmander, to name just
oscillatory perturbations of type (4). a few) as an extraordinary achievement. Nirenberg did
Nash’s iteration served as a prototype for a technique not hesitate to use the word “genius” to comment on the
developed by Gromov, called convex integration, which paper; as for me, let me say that I remember very well
unraveled the connection between the Nash-Kuiper the- the emotion and marvel which I felt at studying it, nearly
orem and several other counterintuitive constructions forty years after its writing.
in geometry, cf. [19]. In recent decades this technique Here is one form of the main result in Nash’s
has been applied to show similar phenomena (called ℎ- manuscript.
principle statements) in many other geometric contexts. Theorem 4. Let 𝑎𝑖𝑗 = 𝑎𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑡) be a 𝑛×𝑛 symmetric matrix
More recently, Müller and Šverak [34] discovered that a depending on 𝑥 ∈ ℝ𝑛 and 𝑡 ∈ ℝ+ . Assume that (𝑎𝑖𝑗 ) is
suitable modification of Gromov’s ideas provides a further uniformly elliptic, that is
link between the geometric instances of the ℎ-principle (1) ∀𝜉 ∈ ℝ𝑛 , 𝜆 |𝜉|2 ≤ ∑ 𝑎𝑖𝑗 𝜉𝑖 𝜉𝑗 ≤ 𝛬 |𝜉|2 ,
and several theorems with the same flavor proved in the 𝑖𝑗
1980s and in the 1990s in partial differential equations.
for some positive constants 𝜆 and 𝛬. Let 𝑓 = 𝑓(𝑥, 𝑡) ≥ 0
This point of view can be used to explain the existence of
solve the divergence form linear parabolic equation
solutions to the Euler equations that do not preserve the
kinetic energy, cf. [15]. Although the latter phenomenon 𝜕𝑓 𝜕 𝜕𝑓
=∑ (𝑎𝑖𝑗 )
was discovered only rather recently in the mathematical 𝜕𝑡 𝑗 𝜕𝑥 𝑖 𝜕𝑥𝑗
literature by Scheffer [50], in the theory of turbulence
it was predicted already in 1949 by a famous paper of Cedric Villani is director of the Institute Henry Poincaré and pro-
Onsager, cf. [47]. Mil fessor of mathematics at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.
Even nowadays the Nash-Kuiper theorem defies the His email address is [email protected].
intuition of most scholars. In spite of the fact that Nash’s For permission to reprint this article, please contact:
iteration is constructive and indeed rather explicit, its [email protected].

500 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

in ℝ𝑛 × ℝ+ . Then 𝑓 is automatically continuous, and even where the referee was none other than Hörmander; and
𝐶𝛼 (Hölder-continuous) for some exponent 𝛼 > 0, when he resubmitted it to the AJM, in an unsuccessful hope of
𝑡 > 0. The exponent 𝛼, as well as a bound on the 𝐶𝛼 winning the 1959 Bôcher Prize. Just a few months later,
norm, can be made explicit in terms of 𝜆, 𝛬, 𝑛 and the Nash’s health would deteriorate to a point that would
(time-independent) 𝐿1 (ℝ𝑛 ) norm of 𝑓. (among other much more tragical consequences) stop his
scientific career for many years, leaving him only a couple
The two key features in the assumptions of this
of later opportunities for additional contributions.
theorem are that
In spite of all this, when I read the detailed account by
(a) no regularity assumption of any kind is made on
Nasar [44, Chapters 30–31] or when I had the opportunity
the diffusion matrix: the coefficients 𝑎𝑖𝑗 should just be
to discuss with a prime witness like Nirenberg, what
measurable, and this is in contrast with the older classical most fascinated me was the genesis of the paper. (How
regularity theories for parabolic equations, which required I would have loved that the movie A Beautiful Mind pay
at least Hölder continuity of the coefficients; proper tribute to this truly inspiring adventure, rather
(b) Equation (1) is in divergence form; actually, equa- than choosing to forget the science and focus on the
tions in nondivergence form would later be the object of illness with such heavy pathos.)
a quite different theory pioneered by Krylov and Safonov. In order to get to his goal, Nash had not developed
The fact that the equation is of parabolic nature, on his own tools, but rather orchestrated fragmented efforts
the other hand, is not so rigid: elliptic equations can be from his best fellow analysts, combining his own intuition
considered just the same, as a particular, stationary, case. with the skills of specialists. A typical example is Nash’s
Also, this theorem can be localized by classical means interpolation inequality
and considered in the geometric setting of a Riemannian
1−𝜃 2𝜃
manifold. ∫ 𝑓2 𝑑𝑥 ≤ 𝐶(𝑛) (∫ |∇𝑥 𝑓|2 𝑑𝑥)
(2) (∫ 𝑓 𝑑𝑥) ,
The absence of regularity assumptions on the diffusion ℝ𝑛 ℝ𝑛 ℝ𝑛
matrix makes it possible to use this theorem to study non- 2
linear diffusion equations with a nonlinear dependence 𝜃= .
𝑛+2
between the diffusion matrix and the solution itself. In As Nash acknowledged in the manuscript, this inequality
this spirit, Nash hoped that these new estimates would was actually proven, on his request, by Stein; but it was
be useful in fluid mechanics. Still, the first notable use Nash who understood the crucial role that it could play
of this theorem was the solution of Hilbert’s nineteenth in the regularity theory of diffusion processes, and which
problem on the analyticity of minimizers of functionals has been later explored in great generality.
with analytic integrand. Namely, consider a nonnegative Another example is
minimizer for ∫ 𝐿(∇𝑣(𝑥)) 𝑑𝑥, with a uniformly convex the jaw-dropping use
analytic 𝐿: is 𝑣 analytic too? Classical calculus of varia- of Boltzmann’s en- One should praise
tions shows that 𝐶1,𝛼 solutions are analytic; then Nash’s tropy, 𝑆 = − ∫ 𝑓 log 𝑓,
estimate completes the proof by establishing the Hölder- completely out of con-
Nash’s informal
continuity of ∇𝑣. Indeed, if 𝑣 is a minimizer, then for
any index 𝑘, 𝑢 = 𝜕𝑘 𝑣 solves the divergence form linear
text. Entropy became
famous as a notion
style, intended to
elliptic Euler–Lagrange equation ∑𝑖𝑗 𝜕𝑖 (𝑎𝑖𝑗 𝜕𝑗 𝑢) = 0, where
2
of disorder or in- convey not only
𝑎𝑖𝑗 = 𝜕𝑖𝑗 𝐿(∇𝑣) is uniformly elliptic (this requires a few formation, mainly in
clever manipulations of mixed derivatives). Note that in statistical physics; but the proof, but also
this case, when we apply the theorem, absolutely nothing it certainly had noth-
is known on the regularity of 𝑎𝑖𝑗 , which directly depends ing to do with a the ideas
on the unknown function 𝑣. regularity issue. Still,
Still, it is not only its contents, and this foray into Nash brilliantly used underlying it.
Hilbert’s problem, that would make this paper unique, the entropy to mea-
but also the amazing set of circumstances and human sure the spreading of a distribution, and related this
passion surrounding it. spreading to the smoothing. Again, the tool was bor-
First, although a complete outsider in the field, Nash rowed from somebody else: I learnt from Carleson that
had managed to solve in just a few months the problem, it was him who initiated Nash to the notion of entropy.
which had been submitted to him by Nirenberg. This was the start of a long tradition of using nonlinear
Then it was discovered by accident that De Giorgi— integral functionals of the solution as an approach to
future icon, but completely unknown at the time—had regularity bounds.
just published an alternative solution [14], in the form of The next thing that one should praise is Nash’s informal
an even shorter article in a journal that was obscure (at style, all intended to convey not only the proof, but also
least in comparison with the AJM). For decades to come, the ideas underlying it – or “powerful.”
the coincidence of the solutions of Nash and De Giorgi But then, it is also the construction of the proof
would be regarded by all analysts as the example par which is a work of art. Nash uses a rather visual
excellence of simultaneous discovery. strategy, inspired by physics: think of the solution
As for his own paper, Nash, amazingly, withdrew it as the spreading of some quantity of heat, But
immediately upon its acceptance by Acta Mathematica, then, it is also the construction of the proof which

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 501

 and be interested in the con- assumption leads to a neat dissipation formula,
Photo: Peter Badge/Typos1—all rights reserved

tribution of an initial point 𝑑

source of heat; displacement ∫ 𝑓𝑞 = −𝑞(𝑞 − 1) ∫⟨𝑎∇𝑓, ∇𝑓⟩ 𝑓𝑞−2
𝑑𝑡
of “sources of heat” will im-
ply strict positivity, which in ≤ −𝐾𝑞(𝑞 − 1) ∫ |∇𝑓|2 𝑓𝑞−2 .
turn will imply overlapping of
Using the chain-rule, we deduce
nearby contributions, which in
turn will imply the continuity. He 𝑑 𝑞−1
∫ 𝑓𝑞 ≤ −𝐾 ( ) ∫ |∇𝑓𝑞/2 |2 .
also uses fine tactics, in partic- 𝑑𝑡 𝑞
ular to find dynamical relations
Now, the Nash inequality (2) tells us that the integral on
between appropriate “summary”
the right-hand side controls a higher power of the integral
quantities. As a typical start:
2015.

on the left-hand side: more precisely, if, say, 𝑞 ≥ 2,

Nash shows how the 𝐿2 norm
of the solution has to decrease 𝑑 (∫ 𝑓𝑞 )1+𝛽
∫ 𝑓𝑞 ≤ −𝐾 ,
immediately, which implies an unconditional bound on 𝑑𝑡 ∫ 𝑓𝑞/2
the maximum temperature, which in turn implies a lower for some 𝛽 = 𝛽(𝑛) > 0. This relates the evolution of the
bound on the entropy. Then he shows that entropy 𝐿𝑞 norm and the evolution of the 𝐿𝑞/2 norm; it implies a
goes with spreading (high entropy implies spreading; but bound for ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑞 in terms of 𝑡 and ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑞/2 , which can be
through diffusion, spreading increases entropy). These made explicit after some work. Iterating this bound up to
ideas have been quite influential, and can be found again, infinity, we may obtain an estimate on ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑝 as 𝑝 → ∞,
for instance, in the beautiful work [10] by Carlen and and eventually to ‖𝑓‖𝐿∞ : writing 𝑓0 = 𝑓(0, ⋅ ) we have
Loss on the 2-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes 𝐶
equation. ‖𝑓‖𝐿∞ ≤ ‖𝑓0 ‖𝐿2 .
𝑡𝑛/4
Various authors rewrote, simplified and pushed further
the De Giorgi–Nash theory. The two most important Combining this with the dual inequality
contributors were Moser [31] and Aronson [3]. Moser 𝐶
‖𝑓‖𝐿2 ≤ ‖𝑓0 ‖𝐿1
introduced the versatile Moser iteration, based on the 𝑡𝑛/4
study of the time-evolution of successive powers, which (which can also be proven from Nash’s inequality), we
simplifies the proof and avoids the explicit use of the obtain
entropy. (Entropy is a way to consider the regime 𝑝 → 1 𝐶
‖𝑓‖𝐿∞ ≤ 𝑛/2 ‖𝑓0 ‖𝐿1 .
in the 𝐿𝑝 norm; a dual approach is to consider the regime 𝑡
𝑝 → ∞ as Moser.) Moser further proved what can be This is the sharp 𝐿∞ estimate in short time. Now do all the
called the Moser–Harnack inequality: positive solutions analysis again with 𝑓 replaced by 𝑓 𝑒−𝛼⋅𝑥 , for some 𝛼 ∈ ℝ𝑛 .
of an elliptic divergence equation satisfy an estimate of Error terms will arise in the differential equations, leading
the form to
sup 𝑓 ≤ 𝐶 inf 𝑓, 𝑑 𝐾 1+𝛽𝑞/2 −𝛽𝑞/2 |𝛼|2 𝑞
𝐵(𝑥,𝑟) 𝐵(𝑥,2𝑟) ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑞 ≤ − ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑞 ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑞/2 + ‖𝑓‖𝐿𝑞 .
𝑑𝑡 𝑞 2𝜆
where 𝐶 only depends on 𝑟, 𝑛 and the ellipticity bounds. Iteration and the study of these ordinary differential
As for Aronson, he established a Gaussian-type bound inequalities will lead to a similar bound on 𝑓 𝑒−𝛼⋅𝑥 as on
on the associated heat kernel: 𝑝𝑡 (𝑥, 𝑦) is bounded from 𝑓; after some optimization this will imply the Gaussian
above and below by functions of the form bound.
𝐾 −𝐵|𝑥−𝑦|2 /𝑡 As can be seen, the method is elementary, but beau-
𝑒 . tifully arranged, and obviously flexible. Whether in the
𝑡𝑛/2
original version, or in the modern rewritings, Nash’s proof
These three results—the Hölder continuity, the Moser– is a gem; or, to use the expression of Newton, a beautiful
Harnack inequality, and the Gaussian type bounds—are all pebble.
connected and in some sense equivalent. Fine expositions
of this can be found in Bass [5] (Chapter 7), [6], and References
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N. J., 1947, 2d ed. MR 0021298 (9,50f)
57. A. H. Wallace, Algebraic approximation of manifolds, Proc.
London Math. Soc. (3) 7 (1957), 196–210. MR 0087205
(19,320a)

“Perhaps the best undergraduate course, the course in which I learned the most, was the junior full
year course in real analysis. The teacher was John F. Nash Jr. He was brilliant, arrogant, and eccentric.
At this time he was in the midst of his spectacular work on embedding theorems, nevertheless, his
course was meticulously prepared and beautifully presented. The course started with an introduction
to mathematical logic and set theory and covered, with great originality, the central topics of analysis
culminating in the study of differential and integral equations.”

Joseph J. Kohn, "Mathematical Encounters", All That Math, Real Sociedad Matemática Espa˜
nola, 2011.

504 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Nash and the NSA

At left: An excerpt from a six-page letter Nash wrote to the NSA describing a conjecture that captures the
transformation to modern cryptography, which occurred two decades after he wrote this letter.
At right: Diagrams Nash drew, as part of another multi-page letter to the NSA, describing an enciphering
machine he invented.
Both formerly classified letters are now available in full at https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/
nash_letters/nash_letters1.pdf.

Above are excerpts from two Nash letters that the National Security Agency (NSA) declassified and made public in 2012.
In these extraordinary letters sent to the agency in 1955, Nash anticipated ideas that now pervade modern cryptography
and that led to the new field of complexity theory. (In the obituary for Nash that appears in this issue of the Notices, page
492, John Milnor devotes a paragraph to these letters.)
Nash proposed to the NSA the idea of using computational difficulty as a basis for cryptography. He conjectured that
some encryption schemes are essentially unbreakable because breaking them would be computationally too difficult. He
cannot prove this conjecture, he wrote, nor does he expect it to be proved, “[but] that does not destroy its significance.” As
Noam Nisan wrote in a February 2012 entry in the blog Turing’s Invisible Hand (https://agtb.wordpress.com), “[T]his is
exactly the transformation to modern cryptography made two decades later by the rest of the world (at least publicly…).”
Nash also discussed in the letters the distinction between polynomial time and exponential time computations, which
is the basis for complexity theory. “It is hard not to compare this letter to Gödel’s famous 1956 letter to von Neumann
also anticipating complexity theory (but not cryptography),” Nisan writes. “That both Nash and Gödel passed through
Princeton may imply that these ideas were somehow ‘in the air’ there.”
The handwriting and the style of Nash’s letters convey a forceful personality. One can imagine that the letters might not
have been taken seriously at first by the NSA. “I hope my handwriting, etc. do not give the impression that I am just a crank
or a circle-squarer,” Nash wrote, noting that he was an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After receiving a reply from the NSA, Nash sent another letter describing a specific “enciphering-deciphering machine”
he had developed while at the RAND Corporation. At the Eurocrypt 2012 conference, Ron Rivest and Adi Shamir presented
an analysis of the actual security level of Nash’s proposed machine and found it was not as strong as Nash had thought
(www.iacr.org/conferences/eurocrypt2012/Rump/nash.pdf). Their conclusion: “John Nash foresaw in 1955 many
theoretical developments which would appear in complexity theory and cryptography decades later. However, he was a
much better game theorist than a cryptographer…”.

—Allyn Jackson

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 505

 Open Problems in Mathematics

Just before he left to collect his Abel Prize in Oslo in far from ‘classical’—it is something that brings about a
May 2015, Nash was working with Princeton postdoc dramatic alteration of our understanding of the basic
Michael Th. Rassias to finish up the preface to an ex- logic of analysis and differential geometry. Judging from
traordinary book they edited together called Open Prob- the classical perspective, what Nash has achieved in his
lems in Mathematics. The book will be published later
papers is as impossible as the story of his life… [H]is
this year by Springer.
work on isometric immersions…opened a new world of
The book consists of seventeen expository articles,
written by outstanding researchers, on some of the cen- mathematics that stretches in front of our eyes in yet
tral open problems in the field of mathematics today. unknown directions and still waits to be explored.”
Each article is devoted to one problem or a “constella- Nash and Rassias first met in September 2014 in the
tion of related problems,” common room of the Princeton mathematics building,
the preface says. Nash and Fine Hall. Nash was eighty-
Rassias do not claim the six years old and probably
Photo Princeton University, Office of Communications,

book represents all of the the most famous mathema-

most important problems in tician in the world, and Ras-
mathematics; rather, it is “a sias a twenty-seven-year-old
collection of beautiful math- Princeton postdoc who hails
ematical questions which
from Greece and had just
were chosen for a variety of
finished his PhD at the ETH
reasons. Some were chosen
in Zurich. A chemistry devel-
Danielle Alio (2015).

for their undoubtable im-

portance and applicability, oped between the two math-
others because they consti- ematicians and precipitated
tute intriguing curiosities their collaboration on Open
which remain unexplained Rassias talks to 2014 Abel Laureate Yakov Sinai Problems in Mathematics. A
mysteries on the basis of as 2015 Abel Laureate Nash looks on. Princeton News article that
current knowledge and appeared on the occasion of
techniques, and some for more emotional reasons. Nash receiving the 2015 Abel Prize discussed Ras-
Additionally, the attribute of a problem having a some- sias’s interactions with Nash (www.princeton.edu/
what vintage flavor was also influential in our decision main/news/archive/S42/72/29C63/index.xml?sec-
process.”
tion=topstories). Rassias is quoted as saying: “Work-
Here is another taste of the book, this one from the
ing with him is an astonishing experience—he thinks
introduction, titled “John Nash: Theorems and Ideas”
and written by Mikhail Gromov: “Nash was solving differently than most other mathematicians I’ve ever
classical mathematical problems, difficult problems, met. He’s extremely brilliant and has all this experience.
something that nobody else was able to do, not even to If you were a musician and had an opportunity to work
imagine how to do it… But what Nash discovered in the with Beethoven and compose music with him, it’d be
course of his constructions of isometric embeddings is astonishing. It's the same thing.”

Table of Contents of Open Problems in Mathematics edited by John F. Nash Jr. and Michael Th. Rassias
Preface, by John F. Nash Jr. and Michael Th. Rassias
Introduction: John Nash: Theorems and Ideas, by Misha Gromov
P versus NP, by Scott Aaronson
From Quantum Systems to L-Functions: Pair Correlation Statistics and Beyond, by Owen Barrett, Frank W. K. Firk,
Steven J. Miller, and Caroline Turnage-Butterbaugh
The Generalized Fermat Equation, by Michael Bennett, Preda Mih˘ ailescu, and Samir Siksek
The Conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer, by John Coates
An Essay on the Riemann Hypothesis, by Alain Connes
Navier Stokes Equations: A Quick Reminder and a Few Remarks, by Peter Constantin
Plateau's Problem, by Jenny Harrison and Harrison Pugh
The Unknotting Problem, by Louis H. Kauffman
How Can Cooperative Game Theory Be Made More Relevant to Economics?: An Open Problem, by Eric Maskin
The Erdős-Szekeres Problem, by Walter Morris and Valeriu Soltan
Novikov's Conjecture, by Jonathan Rosenberg
The Discrete Logarithm Problem, by René Schoof
Hadwiger's Conjecture, by Paul Seymour
The Hadwiger-Nelson Problem, by Alexander Soifer
Erdős’s Unit Distance Problem, by Endre Szemerédi
Goldbach's Conjectures: A Historical Perspective, by Robert C. Vaughan
The Hodge Conjecture, by Claire Voisin

506 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 A M E R I C A N M AT H E M AT I C A L S O C I E T Y

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AMS
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Fostering outstanding mathematical research
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2015-2016: Christian Schnell

Photo courtesy of Christian Schnell
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Awarded annually to promising

Wayne State Univ

early-career mathematicians, the

Centennial Fellowship Fund
provides one-year mathematical
research fellowships.

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Photo by Riza Falk
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or email: [email protected]
The Quantum Computer Puzzle
Gil Kalai
Communicated by Joel Hass

quantum computer puzzle is to decide between these

Q
uantum computers are hypothetical devices,
based on quantum physics, which would two hypotheses. We list some remarkable consequences
enable us to perform certain computations of the optimistic hypothesis, giving strong reasons for
hundreds of orders of magnitude faster than the intensive efforts to build quantum computers, as
digital computers. This feature is coined well as good reasons for suspecting that this might
“quantum supremacy”, and one aspect or another of such not be possible. For systems of noninteracting bosons,
quantum computational supremacy might be seen by we explain how quantum supremacy achieved without
experiments in the near future: by implementing quantum noise is replaced, in the presence of noise, by a very
error-correction or by systems of noninteracting bosons low yet fascinating computational power.1 Finally, we
or by exotic new phases of matter called anyons or describe eight predictions about quantum physics and
by quantum annealing, or in various other ways. We computation from the pessimistic hypothesis.2
concentrate in this paper on the model of a universal
Are quantum computers feasible? Is quantum
quantum computer that allows the full computational
supremacy possible? My expectation is that the pes-
potential for quantum systems, and on the restricted
simistic hypothesis will prevail, leading to a negative
model, called “BosonSampling”, based on noninteracting
answer. Rather than regarding this possibility as an un-
bosons.
A main reason for concern regarding the feasibility fortunate failure that impedes the progress of humanity,
of quantum computers is that quantum systems are I believe that the failure of quantum supremacy itself
inherently noisy. We will describe an optimistic hypoth- leads to important consequences for quantum physics,
esis regarding quantum noise that will allow quantum the theory of computing, and mathematics. Some of these
computing and a pessimistic hypothesis that won’t. The will be explored here.

Gil Kalai is Henry and Manya Noskwith Professor of Mathematics A Brief Summary
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is also affiliated with
Yale University. His email address is [email protected].
Here is a brief summary of the author’s pessimistic
point of view as explained in the paper: understanding
This work was supported in part by ERC advanced grant 320924,
quantum computers in the presence of noise requires
BSF grant 2006066, and NSF grant DMS-1300120. The author
is thankful to an anonymous referee, Bill Casselman, Irit Dinur, consideration of behavior at different scales. In the small
Oded Goldreich, Joel Hass, and Abby Thompson for helpful com- scale, standard models of noise from the mid-90s are
ments, and to Neta Kalai for drawing Figures 2 and 4. suitable, and quantum evolutions and states described
1
Based on G. Kalai and G. Kindler, “Gaussian noise sensitivity and by them manifest a very low-level computational power.
BosonSampling”, arXiv:1409.3093. This small-scale behavior has far-reaching consequences
2
Based on G. Kalai, “How quantum computers fail: quantum for the behavior of noisy quantum systems at larger
codes, correlations in physical systems, and noise accumulation”, scales. On the one hand, it does not allow reaching the
arXiv:1106.0485, and a subsequent Internet debate with Aram starting points for quantum fault tolerance and quantum
Harrow and others. supremacy, making them both impossible at all scales.
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: reprint- On the other hand, it leads to novel implicit ways for
[email protected]. modeling noise at larger scales and to various predictions
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1380 on the behavior of noisy quantum systems.

508 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

The Vision of Quantum Computers and Quantum
Supremacy
Circuits and Quantum Circuits
The basic memory component in classical computing is
a bit, which can be in two states, “0” or “1”. A computer
(or circuit) has 𝑛 bits, and it can perform certain logical
operations on them. The NOT gate, acting on a single bit,
and the AND gate, acting on two bits, suffice for universal
classical computing. This means that a computation based
on another collection of logical gates, each acting on a
bounded number of bits, can be replaced by a computation
based only on NOT and AND. Classical circuits equipped
with random bits lead to randomized algorithms, which
Figure 1. The (conjectured) view of some main
are both practically useful and theoretically important.
computational complexity classes. The red ellipse
Quantum computers (or circuits) allow the creation
represents efficient quantum algorithms.
of probability distributions that are well beyond the
reach of classical computers with access to random bits.
A qubit is a piece of quantum memory. The state of
a qubit can be described by a unit vector in a two- refers to questions where we can provably perform the
dimensional complex Hilbert space 𝐻. For example, a task in a polynomial number of operations in the input
basis for 𝐻 can correspond to two energy levels of the size, provided we are given a certain polynomial-size
hydrogen atom or to horizontal and vertical polarizations “hint” of the solution. An algorithmic task 𝐴 is NP-hard
of a photon. Quantum mechanics allows the qubit to if a subroutine for solving 𝐴 allows solving any problem
be in a superposition of the basis vectors, described in NP in a polynomial number of steps. An NP-complete
by an arbitrary unit vector in 𝐻. The memory of a problem is an NP-hard problem in NP. A useful analog is
quantum computer consists of 𝑛 qubits. Let 𝐻𝑘 be the
to think about the gap between NP and P as similar to the
two-dimensional Hilbert space associated with the 𝑘th
gap between finding a proof of a theorem and verifying
qubit. The state of the entire memory of 𝑛 qubits is
that a given proof of the theorem is correct. P and NP are
described by a unit vector in the tensor product 𝐻1 ⊗
𝐻2 ⊗ ⋯ ⊗ 𝐻𝑛 . We can put one or two qubits through two of the lowest computational complexity classes in the
gates representing unitary transformations acting on the polynomial hierarchy PH, which is a countable sequence
corresponding two- or four-dimensional Hilbert spaces, of such classes, and there is a rich theory of complexity
and as for classical computers, there is a small list of gates classes beyond PH.
sufficient for universal quantum computing. Each step in There are intermediate problems between P and NP.
the computation process consists of applying a unitary Factoring an 𝑛-digit integer is not known to be in P, as
transformation on the large 2𝑛 -dimensional Hilbert space, the best algorithms are exponential in the cube root of
namely, applying a gate on one or two qubits, tensored the number of digits. Factoring is in NP, but it is unlikely
with the identity transformation on all other qubits. At that factoring is NP-complete. Shor’s famous algorithm
the end of the computation process, the state of the shows that quantum computers can factor 𝑛-digit inte-
entire computer can be measured, giving a probability gers efficiently—in ∼ 𝑛2 steps! Quantum computers are
distribution on 0–1 vectors of length 𝑛. not known to be able to solve efficiently NP-complete
A few words on the connection between the mathe- problems, and there are good reasons to think that they
matical model of quantum circuits and quantum physics: cannot. Yet, quantum computers can efficiently perform
In quantum physics, states and their evolutions (the way certain computational tasks beyond NP.
they change in time) are governed by the Schrödinger
Two comments: First, our understanding of the com-
equation. A solution of the Schrödinger equation can be
putational complexity world depends on a whole array
described as a unitary process on a Hilbert space, and
of conjectures: NP ≠ P is the most famous one, and a
quantum computing processes as we just described form
a large class of such quantum evolutions. stronger conjecture asserts that PH does not collapse,
namely, that there is a strict inclusion between the com-
A Very Brief Tour of Computational Complexity putational complexity classes defining the polynomial
hierarchy. Second, computational complexity insights,
Computational complexity is the theory of efficient compu-
tations, where “efficient” is an asymptotic notion referring while asymptotic, strongly apply to finite and small algo-
to situations where the number of computation steps rithmic tasks. Paul Erdős famously claimed that finding
(“time”) is at most a polynomial in the number of input the value of the Ramsey function 𝑅(𝑛, 𝑛) for 𝑛 = 6 is well
bits. The complexity class P is the class of algorithms that beyond mankind’s ability. This statement is supported
can be performed using a polynomial number of steps in by computational complexity insights that consider the
the size of the input. The complexity class NP refers to difficulty of computations as 𝑛 → ∞, while not directly
nondeterministic polynomial time. Roughly speaking, it implied by them.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 509

Noise qubit is corrupted at a computation step conditioned on
Noise and Fault-Tolerant Computation it surviving up to this step.
The main concern regarding the feasibility of quantum
computers has always been that quantum systems are Two Alternatives for Noisy Quantum Systems
inherently noisy: we cannot accurately control them, and The quantum computer puzzle is, in a nutshell, de-
we cannot accurately describe them. To overcome this ciding between two hypotheses regarding properties of
difficulty, a theory of quantum fault-tolerant computation noisy quantum circuits: the optimistic hypothesis and the
based on quantum error-correction codes was developed.3 pessimistic hypothesis.
Fault-tolerant computation refers to computation in the
presence of errors. The basic idea is to represent (or Optimistic Hypothesis: It is possible to realize universal
“encode”) a single piece of information (a bit in the quantum circuits with a small bounded error level re-
classical case or a qubit in the quantum case) by a large gardless of the number of qubits. The effort required
number of physical components so as to ensure that the to obtain a bounded error level for universal quantum
computation is robust even if some of these physical circuits increases moderately with the number of qubits.
components are faulty. Therefore, large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers
What is noise? are possible.
Solutions of the
The main concern Schrödinger equation
Pessimistic Hypothesis: The error rate in every realization
of a universal quantum circuit scales up (at least) linearly
(quantum evolutions)
regarding the can be regarded as
with the number of qubits. The effort required to obtain a
bounded error level for any implementation of universal
feasibility of unitary processes on
Hilbert spaces. Mathe-
quantum circuits increases (at least) exponentially with
the number of qubits. Thus, quantum computers are not
quantum matically speaking, the
possible.
study of noisy quan-
Some explanations: For the optimistic hypothesis, we
computers has tum systems is the
note that the main theorem of quantum fault tolerance
study of pairs of
always been that Hilbert spaces (𝐻, 𝐻′ ),
asserts that (under some natural conditions on the noise)
if we can realize universal quantum circuits with a
𝐻 ⊂ 𝐻′ , and a uni-
quantum systems tary process on the
sufficiently small error rate (where the threshold is roughly
between 0.001 and 0.01), then quantum fault tolerance
are inherently larger Hilbert space
𝐻′ . Noise refers to
and hence universal quantum computing are possible.
For the pessimistic hypothesis, when we say that the rate
noisy. the general effect of
neglecting degrees of
of noise per qubit scales up linearly with the number
of qubits, we mean that when we double the number of
freedom, namely, approximating the process on a large
qubits in the circuit, the probability for a single qubit
Hilbert space by a process on a small Hilbert space. For
to be corrupted in a small time interval doubles. The
controlled quantum systems and, in particular, quantum
pessimistic hypothesis does not require new modeling
computers, 𝐻 represents the controlled part of the sys-
for the noise for universal quantum circuits, and it is
tem, and the large unitary process on 𝐻′ represents, in
just based on a different assumption on the rate of
addition to an “intended” controlled evolution on 𝐻, also
noise. However, it leads to interesting predictions and
the uncontrolled effects of the environment. The study of
modeling and may lead to useful computational tools,
noise is relevant not only to controlled quantum systems
for more general noisy quantum systems. We emphasize
but also to many other aspects of quantum physics.
that both hypotheses are assertions about physics (or
A second, mathematically equivalent way to view noisy
physical reality), not about mathematics, and both of the
states and noisy evolutions is to stay with the original
hypotheses represent scenarios that are compatible with
Hilbert space 𝐻 but to consider a mathematically larger
quantum mechanics.
class of states and operations. In this view, the state
of a noisy qubit is described as a classical probability The constants are important, and the pessimistic view
distribution on unit vectors of the associated Hilbert regarding quantum supremacy holds that every realiza-
spaces. Such states are referred to as mixed states. It is tion of universal quantum circuits will fail for a handful
convenient to think about the following form of noise, of qubits long before any quantum supremacy effect is
called depolarizing noise: in every computer cycle a qubit witnessed and long before quantum fault tolerance is
is not affected with probability 1−𝑝, and, with probability possible. The failure to reach universal quantum circuits
𝑝, it turns into the maximal entropy mixed state, i.e., the for a small number of qubits and to manifest quantum
average of all unit vectors in the associated Hilbert space. supremacy for small quantum systems is crucial for
In this example, 𝑝 is the error rate, and, more generally, the pessimistic hypothesis, and Erdős’s statement about
the error rate can be defined as the probability that a 𝑅(6, 6) is a good analogy for this expected behavior.
Both on the technical and conceptual levels we see here
3
M. A. Nielsen and I. L. Chuang, Quantum Computation and what we call a “wide-gap dichotomy”. On the technical
Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, level, we have a gap between small constant error rate per
2000, Ch. 10. qubit for the optimistic view and linear increase of rate

510 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Each of attempts (1)–(4) represents many different
experimental directions carried out mainly in academic
institutions, while (5) represents an attempt by a commer-
cial company, D-wave.4 There are many different avenues
for realizing qubits, of which ion-trapped qubits and
superconducting qubits are perhaps the leading ones.
Quantum supremacy via nonabelian anyons stands out as
a very different direction based on exotic new phases of
matter and very deep mathematical and physical issues.
BosonSampling (see the next section) stands out in the
quest to demonstrate quantum supremacy for narrow
physical systems without offering further practical fruits.
The pessimistic hypothesis predicts a decisive fail-
ure for all of these attempts to demonstrate quantum
supremacy or very stable logical qubits and that this
failure will be witnessed for small systems. A reader
Figure 2. The optimistic hypothesis: Classical may ask how the optimistic hypothesis can be falsified
fault-tolerance mechanisms can be extended, via beyond repeated failures to demonstrate universal quan-
quantum error-correction, allowing robust quantum tum computers or partial steps toward them as those
information and computationally superior quantum listed above. My view is that the optimistic hypothesis
computation. Drawing by Neta Kalai. can be largely falsified if we can understand the absence
of quantum supremacy and quantum error correction
as a physical principle with predictive power that goes
per qubit (in terms of the number of qubits in the circuit) beyond these repeated failures, both in providing more
on the pessimistic side. We also have a gap between detailed predictions about these failures themselves (such
the ability to achieve large-scale quantum computers on as scaling-up of errors, correlations between errors, etc.)
the optimistic side and the failure of universal quantum and in providing predictions for other natural quantum
circuits already for a handful of qubits on the pessimistic systems. Mathematical modeling of noisy quantum sys-
side. On the conceptual level, the optimistic hypothesis tems based on the pessimistic hypothesis is valuable, not
asserts that quantum mechanics allows superior compu- only if it represents a general physical principle, but also
tational powers, while the pessimistic hypothesis asserts if it represents temporary technological difficulties or if
that quantum systems without specific mechanisms for it applies to limited classes of quantum systems.
robust classical information that leads only to classical
computing are actually computationally inferior. We will BosonSampling
come back to both aspects of this wide-gap dichotomy. Quantum computers allow the creation of probability
distributions that are beyond the reach of classical com-
Potential Experimental Support for Quantum puters with access to random bits. This is manifested
Supremacy by BosonSampling, a class of probability distributions
A definite demonstration of quantum supremacy of representing a collection of noninteracting bosons that
controlled quantum systems—namely, building quantum quantum computers can efficiently create. It is a restricted
systems that outperform, even for specific computational subset of distributions compared to the class of distri-
tasks, classical computers—or a definite demonstration butions that a universal quantum computer can produce,
of quantum error correction will falsify the pessimistic and it is not known if BosonSampling distributions can be
hypothesis and will give strong support for the optimistic used for efficient integer factoring or for other “useful”
hypothesis. (The optimistic hypothesis will be completely algorithms. BosonSampling was introduced by Troyan-
verified with full-fledged universal quantum computers.) sky and Tishby in 1996 and was intensively studied by
There are several ways people plan, in the next few years, Aaronson and Arkhipov,5 who offered it as a quick path
to demonstrate quantum supremacy or the feasibility of for experimentally showing that quantum supremacy is a
quantum fault tolerance. real phenomenon.
Given an 𝑛 by 𝑛 matrix 𝐴, let 𝑑𝑒𝑡(𝐴) denote the
(1) Attempts to create small universal quantum
determinant of 𝐴, and let 𝑝𝑒𝑟(𝐴) denote the perma-
circuits with up to “a few tens of qubits.”
nent of 𝐴. Thus 𝑑𝑒𝑡(𝐴) = ∑𝜋∈𝑆𝑛 𝑠𝑔𝑛(𝜋) ∏𝑛𝑖=1 𝑎𝑖𝜋(𝑖) , and
(2) Attempts to create stable logical qubits based on
𝑝𝑒𝑟(𝐴) = ∑𝜋∈𝑆𝑛 ∏𝑛𝑖=1 𝑎𝑖𝜋(𝑖) . Let 𝑀 be a complex 𝑛 × 𝑚
surface codes.
(3) Attempts to have BosonSampling for 10–50 4
D-wave is attempting to demonstrate quantum speedup for
bosons. NP-hard optimization problems and even to compute Ramsey
(4) Attempts to create stable qubits based on anyonic numbers.
states. 5
S. Aaronson and A. Arkhipov, “The computational complex-
(5) Attempts to demonstrate quantum speed up ity of linear optics”, Theory of Computing 4 (2013), 143–252;
based on quantum annealing. arXiv:1011.3245.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 511

matrix, 𝑚 ≥ 𝑛. Consider all (𝑚 𝑛 ) subsets 𝑆 of 𝑛 columns, Predictions from the Optimistic Hypothesis
and for every subset consider the corresponding 𝑛 × 𝑛 Barriers Crossed. Quantum computers would dramati-
submatrix 𝐴. The algorithmic task of sampling subsets cally change our reality.
𝑆 of columns according to |𝑑𝑒𝑡(𝑀′ )|2 is called Fermion- (1) A universal machine for creating quantum states
Sampling. Next consider all (𝑚+𝑛−1 𝑛 ) submultisets 𝑆 of 𝑛 and evolutions will be built.
columns (namely, allow columns to repeat), and for every (2) Complicated evolutions and states with global
submultiset 𝑆 consider the corresponding 𝑛×𝑛 submatrix interactions, markedly different from anything
𝐴 (with column 𝑖 repeating 𝑟𝑖 times). BosonSampling is the witnessed so far, will be created.
algorithmic task of sampling those multisets 𝑆 according (3) It will be possible to experimentally time-reverse
to |𝑝𝑒𝑟(𝐴)|2 /(𝑟1 ! 𝑟2 ! ⋯ 𝑟𝑛 ! ). Note that the algorithmic task every quantum evolution.
for BosonSampling and FermionSampling is to sample (4) The noise will not respect symmetries of the state.
according to a specified probability distribution. They are (5) There will be fantastic computational complexity
consequences.
not decision problems, where the algorithmic task is to
(6) Quantum computers will efficiently break most
provide a yes/no answer.
current public-key cryptosystems.
Let us demonstrate these notions by an example for
Items (1)–(4) represent a vastly different experimental
𝑛 = 2 and 𝑚 = 3. The input is a 2 × 3 matrix:
reality than that of today, and items (5) and (6) represent
1/√3 𝑖/√3 1/√3 a vastly different computational reality.
( ).
0 1/√2 𝑖/√2 Magnitude of Improvements. It is often claimed that quan-
tum computers can perform certain computations that
The output for FermionSampling is a probability dis- even a classical computer of the size of the entire uni-
tribution on subsets of two columns, with probabilities verse cannot perform! Indeed it is useful to examine
given according to absolute values of the square of deter- not only things that were previously impossible and that
minants. Here we have probability 1/6 for columns {1, 2}, are now made possible by a new technology but also
probability 1/6 for columns {1, 3}, and probability 4/6 for the improvement in terms of orders of magnitude for
columns {2, 3}. The output for BosonSampling is a prob- tasks that could have been achieved by the old technology.
ability distribution according to absolute values of the Quantum computers represent enormous, unprecedented
square of permanents of submultisets of two columns. order-of-magnitude improvement of controlled physical
Here, the probabilities are: {1, 1} → 0, {1, 2} → 1/6, phenomena as well as of algorithms. Nuclear weapons
{1, 3} → 1/6, {2, 2} → 2/6, {2, 3} → 0, {3, 3} → 2/6. represent an improvement of 6–7 orders of magnitude
FermionSampling describes the state of 𝑛 noninteract- over conventional ordnance: the first atomic bomb was
ing fermions, where each individual fermion is described a million times stronger than the most powerful (single)
conventional bomb at the time. The telegraph could de-
as a superposition of 𝑚 “modes”. BosonSampling de-
liver a transatlantic message in a few seconds compared to
scribes the state of 𝑛 noninteracting fermions, where
the previous three-month period. This represents an (im-
each individual fermion is described by 𝑚 modes. A mense) improvement of 4–5 orders of magnitude. Memory
few words about the physics: Fermions and bosons are and speed of computers were improved by 10–12 orders
the main building blocks of nature. Fermions, such as of magnitude over several decades. Breakthrough algo-
electrons, quarks, protons, and neutrons, are particles rithms at the time of their discovery also represented
characterized by Fermi–Dirac statistics. Bosons, such practical improvements of no more than a few orders
as photons, gluons, and the Higgs boson, are particles
characterized by Bose–Einstein statistics.
Moving to computational complexity, we note that
Gaussian elimination gives an efficient algorithm for
computing determinants, but computing permanents is
very hard: it represents a computational complexity class
called #P (in words, “number P” or “sharp P”) that extends
beyond the entire polynomial hierarchy. It is commonly
Photo courtesy of Yifan Wang.

believed that even quantum computers cannot efficiently

compute permanents. However, a quantum computer can
efficiently create a bosonic (and a fermionic) state based on
a matrix 𝑀 and therefore perform efficiently both Boson-
Sampling and FermionSampling. A classical computer
with access to random bits can sample FermionSampling
efficiently, but, as proved by Aaronson and Arkhipov, a
classical computer with access to random bits cannot
perform BosonSampling unless the polynomial hierarchy Aram Harrow and Gil Kalai shake hands at MIT after
collapses! their internet debate.

512 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

of magnitude. Yet implementing BosonSampling with a
hundred bosons represents more than a hundred orders
of magnitude improvement compared to digital comput-
ers, and a similar story can be told about a large-scale
quantum computer applying Shor’s algorithm.

Computations in Quantum Field Theory. Quantum elec-

trodynamics (QED) computations allow one to describe
various physical quantities in terms of a power series
𝑘
∑ 𝑐𝑘 𝛼 ,
where 𝑐𝑘 is the contribution of Feynman’s diagrams with 𝑘
loops and 𝛼 is the fine structure constant (around 1/137).
Quantum computers will (likely)6 allow one to compute
these terms and sums for large values of 𝑘 with hundreds Figure 3. The huge computational gap (left) between
of digits of accuracy, similar to computations of the digits BosonSampling (purple) and FermionSampling
of 𝑒 and 𝜋 on today’s computers, even in regimes where (green) vanishes in the noisy versions (right).
they have no physical meaning!
My Interpretation. I regard the incredible consequences by bounded-degree polynomials and can sample approx-
from the optimistic hypothesis as solid indications that imately according to probability distributions described
quantum supremacy is “too good to be true” and that the by real polynomials of bounded degree.
pessimistic hypothesis will prevail. Quantum computers
would change reality in unprecedented ways, both qualita- Theorem 1 (Kalai and Kindler). When the noise level is
tively and quantitatively, and it is easier to believe that we constant, BosonSampling distributions are well approx-
will witness substantial theoretical changes in modeling imated by their low-degree Fourier–Hermite expansion.
quantum noise than that we will witness such dramatic Consequently, noisy BosonSampling can be approximated
changes in reality itself. by bounded-depth polynomial-size circuits.
It is reasonable to assume that for all proposed im-
BosonSampling Meets Reality plementations of BosonSampling, the noise level is at
How Does Noisy BosonSampling Behave? least a constant, and therefore an experimental re-
BosonSampling and Noisy BosonSampling (i.e., BosonSam- alization of BosonSampling represents, asymptotically,
pling in the presence of noise) exhibit radically different bounded-depth computation. The next theorem shows
behavior. BosonSampling is based on 𝑛 noninteracting, that implementation of BosonSampling will actually
indistinguishable bosons with 𝑚 modes. For noisy Boson require pushing down the noise level below 1/𝑛.
Samplers these bosons will not be perfectly noninter-
Theorem 2 (Kalai and Kindler). When the noise level is
acting (accounting for one form of noise) and will not
𝜔(1/𝑛) and 𝑚 ≫ 𝑛2 , BosonSampling is very sensitive to
be perfectly indistinguishable (accounting for another
noise, with a vanishing correlation between the noisy dis-
form of noise). The same is true if we replace bosons
tribution and the ideal distribution.7
by fermions everywhere. The state of 𝑛 bosons with 𝑚
modes is represented by an algebraic variety of decom- Theorems 1 and 2 give evidence against expectations of
posable symmetric tensors of real dimension 2𝑚𝑛 in a demonstrating “quantum supremacy” via BosonSampling:
huge relevant Hilbert space of dimension 2𝑚𝑛 . For the experimental BosonSampling represents an extremely
fermion case this manifold is simply the Grassmannian. low-level computation, and there is no precedence for
We have already discussed the rich theory of compu- a “bounded-depth machine” or a “bounded-depth algo-
tational complexity classes beyond P, and there is also a rithm” that gives a practical advantage, even for small
rich theory below P. One very low-level complexity class input size, over the full power of classical computers, not
consists of computational tasks that can be carried out to mention some superior powers.
by bounded-depth polynomial-size circuits. In this model
the number of gates is, as before, at most polynomial Bounded-Degree Polynomials
in the input side, but an additional severe restriction is
The class of probability distributions that can be ap-
that the entire computation is carried out in a bounded
proximated by low-degree polynomials represents a
number of rounds. Bounded-depth polynomial-size cir-
severe restriction below bounded-depth computation. The
cuits cannot even compute or approximate the parity of
description of noisy BosonSampling with low bounded-
𝑛 bits, but they can approximate real functions described
degree polynomials is likely to extend to small noisy
quantum circuits and other similar quantum systems,
6
This plausible conjecture, which motivated quantum computers and this would support the pessimistic hypothesis. This
to start with, is supported by the recent work of Jordan, Lee, and
7
Preskill and is often taken for granted. A mathematical proof is The condition 𝑚 ≫ 𝑛2 can probably be removed by a more
still beyond reach. detailed analysis.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 513

description is relevant to important general computa-
tional aspects of quantum systems in nature, as we now
discuss.
Why Is Robust Classical Information Possible? The ability
to approximate low-degree polynomials still supports
robust classical information. The (“Majority”) Boolean
function8 𝑓(𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , … , 𝑥𝑛 ) = 𝑠𝑔𝑛(𝑥1 +𝑥2 +⋯+𝑥𝑛 ) allows for
very robust bits based on a large number of noisy bits and
admits excellent low-degree approximations. Quantum
error correction is also based on encoding a single qubit
as a function 𝑓(𝑞1 , 𝑞2 … , 𝑞𝑛 ) of many qubits, and also
for quantum codes the quality of the encoded qubit
grows with the number of qubits used for the encoding.
But for quantum error-correction codes, implementation
with bounded-degree polynomial approximations is not
available, and I conjecture that no such implementation
exists. This would support the insight that quantum Figure 4. The pessimistic hypothesis: Noisy quantum
mechanics is limiting the information one can extract evolutions, described by low-degree polynomials,
from a physical system in the absence of mechanisms allow via the mechanisms of averaging/repetition
leading to robust classical information. robust classical information and computation but do
not allow reaching the starting points for quantum
Why Can We Learn the Laws of Physics from Experiments? supremacy and quantum fault tolerance. Drawing by
Learning the parameters of a process from examples Neta Kalai.
can be computationally intractable, even if the process
belongs to a low-level computational task. (Learning even
starting point for quantum fault tolerance or for any
a function described by a depth-two Boolean circuit of
manifestation of quantum supremacy.
polynomial size does not admit an efficient algorithm.)
However, the approximate value of a low-degree polyno-
No Quantum Fault Tolerance: Its Simplest Manifestation
mial can efficiently be learned from examples. This offers
an explanation for our ability to understand natural Entanglement and Cat States. Entanglement is a name for
processes and the parameters defining them. quantum correlation, and it is an important feature of
quantum physics and a crucial ingredient of quantum
Predictions from the Pessimistic Hypothesis computation. A cat state of the form 1 |00⟩ + 1 |11⟩
√2 √2
Under the pessimistic hypothesis, universal quantum represents the simplest form of entanglement between
devices are unavailable, and we need to devise a specific two qubits. Let me elaborate: the Hilbert space 𝐻 repre-
device in order to implement a specific quantum evolution. senting the states of a single qubit is two-dimensional.
A sufficiently detailed modeling of the device will lead to We denote by |0⟩ and |1⟩ the two vectors of a basis for 𝐻.
a familiar detailed Hamiltonian modeling of the quantum A pure state of a qubit is a superposition of basis vectors
process that also takes into account the environment and of the form 𝑎 |0⟩ + 𝑏 |1⟩, where 𝑎, 𝑏 are complex and
various forms of noise. Our goal is different: we want |𝑎|2 + |𝑏|2 = 1. Two qubits are represented by a tensor
to draw from the pessimistic hypothesis predictions on product 𝐻 ⊗ 𝐻, and we denote it by |00⟩ = |0⟩ ⊗ |0⟩. Now,
noisy quantum circuits (and, at a later stage, on more a superposition of two vectors can be thought of as a
general noisy quantum processes) that are common to all quantum analog of a coin toss in classical probability—a
devices implementing the circuit (process). superposition of |00⟩ and |11⟩ is a quantum analog of
The basic premises for studying noisy quantum evolu- correlated coin tosses: two heads with probability 1/2,
tions when the specific quantum devices are not specified and two tails with probability 1/2. The name “cat state”
are as follows: First, modeling is implicit; namely, it is refers, of course, to Schrödinger’s cat.
given in terms of conditions that the noisy process must
satisfy. Second, there are systematic relations between Noisy Cats. The following prediction regarding noisy en-
the noise and the entire quantum evolution and also tangled pairs of qubits (or “noisy cats”) is perhaps the
between the target state and the noise. simplest prediction on noisy quantum circuits under the
In this section we assume the pessimistic hypothesis, pessimistic hypothesis.
but we note that the previous section proposes the Prediction 1: Two-qubits behavior. Any implementation
following picture in support of the pessimistic hypothesis: of quantum circuits is subject to noise, for which errors
evolutions and states of quantum devices in the small scale for a pair of entangled qubits will have substantial positive
are described by low-degree polynomials. This allows, for correlation.
a larger scale, the creation of robust classical information Prediction 1, which we will refer to as the “noisy cat
and computation but does not provide the necessary prediction”, gives a very basic difference between the op-
timistic and pessimistic hypotheses. Under the optimistic
8
A Boolean function is a function from {−1, 1}𝑛 to {−1, 1}. hypothesis gated qubits will manifest correlated noise,

514 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

but when quantum fault tolerance is in place, such corre- Even stronger: low-entropy quantum states in nature
lations will be diminished for most pairs of qubits. Under admit approximations by bounded-degree polynomials.
the pessimistic hypothesis quantum fault-tolerance is not The next items go beyond the quantum circuit model
possible, and without it there is no mechanism to remove and do not assume that the Hilbert space for our quantum
correlated noise for entangled qubits. Note that the condi- evolution has a tensor product structure.
tion on noise for a pair of entangled qubits is implicit, as Prediction 6: Time smoothing. Quantum evolutions are
it depends on the unknown process and unknown device subject to noise, with a substantial correlation with
leading to the entanglement. time-smoothed evolutions.
Time-smoothed evolutions form an interesting re-
Further Simple Manifestations of the Failure of Quantum
stricted class of noisy quantum evolutions aimed to
Fault Tolerance.
model evolutions under the pessimistic hypothesis when
Prediction 2: Error synchronization. For complicated
fault tolerance is unavailable to suppress noise prop-
(very entangled) target states, highly synchronized errors
agation. The basic example for time-smoothing is the
will occur.
following: Start with an ideal quantum evolution given by
Error synchronization refers to a substantial proba-
a sequence of 𝑇 unitary operators, where 𝑈𝑡 denotes the
bility that a large number of qubits, much beyond the
unitary operator for the 𝑡th step, 𝑡 = 1, 2, … , 𝑇. For 𝑠 < 𝑡
average rate of noise, are corrupted. Under the optimistic
we denote 𝑈𝑠,𝑡 = ∏𝑡−1 −1
𝑖=𝑠 𝑈𝑖 and let 𝑈𝑠,𝑠 = 𝐼 and 𝑈𝑡,𝑠 = 𝑈𝑠,𝑡 .
hypothesis error synchronization is an extremely rare
The next step is to add noise in a completely standard
event.
way: consider a noise operation 𝐸𝑡 for the 𝑡th step. We
Prediction 3: Error rate. For complicated evolutions, and can think about the case where the unitary evolution
for evolutions approximating complicated states, the is a quantum computing process and 𝐸𝑡 represents a
error rate, in terms of qubit-errors, scales up linearly with depolarizing noise with a fixed rate acting independently
the number of qubits. on the qubits. And finally, replace 𝐸𝑡 with a new noise
The three predictions 1–3 are related. Under natural operation 𝐸𝑡′ defined as the average
assumptions, the noisy cat prediction implies error syn-
chronization for quantum states of the kind involved 1 𝑇
(1) 𝐸𝑡′ = −1
⋅ ∑ 𝑈𝑠,𝑡 𝐸𝑠 𝑈𝑠,𝑡 .
in quantum error correction and quantum algorithms. 𝑇 𝑠=1
Roughly speaking, the noisy cat prediction implies posi-
Prediction 7: Rate. For a noisy quantum system a lower
tive correlation between errors for every pair of qubits,
bound for the rate of noise in a time interval is a measure
and this implies a substantial probability for the event
of noncommutativity for the projections in the algebra of
that a large fraction of qubits (well above the average rate
unitary operators in that interval.
of errors) will be corrupted at the same computer cycle.
Predictions 6 and 7 are implicit and describe systematic
Error synchronization also implies, again under some
relations between the noise and the evolution. We expect
natural assumptions, that error rate in terms of qubit
that time-smoothing will suppress high terms for some
errors is at least linear in the number of qubits. Thus,
Fourier-like expansion, thus relating Predictions 5 and 6.
the pessimistic hypothesis itself can be justified from the
We also note that Prediction 7 resembles the picture about
noisy cat prediction, together with natural assumptions
the “unsharpness principle” from symplectic geometry
on the rate of noise. Moreover, this also explains the
and quantization.10
wide-gap dichotomy in terms of qubit errors.
The optimistic hypothesis allows creating via quantum
Locality, Space and Time
error correction very stable “logical” qubits based on
stable raw physical qubits. The decision between the optimistic and pessimistic hy-
potheses is, to a large extent, a question about modeling
Prediction 4: No logical qubits. Logical qubits cannot be
locality in quantum physics. Modeling natural quantum
substantially more stable than the raw qubits used to
evolutions by quantum computers represents the impor-
construct them.
tant physical principle of “locality”: quantum interactions
are limited to a few particles. The quantum circuit model
No Quantum Fault-Tolerance: Its Most General
enforces local rules on quantum evolutions and still
Manifestation9
allows the creation of very nonlocal quantum states.
We can go to the other extreme and try to examine This remains true for noisy quantum circuits under the
consequences of the pessimistic hypothesis for the most optimistic hypothesis. The pessimistic hypothesis sug-
general quantum evolutions. We start with a prediction gests that quantum supremacy is an artifact of incorrect
related to the discussion in the section “BosonSampling modeling of locality. We expect modeling based on the
Meets Reality”. pessimistic hypothesis, which relates the laws of the
Prediction 5: Bounded-depth and bounded-degree ap- “noise” to the laws of the “signal”, to imply a strong form
proximations. Quantum states achievable by any of locality for both.
implementation of quantum circuits are limited by We can even propose that spacetime itself emerges
bounded-depth polynomial-size quantum computation. from the absence of quantum fault tolerance. It is a
9 10
This section is more technical and assumes more background on L. Polterovich, “Symplectic geometry of quantum noise”, Comm.
quantum information. Math. Phys 327 (2014), 481–519; arXiv:1206.3707.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 515

familiar idea that since (noiseless) quantum systems Quid est Noster Computationis Mundus?11
are time reversible, time emerges from quantum noise Deciding between the optimistic and pessimistic hypothe-
(decoherence). However, also in the presence of noise, ses reflects a far-reaching difference in the view of our
with quantum fault tolerance, every quantum evolution computational world. Is the wealth of computations we
that can experimentally be created can be time-reversed, witness in reality only the tip of the iceberg of a supreme
and, in fact, we can time-permute the sequence of unitary computational power used by nature and available to us,
operators describing the evolution in an arbitrary way. or is it the case that the wealth of classical computa-
It is therefore both quantum noise and the absence of tions we witness represents the full computational power
quantum fault tolerance that enable an arrow of time. that can be extracted from natural quantum physics
Next, we note that with quantum computers one can processes?
emulate a quantum evolution on an arbitrary geometry. I expect that the pessimistic hypothesis will prevail,
For example, a complicated quantum evolution represent- yielding important outcomes for physics, the theory of
ing the dynamics of a four-dimensional lattice model computing, and mathematics. Our journey through proba-
could be emulated on a one-dimensional chain of qubits. bility distributions described by low-degree polynomials,
This would be vastly different from today’s experimental implicit modeling for noise, and error synchronization
quantum physics, and it is also in tension with insights may provide some of the ingredients needed for solving
from physics, where witnessing different geometries sup- the quantum computer puzzle.
porting the same physics is rare and important. Since a
universal quantum computer allows the breaking of the
connection between physics and geometry, it is noise and
the absence of quantum fault tolerance that distinguish
physical processes based on different geometries and
enable geometry to emerge from the physics.

Classical Simulations of Quantum Systems

Prediction 8: Classical simulations of quantum pro-
cesses. Computations in quantum physics can, in
principle, be simulated efficiently on a digital computer.
This bold prediction from the pessimistic hypothesis
could lead to specific models and computational tools.
There are some caveats: heavy computations may be
required for quantum processes that are not realistic to
start with, for a model in quantum physics representing a
physical process that depends on many more parameters
than those represented by the input size, for simulating
processes that require knowing internal parameters of
the process that are not available to us (but are available
to nature), and when we simply do not know the correct
model or relevant computational tool.
Photo courtesy of Matas Šileikis.

Gil Kalai lecturing at Adam Mickiewicz University in

11
Poland. What is our computational world?

516 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY

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 COMMUNICATION

Communicating Mathematics to
Children
Rich Schwartz
Communicated by Joel Hass

vision for what a children’s book written by a creative

mathematician might look like and why it doesn’t fit into
the conventional mold for a children’s educational book.

How I Got Started

I have always enjoyed drawing comic books, and some-
times I take some time off from my research to do it. The
books are usually about strange topics, like the collective
intelligence of ants, or the Star Trek transporter problem,
or alien life, or a monster made out of chicken lo mein. I
sometimes draw the pictures by hand, but usually I use
the computer programs xfig and inkscape. These are free
Figure 1. A few inkscape-drawn aliens from my drawing programs which I, like many mathematicians,
unpublished comic book, Guardian of the Blue Metropolis. use to illustrate my math papers. Figure 1 shows a few of
the aliens I drew using inkscape.
I got interested in writing and illustrating comic books
Introduction for children, naturally enough, when I had children of my
I think of myself mostly as a research mathematician, but own. In 2002, when my older daughter, Lucina, turned
I also like to draw goofy pictures and explain things. Even- five, I drew a short booklet for her designed to teach her
tually these interests led me to write and illustrate some about prime numbers. Figure 2 shows roughly what the
children’s math books. In this article I will describe some first version looked like.
aspects of my experience communicating mathematics The idea was for her to figure out the pattern from
to children through these books. I think that there is a the pictures. Why are some of the numbers smiling?
great need for children’s math books written by creative
mathematicians, books which can show the vibrant, excit-
ing, awe-inspiring nature of the subject. In case you are
interested in doing this, I hope that my account will help
you along.
In the first part of this article, I will describe how I
got started in this business, as well as some obstacles I
faced along the way. In the second part I will discuss my

Rich Schwartz is Chancellor’s Professor of Mathematics at Brown

University. His email address is [email protected].
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: Figure 2. A drawing I made for my 5-year-old
[email protected]. daughter to teach her about primes and composites.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1382

518 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

Figure 3. Some of my xfig pictures of the numbers.

out how to get an agent. It seemed to me that you needed

to know someone to get an agent. In short, you needed
an agent to get an agent.
I went through similar struggles with the question of
how to illustrate my books. Not having any formal training
as an artist, I was very self-conscious about illustrating
them myself. I had the persistent notion that my own
illustrations would just be preliminary ones and that
some great illustrator would go back through the book
and re-do the pictures. So, sometimes I held off trying to
publish something because I wanted to find an illustrator
first. I could never find any illustrators, and so I started
thinking about finding people who could introduce me to
them.…
Eventually I decided to do the whole thing myself. With
encouragement from my artist friends, my wife amongst
them, I started thinking of my own illustrations as the final
product. Also, I started using self-publishing companies
like CreateSpace. With CreateSpace, you send in a PDF
file containing your manuscript and then a few weeks
later they send you a printed proof. You then tweak the
manuscript and send it back. And so on. When you are
Figure 4. A group photo involving the 2-monster, the happy with the manuscript, CreateSpace will sell it for
3-monster, and the 5-monster illustrates the number you on amazon.com, print it on demand, and give you a
30 = 2 × 3 × 5. small royalty. You may not get rich from this, but you can
see a high-quality version of your book in print and for
sale. A few of my comics ended up on amazon.com this
way.
Eventually I decided to jazz up the pictures a bit. Figure 3 Shortly after mak-
shows the new pictures I drew using xfig. ing the original book
I soon grew tired of drawing monsters, and it was then for my daughter, I Write about what
that I hit on the idea for my first children’s math book, reimagined You Can
You Can Count on Monsters. Instead of having to create Count on Monsters as
interests you, but
a new monster for every number, I decided to show a
composite picture for composite numbers. The idea is
a poster, where one
could see all the pic-
think about the
to factor composite numbers into primes and then to
arrange the corresponding prime monsters into a group
tures at once. Five mind of the child.
years later, my wife
photo. Figure 4 shows one example from the book. convinced me to go
It took me about five years to finish You Can Count on back to the book format. I did this, and I was about
Monsters because I worked on it very sporadically. I don’t to send it to CreateSpace, but on a whim I decided to ask
mind saying that I did some of it while occupying Marcel Alice and Klaus Peters about it. At the time, Alice and
Berger’s office at IHES in the summer of 2002. Klaus owned A K Peters, a math publishing house which
has published some wonderful and offbeat math books.
The Recursive Problem of Publishing They both liked the book and finally it was published.
I tried occasionally to publish my comic books with big Sadly, A K Peters no longer exists, but I think that there
conventional publishers or smaller comic book publishers, are still opportunities for publishing offbeat children’s
but I never had a glimmer of success. The experience was math books. I published my second book, Really Big
always one of sending a manuscript off into a black hole. Numbers, with the American Mathematical Society (AMS),
I had heard that it was a good idea to get an agent to help and they plan to publish two more I wrote, Gallery of
pitch your books to publishers, but I could never figure the Infinite and Life on the Infinite Farm. The AMS seems

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 519

 illustrations of this. If you are curious, you can find a
link on my website.) It seems that a construction like this,
which involves the nature of infinity, does not really have
a target age; it ought to appeal to some people of all ages.
As a deeper example, I talk about Delores and Beena,
two squids who have infinite branching trees of tentacles.
The left half of Figure 6 shows Delores and the right half
shows Delores and Beena together. Beena is asking Delores
whether she can borrow some of Delores’s jewelry.
Delores loves jewelry and wants to keep herself more
or less completely covered in it. At the same time, Beena
wants to be outfitted in a similar fashion. How does
Figure 5. Gracie, a cow with infinitely many feet, loves Delores keep herself covered in jewelry and outfit Beena
shoes. as well? To solve this problem, Delores transfers some
of her jewelry to Beena using local moves enabled by
little fish. The fish move every piece of jewelry one unit
towards Delores’s head and thereby “double” the amount
interested in this sort of thing. I’d also like to mention
of jewelry she has. Then the fish transfer half the jewelry
that MSRI has a new program, called Mathical Books,
to Beena. Figure 7 shows two snapshots of the local move.
which highlights and promotes mathematics in children’s
Some readers might recognize this as the heart of the
literature.
proof that the free group on two generators is not an
amenable group. I first saw this argument in a talk Shmuel
The Target Audience
Weinberger gave in Berkeley back in 1992, and it stayed
Often when I tell someone that I have written a math with me all these years.
book for children, they ask, What is the age range for your After presenting these kinds of problems and solutions,
book? This is a very sensible question. When you start I raise the open-ended question as to how the animals
out on a commercial venture, you ought to know your
target audience. Publishers, booksellers, and teachers will
all want to know how to categorize, pitch, and place your
book.
I hate this question. In my experience it has been the
most discouraging thing anyone has asked me. Probably
if I paid attention to the question I would never have
written anything at all. Let me explain why I think that this
question is not so appropriate for children’s math books
of the kind I imagine and how I dodged the question in
one of my books.
I think that the kind of book a creative research
mathematician might write for children would not appeal
to the bulk of the children of any age. Rather, it will
Figure 6. Delores and Beena are squids with infinite
appeal to a few of the students at the top end of whatever
branching trees of tentacles. Beena asks Delores if
grade they happen to be in, students who like the subject
she can borrow some of her jewelry.
already but who are perhaps dissatisfied with what they
are learning in school. I like the idea of writing books that
have layers of meaning and detail, books whose depth
unfolds before the reader as he or she spends more time
with it.
Let me give an example from my book Life on the
Infinite Farm. The book features a number of animals
who are infinitely extended in one way or another. Figure
5 shows one of the characters, Gracie, an infinite cow who
loves shoes. She has a shoe on every foot. Her dilemma
is that she wants to wear the new shoes she gets as gifts
from the other animals, but she doesn’t want to take off
her other shoes.
Anyone familiar with the famous Hilbert hotel will see
the solution to her dilemma. She just places the shoes in Figure 7. Delores “doubles” her jewelry using local
front of her and steps out of each of the old shoes and moves that transport all her jewelry closer to her
into the new ones. All the shoes have moved back and head.
she has the new shoes on her front feet. (The book has

520 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

Figure 8. My book is like a bucking bronco, which you are supposed to ride until you fall off.

manage to move around on the farm, given their infinite or maturity level. At the beginning of the book, I explain
sizes. How do they avoid crashing into each other? I that the book is a lot like the game of bucking bronco I
suggest that the animals exist at many different scales, used to play with my own children: The ride starts out
that they are quite acrobatic, and that some have features slow and gradually gets faster until they fall off. The goal
like trap doors and detachable parts. I also had in my of the game is to stay on as long as possible, but it is no
mind that the infinite farm is a negatively curved space, big deal if you fall off.
so that the animals would not be stymied by the parallel Once people get over the idea that they have to read
postulate. everything in the book, the possibilities for exposition
On the one hand, I open up quite a bit.
can imagine that some
very young children I imagine the Math in Slow Motion
would be intrigued by
the infinite and might
proof of the In principle, all of mathematics reduces to a series of
logical conclusions drawn from simple axioms. In practice,
like the pictures of
the animals—I hope
Cantor-Bernstein mathematicians take big strides through the system in
an effort to reach deep and surprising results. One of
so, anyway. On the Theorem as an the main issues involved in learning mathematics is the
other hand, I can speed with which it piles up.
imagine older kids analysis of the way It might appear to take just a few pages to define, say,
discussing how space an integrable system on a smooth manifold, but if you
might be designed cats and dogs are wanted to explain it to a college student, you would have
to make something to slow down and explain what a manifold is and how
like this possible, or chasing each calculus on manifolds works. If you wanted to reach a
biologists wondering
about an infinite pe-
other. high school student, you would probably want to explain
about the real numbers, continuity, linear algebra, and so
riodic digestive tract, on. Eventually the sheer length of time it would take you
or physicists complaining about the nonrelativistic na- to explain the whole thing would make it impossible.
ture of the farm. It is hard to figure out an age range for Given that children have very little math background,
Life on the Infinite Farm. a children’s math book which aims to impart real un-
My book Really Big Numbers also presents material derstanding has to be about a very small segment of
at many different levels of difficulty. It runs all the way mathematics. Fortunately, even very small pieces of
from counting dots to recursive definitions akin to the mathematics—the Pythagorean Theorem, Heron’s For-
Ackerman function. Figure 8 shows the method I used to mula, Pascal’s triangle, the platonic solids, the infinitude
dodge the problem of needing to write for a specific age of primes, the definition of Langton’s ant, the hypercube,

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 521

 but I tried pretty hard to prove the result in a playful and
engaging way.
It is hard to say exactly how to keep things slow and
simple yet still present interesting mathematics, but it is
easy to say what not to do. Like most mathematicians
currently walking the planet, I have had the unpleasant
experience (many times) of listening to a lecture in which
the speaker assumes that the audience knows as much
about the topic as the speaker does. Usually I am too
embarrassed to stop the speaker, and I end up wasting
an hour and coming out of the room with a headache.
I can understand this happening when the speaker is
addressing a large audience—perhaps the speaker has
other listeners in mind—but sometimes this happens
when it is just the two of us! Don’t blow past your
audience; write with empathy.
One positive suggestion I have is that you should
illustrate your book lavishly. Children love catchy pictures.
Also, the discipline of having a picture for every key
concept in the book keeps the exposition going at a
slow, measured pace. When I think about math, I often
think in little cartoons, which later, in my papers, I have
to transcribe into the written word. The reader then
has to absorb all the words and formulas and (I hope)
reassemble the cartoon pictures. It would be nice to be
able to communicate the pictures directly. Maybe for
simple topics this can be done.
The main idea is to understand the math all the way
to the bottom, think about exactly how you understand
it, and then put it all down on the page in a friendly and
engaging way. Write about what interests you, but think
Figure 9. I imagine the proof of the Cantor-Bernstein about the mind of the child.
Theorem as an analysis of the way cats and dogs are
chasing each other.

the definition of continued fractions, scissors congruence

of polygons, complex numbers, the Cantor diagonal argu-
ment, etc., etc., etc.—are beautiful and interesting. I think
that a successful children’s book about math should take
a topic like this and present it vividly and in slow motion,
so that a child could see every step.
In my book Gallery of the Infinite (which isn’t quite for
children) I tried to do
this for some clas-
Once people get sic theorems in set
theory, especially the
over the idea that famous Cantor diago-
they have to read nal argument. Figure
9 shows some of
everything in the
Courtesy of Brienne Brown.

my exposition of the
Cantor-Bernstein The-
book, the orem, which says that
two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵 are
possibilities for bijective if there is an
injection from 𝐴 into 𝐵
exposition open up and an injection from
quite a bit. 𝐵 into 𝐴. I don’t think
that what I did is quite Rich Schwartz and his daughters.
suitable for children,

522 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY

Math in Moscow
Scholarship Program

Study mathematics the Russian way in English

The American Mathematical Society invites undergraduate
mathematics and computer science majors in the U.S. to
apply for a special scholarship to attend a semester in the
Math in Moscow program, run by the Independent
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Features of the Math in Moscow program:

• 15-week semester-long study at an elite institution
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Application deadlines for scholarships: September 15 for

spring semesters and April 15 for fall semesters.

For more information about the Math in Moscow

program, visit: mccme.ru/mathinmoscow

For more information about the scholarship program, visit

ams.org/programs/travel-grants/mimoscow
 THE GRADUATE STUDENT SECTION

Melanie Wood Interview

who was incredibly supportive of my mathematical devel-
opment; Zvezdelina Stankova, who particularly inspired
me as a teacher at the Math Olympiad Summer Program.
Then throughout college and graduate school the math-
ematicians who have encouraged and inspired me are too
numerous to mention all of them. I had a lot of wonderful
math professors as an undergraduate at Duke. My PhD
advisor, Manjul Bhargava, was incredibly supportive, not
Photo by Joe Rabinoff.

to mention inspiring, through the somewhat rocky path

of graduate school. When I was a postdoc, Ravi Vakil was
an important mentor and inspiration.
Diaz-Lopez: How would you describe your research to
a graduate student?
Wood: I work on a lot of different questions, mostly
focused in number theory but also in algebraic geometry,
Melanie Wood is assistant professor at the University of algebraic topology, and probability. I am interested in the
Wisconsin-Madison and an American Institute of Math- most basic objects in number theory, number fields, which
ematics Five-Year Fellow. are finite extensions of the rational numbers. I want to
understand how many number fields there are and how
Diaz-Lopez: When did you know you wanted to be a math- often they have various properties. As basic as it is, this
ematician? sort of question can be incredibly difficult and require
Wood: My mathematics research experiences as an ideas from a broad spectrum of mathematics. I also am
undergraduate at the REU [Research Experiences for Un- interested in questions about the number of solutions of
dergraduates] at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and polynomial equations, both solutions that are rational
through the PRUV [Program for Research for Undergradu- numbers and solutions that lie in a finite field. These
ates] program at Duke University, where I was an under- questions are deeply connected to the geometry of the
graduate, were really the tipping point for me in deciding space of solutions of the equations.
I wanted to be a mathematician. I had always liked math, Diaz-Lopez: What theorem are you most proud of, and
but until these experiences I didn’t really have any sense what was the most important idea that led to this break-
of what math as a career would be like. I had so much fun through?
working on my own research problems that I knew it was Wood: I am most
proud of my results
something I would want to do as a job.
proving the distribu-
Diaz-Lopez: Who encouraged or inspired you?
tion of sandpile groups
Wood: I have been extraordinarily lucky to have so
of random graphs or, Practice talking
many wonderful teachers and mentors that have encour-
aged me and inspired me along my path to becoming a
relatedly, cokernels of
symmetric random ma-
about your
mathematician. Some who particularly stand out from my
youth: Bob Fischer, who was the Indiana MATHCOUNTS®
trices. First, let’s talk work to a
about the cokernel of
coach when I was in 7th and 8th grade and the first person
I can remember giving me math problems I didn’t know
a matrix. Take a free wide range of
abelian group on n gen-
how to solve; Joanne Black, a teacher at my high school erators, and then pick mathematicians.
n relations (sums of
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1372 those n generators). If

524 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 63, NUMBER 5

 THE GRADUATE STUDENT SECTION
you put the n2 coefficients of the relations in a matrix, the are studying for their thesis than anyone actually does.
abelian group you get by taking generators mod relations Talk to other graduate students and tell them to stop you
is the cokernel of the matrix. It is just a natural way to if you say something they don’t know.
build a random abelian group. Many different properties Diaz-Lopez: All mathematicians feel discouraged oc-
of random matrices have been well studied, and in general casionally. How do you deal with discouragement?
they are much easier to understand when the entries of the Wood: I keep a list of positive experiences—when I
matrices are all independent. My work had to tackle two proved a result, had a great mathematical conversation,
kinds of dependency in the matrices and still understand got inspired by a talk—and go to it when I feel discouraged.
their random behavior. I got interested in thinking about I also have mathematical colleagues who are good friends
random abelian groups this way because class groups of whose advice and support help keep me afloat.
number fields, which measure the failure of unique factor- Diaz-Lopez: You have won several honors and awards.
ization in those number fields, occur naturally this way via Which one has been the most meaningful and why?
matrices whose entries are dependent in deep and mys- Wood: The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM)
terious ways. I wouldn’t say that there was a single most Five-Year Fellowship has
important idea that led to the breakthrough. The work meant the most to me. As
I was finishing graduate
took a long time, with many different breakthroughs (and
some antibreakthroughs!) along the way, and required school, I wasn’t even sure I keep a list
developing several kinds of new methods. if becoming a professional
mathematician was the
of positive
Diaz-Lopez: What advice do you have for graduate
students? right career for me. I found
graduate school lonely and
experiences
Wood: Figure out what you want to get out of gradu-
ate school and what it takes to get that. Tell your advisor discouraging in parts. The and go to it
AIM Five-Year Fellowship
what you want and ask his or her advice for what it will
take to get it, and ask other faculty for advice as well. The was greatly needed positive when I feel
feedback about my work
figuring-out part might be a significant project for some
people, and you should undertake it as real work. Talk to
and allowed me to start a discouraged.
postdoc in ideal conditions.
finishing students about what kinds of jobs they got and
My experience as a postdoc
what it took to get them—what kinds of skills they had to
was exciting and encouraging, as I started new collabora-
develop, what kind of experience they needed, what kinds
tions and took my research in new directions.
of theorems they proved, what kinds of teaching evalua-
Diaz-Lopez: If you were not a mathematician, what
tions or feedback. Talk to mathematicians in a range of
would you be?
different jobs about what their jobs are like and what it
Wood: It is hard to say because I have always had a
takes to get them. Go to conferences and talk to a wide
lot of interests. I started college thinking I would go into
range of people there. These are some of the questions
cognitive science. Lately, I’ve gotten interested in supreme
you can ask them.
court jurisprudence, and so I could imagine really enjoying
Practice talking about your work to a wide range of going to law school.
mathematicians, and figure out what it takes to commu-
nicate what you do and why it is interesting to them. Ask
your advisor for advice about this, and pay attention in
seminar talks to how people motivate their work. Learn
how to put your work in context at many different levels.
What are the overarching goals of your field and how does
your work fit into that? You can ask a similar question
about your subfield or more specialized area. Remember
that what you say about your work should depend on
your audience. Graduate students generally tend to as-
sume other people know way more about the topic they

Alexander Diaz-Lopez is a PhD student at the University of Notre Dame. Diaz-

Lopez is the first graduate student member of the Notices Editorial Board.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 525

 T HE GRA DUATE STUDENT SECTION

WHAT IS...
Nash Equilibrium?
Rajiv Sethi and Jörgen Weibull
Communicated by Cesar E. Silva

In game theory, a Nash equilibrium is an array of strategies, The invention and succinct formulation of this concept,
one for each player, such that no player can obtain a along with the establishment of its existence under very
higher payoff by switching to a different strategy while general conditions, reshaped the landscape of research
the strategies of all other players are held fixed. The in economics and other social and behavioral sciences.
concept is named after John Forbes Nash Jr. Nash’s existence theorem pertains to games in which
For example, if Chrysler, Ford, and GM choose produc- the strategies 𝑆𝑖 available to each player are probability
tion levels for pickup trucks, a commodity whose market distributions over a finite set of alternatives. Typically,
price depends on aggregate production, an equilibrium is each alternative specifies what action to take under each
an array of production levels, one for each firm, such that and every circumstance that the player may encounter
none can raise its profits by making a different choice. during the play of the game. The alternatives are referred
Formally, an 𝑛-player game consists of a set 𝐼 = to as pure strategies and the probability distributions
{1, … , 𝑛} of players, a set 𝑆𝑖 of strategies for each player over these as mixed strategies. Players’ randomizations,
𝑖 ∈ 𝐼, and a set of goal functions 𝑔𝑖 ∶ 𝑆1 × ⋯ × 𝑆𝑛 → ℝ according to their chosen probability distributions over
that represent the preferences of each player 𝑖 over the their own set of alternatives, are assumed to be statistically
𝑛-tuples, or profiles, of strategies chosen by all players. independent. Any 𝑛-tuple of mixed strategies then induces
A strategy profile has a higher goal-function value, or a probability distribution or lottery over 𝑛-tuples of
payoff, than another if and only if the player prefers it to pure strategies. Provided that a player’s preferences
the other. Let 𝑆 = 𝑆1 × ⋯ × 𝑆𝑛 denote the set of all strategy over such lotteries satisfy certain completeness and
profiles, with generic element 𝑠, and let (𝑡𝑖 , 𝑠−𝑖 ) denote the consistency conditions—previously identified by John
strategy profile (𝑠1 , … , 𝑠𝑖−1 , 𝑡𝑖 , 𝑠𝑖+1 , … , 𝑠𝑛 ) obtained from 𝑠 von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern—there exists a
by switching player 𝑖’s strategy to 𝑡𝑖 ∈ 𝑆𝑖 while leaving all real-valued function with the 𝑛-tuples of pure strategies
other strategies unchanged. An equilibrium point of such as its domain such that the expected value of this function
a game is a strategy profile 𝑠∗ ∈ 𝑆 with the property that, represents the player’s preferences over 𝑛-tuples of mixed
for each player 𝑖 and each strategy 𝑡𝑖 ∈ 𝑆𝑖 , strategies. Given only this restriction on preferences,
∗ Nash was able to show that every game has at least one
𝑔𝑖 (𝑠∗ ) ≥ 𝑔𝑖 (𝑡𝑖 , 𝑠−𝑖 ).
equilibrium point in mixed strategies.
That is, a strategy profile is an equilibrium point if no Emile Borel had a
player can gain from a unilateral deviation to a different precursory idea, con-
strategy. Nash equilibrium cerning symmetric pure
conflicts of interest be-
Rajiv Sethi is professor of economics at Barnard College, Columbia
reshaped the tween two parties with
University, and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His
email address is [email protected].
landscape of very few alternatives
at hand. In 1921 he
Jörgen Weibull is professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. research in defined the notion of
He is also affiliated with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, a finite and symmet-
Stockholm, and with the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. economics. ric zero-sum two-player
His email address is [email protected]. game. In such a game
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: each player has the same number of pure strategies, the
[email protected]. gain for one player equals the loss to the other, and
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1375 they both have the same probability of winning whenever

526 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 T HE GRA DUATE STUDENT SECTION
they use the same pure strategy. Borel also formalized convex-valued, since a convex combination of countering
the concept of a mixed strategy, and for games in which 𝑛-tuples must itself be a countering 𝑛-tuple. And since the
each player has three pure strategies, proved the exis- payoff functions are all continuous (in fact, polynomial)
tence of what would later come to be called a maxmin functions with closed domain, the correspondence has
pair of mixed strategies. This is a pair of strategies a closed graph. The existence of a fixed point follows
such that one player’s strategy maximizes his own gain from Kakutani’s theorem, and any such fixed point is
while his opponent simultaneously minimizes this gain. a self-countering 𝑛-tuple, or an equilibrium point of the
He subsequently extended this result to the case of five game.
strategies per player, but seems to have doubted that A year later Nash published an alternative existence
general existence results could be achieved. proof in the Annals of Mathematics that instead is based on
A few years later, and apparently unaware of Borel’s Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem. Since Kakutani’s theorem
partial results, von Neumann formalized the notion of is derived from Brouwer’s, Nash was more satisfied with
finite zero-sum games with an arbitrary (finite) number the latter. This second proof has a touch of genius.
of players, where each player has an arbitrary (finite) It is simple and intuitive in retrospect but completely
number of pure strategies. For all such games involving unexpected beforehand.
two players he proved the existence of a maxmin strategy In order to use Brouwer’s theorem, Nash needed to
pair, presented the result in Göttingen in 1927, and construct a self-map on the space of mixed-strategy
published it in 1928. profiles with the property that a strategy profile is an
In comes Nash, a young doctoral student in mathemat- equilibrium point if and only if it is a fixed point of this
ics at Princeton University. Nash defined a much more map. But the best-reply correspondence could not be used
general class of games and a more general equilibrium for this purpose, since it need not be single-valued and
concept. He allowed for any (finite) number of players, does not permit a continuous selection in general.
each having an arbitrary (finite) number of pure strategies This is how he did it. Consider any 𝑛-tuple of mixed
at his or her disposal and equipped with any goal function. strategies 𝑠, and recall that the payoff to a player 𝑖 at this
In particular, players may be selfish, altruistic, spiteful, strategy profile is 𝑔𝑖 (𝑠). Let 𝑔𝑖ℎ (𝑠) denote the payoff that
moralistic, fair-minded, or have any goal function whatso- player 𝑖 would receive if he were to switch to the pure
ever. His definitions and his existence result contain those strategy ℎ while all other players continued to use the
of Borel and von Neumann as special cases. Previously strategies specified in 𝑠. Define the continuous function
restricted to pure conflicts of interest, game theory could 𝜙𝑖ℎ (𝑠) = max{0, 𝑔𝑖ℎ (𝑠) − 𝑔𝑖 (𝑠)}.
now be addressed to any (finite) number of parties with
Each function value 𝜙𝑖ℎ (𝑠) represents the “excess payoff”
arbitrary goal functions in virtually any kind of strategic
obtained by pure strategy ℎ ∈ 𝑆𝑖 , as compared with the
interaction. Nash published this in a one-page article in
payoff obtained under strategy profile 𝑠. Letting 𝑠𝑖ℎ denote
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in
the probability with which pure strategy ℎ is played under
1950.
𝑠, the function 𝜙 may be used to obtain a new 𝑛-tuple of
His existence proof—merely sketched in this short
mixed strategies, 𝑠′ , from 𝑠 by setting
paper—is based upon Kakutani’s fixed-point theorem
(established some years earlier). Kakutani’s theorem states ′ 𝑠𝑖ℎ + 𝜙𝑖ℎ (𝑠)
𝑠𝑖ℎ = 𝑇𝑖ℎ (𝑠) = .
that if a subset 𝑋 of ℝ𝑚 is nonempty, compact and convex, 1 + ∑ℎ 𝜙𝑖ℎ (𝑠)
and a (set-valued) correspondence Γ ∶ 𝑋 ⇉ 𝑋 is nonempty- This defines a self-map 𝑇 on the space of mixed strategy
valued, convex-valued and has a closed graph, then there profiles. As long as there exists a pure strategy with
exists 𝑥 ∈ 𝑋 such that 𝑥 ∈ Γ(𝑥). That is, there exists a positive excess payoff, 𝑇 lowers the probabilities with
fixed point of the correspondence. Nash’s existence proof which pure strategies having zero excess payoff are
relies on the construction of what today is called the played. It is clear that if 𝑠 is an equilibrium point, it must
best-reply correspondence, which can then be shown to be a fixed point of 𝑇, since no pure strategy ℎ can yield
satisfy the conditions of Kakutani’s theorem. player 𝑖 a higher payoff, forcing 𝜙𝑖ℎ (𝑠) = 0 for all 𝑖 and ℎ.
Given any 𝑛-tuple of mixed strategies, Nash defined a It is easily verified that the converse is also true: if 𝑠 is a
countering 𝑛-tuple as a mixed-strategy profile that obtains fixed point of 𝑇, so that 𝜙𝑖ℎ (𝑠) = 0 for all 𝑖 and ℎ, then 𝑠
for each player the highest payoff given the strategies must be an equilibrium point of the game.
chosen by other players in the original, countered 𝑛-tuple. To complete the proof, one
By associating with each 𝑛-tuple of mixed strategies need only use the fact that 𝑇
the set of all countering 𝑛-tuples, one obtains a self- is a continuous self-map on The second
correspondence on the set of all mixed-strategy profiles. the compact and convex set of
Since any 𝑛-tuple of mixed strategies is a point in the mixed-strategy 𝑛-tuples. This
proof has a
product space 𝑆 obtained by taking the Cartesian product
of the individual strategy spaces 𝑆𝑖 , the domain of this
is sufficient, from Brouwer’s
theorem, for the existence of a
touch of
correspondence is a nonempty, compact and convex fixed point. genius.
subset of ℝ𝑚 for some 𝑚. In fact, it is a polyhedron, Nash’s equilibrium concept
the Cartesian product of finitely many unit simplexes. lies at the heart of contem-
Furthermore, the correspondence thus constructed is porary theoretical research on strategic interactions in

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 527

 T HE GRA DUATE STUDENT SECTION
economics and other fields. One especially fruitful area of About the Authors
application has been to auction theory, as the following ex- Rajiv Sethi’s research inter-
ample illustrates. Many strategic interactions—including ests include evolutionary
lobbying, arms races, contests, and wars of attrition— game theory and applica-
can be modeled as all-pay auctions in which the highest tions, financial economics,
bidder obtains an object of value but all players must and the economics of

Photo courtesy of Barnard College.

pay their bids. (If there are multiple highest bidders they inequality.
each get the object with the same probability.) Consider
an object with value 𝑣 > 0 and 𝑛 ≥ 2 bidders, each of
whom is constrained to bid from the nonnegative inte-
gers. Players submit their bids simultaneously, without
knowledge of any opponent’s bid. This is a symmetric
𝑛-player game with countably infinite pure-strategy sets.
However, Nash’s existence result still applies, since no
bid above 𝑣 is ever a best reply to the bids of others, and
hence the game has the same set of Nash equilibria as the Rajiv Sethi
finite game in which bids are bounded from above by 𝑣.
Nash’s result tells us that there must be an equilibrium
in pure or mixed strategies in this game. For instance, if
𝑛 = 2 and 𝑣 = 5/2, then it can be shown that no pure Jörgen Weibull’s main field
strategy equilibrium exists, but if each player chooses the of research is noncoop-
distribution (1/5, 3/5, 1/5) over the bids {0, 1, 2}, then Photo courtesy of the Stockholm School of erative and evolutionary
neither can obtain a higher payoff by deviating unilaterally game theory, with ap-
to any other strategy. Furthermore, each player’s expected plications to economics,
payoff in equilibrium is 1/4, which is lower than the 5/4 political science, and evo-
that each could secure if they colluded to bid zero. lutionary biology. He is
This example illustrates that equilibrium behavior, while a member of the Royal
individually optimal, can cause players to impose costs Swedish Academy of Sci-
on each other that are wasteful in the aggregate. ences and Fellow of the
The 1994 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sci- Econometric Society.
Economics.

ences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Nash,

along with Reinhard Selten and John C. Harsanyi, for
their “pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of
noncooperative games.” Jörgen Weibull

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Artwork by Sam White.

528 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 THE GRADUATE STUDENT SECTION

The AMS Graduate Student Blog, by and for math graduate students, includes puzzles and a variety of
interesting columns. January 2016 posts include “The Academic Job Search IV: Negotiating an Offer”,
an interview with number theorist Leo Goldmakher, and those sampled below.
blogs.ams.org/mathgradblog.

Visualizing Newton’s Method Matrices and MLK Day

by djbruce, University of Wisconsin by Matthew Simonson

...One of the topics commonly covered in a first or sec- In February 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported, “Prison
ond semester of calculus is the use of Newton’s method sentences of black men were nearly 20% longer than
to approximate roots of functions.... When I’ve taught those of white men for similar crimes in recent years...”.
Newton’s method, I tried to stress that this method is not Is this evidence of racism, intentional or subconscious,
guaranteed to always work and can be fairly sensitive to on the part of judges? ...that is what we will try to suss
the initial condition.... One way to visualize some of these out here using matrix multiplication.... I’m not claiming
complexities is via a cool program called FractalStream. that you can fully explain racial sentencing disparities in
FractalStream takes each point in the complex plane and one lesson, [but] there is plenty of room in the curricula
iterates it under the given map until the sequence seems to of introductory college math courses to tackle race, class,
stop. It then colors that initial point depending on where and social justice. And indeed, there is no excuse to stand
the sequence of iterates ended. on the sidelines in an age of such inequality and injustice.
Many math, science, and engineering students badly need
to be exposed to the reality of these inequities, and what
better a place than in a course that they value, in a con-
text they find engaging? Students from other disciplines
merely trying to fulfill their quantitative requirement
might suddenly find that math is important to the world
they live in and the values they hold. Moreover, both types
of students will learn how math can serve as a valuable
tool for fighting injustice....

Notice that while there is a large area round each root

in which Newton’s method converges quickly to that root
the areas sort of between each root show more complex
behavior. In particular, in this region we see just how
sensitive to the initial condition
Newton’s method becomes....

Matthew Simonson is a first-year

Network Science doctoral student at
djbruce is a second-year gradu- Northeastern University in Boston
ate student at the University of and Editor-in-Chief of the Graduate
Wisconsin. Student Blog.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 529

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 From the AMS Secretary—AMS Contributors

American Mathematical
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Dear AMS Members and Friends,

Thank you for the many ways in which you support and advance mathematics.
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Anonymous (3) Peter L. Duren Joseph S. Mamelak Edmond and Nancy

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532 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 63, NUMBER 5

 From the AMS Secretary—AMS Contributors

In Tribute
The following friends, colleagues and family members are all being specially honored by a donation in support of math-
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MAY 2016 NOTICES OF THE AMS 533

From the AMS Secretary—AMS Contributors
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“The American Mathematical Society George F. Haddix Kister
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Herbert M. Kamowitz Eduardo A. Luna Marco Modugno
John M. Erdman Craig R. Guilbault
Stanley Kaplan Leo Lutchansky Jr. Paul H. Monsky
Linda L. Eroh Robert D. Gulliver II
Martin Lewis Karel Norman Y. Luther Barbara B. Moore
Kumar Eswaran Wynne Alexander Guy
Julian R. Karelitz Clement H. Lutterodt Alberto Cezar Moreira
William M. Farmer Cavit Hafizoglu
Anders Bengt Karlsson Richard N. Lyons Carlos Julio Moreno
Ruth G. Favro Gerhard E. Hahne
Johan Karlsson James Joseph Madden Larry J. Morley
Solomon Feferman Alfred W. Hales
Yulia Karpeshina
Mark E. Feighn R. Stanton Hales Jr.
Victor J. Katz
Arnold D. Feldman William F. Hammond
Louis H. Kauffman
Dominique Fellah Ivan Arthur Handler
William Jonathan Keith
Marisa Fernandez- Heiko Harborth
Edward L. Keller
Rodriguez Robert M. Hardt
Efim Khalimsky
Ian M. Ferris Rohan Hemasinha
Dmitry Khavinson
Photo by Steve Schneider.

Aurino Ribeiro Filho Thomas Henningsen

Michael K. H. Kiessling
Benji N. Fisher Christopher M. Herald
H.-J. Kimn
Newman H. Fisher Ira Herbst
Ellen E. Kirkman
Uri Fixman Jan Hertrich-Wolenski
Paul O. Kirley
Richard J. Fleming John O. Herzog
Jan Kisynski
Julie A. Fondurulia Georg Hetzer
Andrew T. Kitchen
Paul Fong Troy L. Hicks
Stanislav V. Klimenko
S. Ashby Foote Raegan J. Higgins
Tsuyoshi Kobayashi
Simon John Fraser Gerald N. Hile
Robert T. Kocembo
Michael W. Frazier Nancy Hingston
Stephen H. Friedberg John J. Hirschfelder
Yoshiharu Kohayakawa Your gift to the endowment helps support
Kurt Siegfried Kolbig AMS meetings and conferences.
Merwyn M. Friedman Ronald Hirshon
Ralph D. Kopperman

536 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 63, NUMBER 5

 From the AMS Secretary—AMS Contributors

Joseph G. Moser Victoria Ann Powers Mats Gunnar

Pierre Marie Moussa Martin E. Price Sandberg
Grattan P. Murphy Jozef Henryk Przytycki Robert W. Sanders
R. Bradford Murphy Stephane Puechmorel Andre Scedrov
Pieter Naaijkens Eric L. Pugh Juan Jorge Schaffer
Alexander Nagel Vladislav V. Pukhnachev Doris W.
Kuniaki Nakamitsu Bao Qi Feng Schattschneider

Photo by Steve Schneider.

Kanji Namba Philip Quartararo Jr. Gideon Schechtman
Takao Namiki David Quesada John F. Schmeelk
Toshikazu Natsume George S. Quillan Dieter S. Schmidt
Robert Weston Neel Donald K. Quiring Wolfgang M.
Csaba Nemethi Andrew S. Raich Schmidt
Lee P. Neuwirth Louis B. Rall John Schue
Monica Nevins Dinakar Ramakrishnan Paul E. Schupp
Siu-Hung Ng Melapalayam S. Charles Freund
Lance W. Nielsen Ramanujan Schwartz
Louis Nirenberg Nicholas Ramsey Sol Schwartzman
Togo Nishiura A. Duane Randall Gerald W. Schwarz
Thank you!
Zbigniew H. Nitecki R. Michael Range Karl Schwede
Rutger Noot M. M. Rao Stanley L. Sclove Ralph Strebel Paul A. Vojta
Yurii V. Obnosov Salvatore Rao Warner Henry Jon Strickland Hans W. Volkmer
Serge Ochanine Dwijendra K. Ray- Harvey Scott III Gerhard O. Strohmer Daniel F. Waggoner
Hajimu Ogawa Chaudhuri Anthony Karel Seda Garrett James Stuck William M. Wagner
Mogens Norgaard Olesen Frank Raymond George B. Seligman Bogdan D. Suceava Jonathan M. Wahl
Robert F. Olin David E. Reese Francesco Serra William H. Sulis William Wallace
Paul D. Olson Richard H. Reese Cassano Kelly John Suman Lawrence J. Wallen
Michael K. Ong Michael J. Reeves Richard J. Shaker Myron M. Sussman John Thomas Walsh
Yoshitsugu Oono Ernestine Reeves-Hicks Mohammad Shakil Peter Szabo Seth L. Warner
Edward T. Ordman Michael Reid Ching-Kuang Shene Zoltan Szekely Mark E. Watkins
Peter P. Orlik William H. Reid Qiang Shi Jacek Szmigielski Greg M. Watson
Bent Orsted Andrew Reiter Kenichi Shiraiwa Roman Sznajder David L. Webb
Barbara L. Osofsky Peter L. Renz Anne Joyce Shiu Yoav Tamari Glenn F. Webb
Mikhail Ostrovskii Robert J. Reynolds Vladimir Shpilrain Jun-Ichi Tanaka David A. Weinberg
James C. Owings Jr. Charles W. Rezk David C. Shreve Yoshihiro Tanaka Joel L. Weiner
Judith A. Packer Martin G. Ribe Steven E. Shreve Elliot A. Tanis Henry C. Wente
Felipe M. Pait Stephen J. Ricci Stuart J. Sidney Terence Chi-Shen Tao Elisabeth M. Werner
Fotios C. Paliogiannis Norman J. Richert Anastasios Simalarides Leon H. Tatevossian John E. Wetzel
Diethard Ernst Eleanor G. Rieffel Premjit Singh Keith A. Taylor Brian Cabell White
Pallaschke Marc A. Rieffel Dev P. Sinha Samuel James Taylor Charles M. White
Michelle I. Paraiso Jose Rio Walter S. Sizer Victor E. Terrana Robert Lee Wilson
Thomas H. Parker Thomas W. Rishel Jon A. Sjogren Edward C. Thoele Samuel Ronald Windsor
Alberto Parmeggiani Joel L. Roberts Laurie M. Smith Ben Thomas F. Wintrobe
Walter R. Parry Derek J. S. Robinson Steven Sidney Smith Abigail A. Thompson Bettina Wiskott
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan Tom Roby Joel A. Smoller Pham Huu Tiep Thomas P. Witelski
Donald S. Passman Norai R. Rocco William M. Snyder Jr. Craig A. Tracy Louis Witten
Donald A. Patterson David E. Rohrlich Carlos Humberto Gerard Tronel Sherman K. Wong
Nicholas J. Patterson Judith Roitman Soares Jr. Spiros Peter Tsatsanis Edythe P. Woodruff
Walter M. Patterson III Raymond H. Rolwing Siavash H. Sohrab Kazo Tsuji Bostwick F. Wyman
Peter Paule Guillermo Romero John J. Spitzer Joann Stephanie Turisco Marvin Yablon
John W. Pennisten Melendez Michael J. Spurr Thomas Francis Tyler Suresh Yegnashankaran
Maria Cristina Pereyra Alessandro Rosa Ross E. Staffeldt Johan Tysk Takeo Yokonuma
Sanford Perlman Jonathan M. Rosenberg William L. Stamey Jeremy Taylor Tyson Radu Zaharopol
Charles Samuel Peskin Hugo Rossi Lee James Stanley Michael Lawrence Ulrey Thomas Zaslavsky
Troels Petersen Virginia G. Rovnyak Christopher W. Stark James L. Ulrich Gaoyong Zhang
John W. Petro Joachim H. Rubinstein Jim Stasheff Johannes A. Van Paul Zorn
Jonathan Pila Bernard Russo Leon Albert Steinert Casteren John A. Zweibel
Cornelius Pillen Mansoor Saburov John Colin Stillwell Jan Van Neerven Paul F. Zweifel
Steven Pincus Seok Sagong Paul K. Stockmeyer Charles L. Vanden
Loren D. Pitt Hector N. Salas Stilian A. Stoev Eynden
David J. Pollack Luis C. Salinas H. A. Stone Joseph C. Varilly
Harriet S. Pollatsek Thomas S. Salisbury Philip D. Straffin Jr. Paul S. Voigt
Florian Pop Laurent Saloff-Coste Emil J. Straube Vassilly Voinov

This report reflects contributions received January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015. Accuracy in this list is important to us and we apol-
ogize for any errors. Please do not hesitate to bring discrepancies to our attention by calling AMS Development at 401.455.4111 or emailing
[email protected]. Thank you.

MAY 2016 NOTICES OF THE AMS 537

 A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker
View and share hundreds of images! of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than
theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.
—G. H. Hardy,
The connection between mathematics and art A Mathematician’s Apology
goes back thousands of years. Mathematics has
been used in the design of Gothic cathedrals,
Rose windows, oriental rugs, mosaics, and til-
ings. Geometric forms were fundamental to the
cubists and many abstract expressionists, and
award-winning sculptors have used topology
as the basis for their pieces. Dutch artist M.C.
Escher represented infinity, Möbius bands, tes-
sellations, deformations, reflections, Platonic
solids, spirals, symmetry, and the hyperbolic
plane in his works.
Mathematicians and artists continue to create
stunning works in all media and to explore the
visualization of mathematics--origami, comput-
er-generated landscapes, tessellations, fractals,
anamorphic art, and more.

“Exploring Complex Domain Functions Using Domain Coloring,”

by Konstantin Poelke and Konrad Polthier, Free University of Berlin

“Praying Mantis, opus 416,” by Robert J. Lang.

One uncut square of paper, 4”, composed and folded 2002. “Trifurcation,” by Robert Fathauer
© Robert J. Lang (Tessellations, Phoenix, AZ)

www.ams.org/mathimagery
 FROM THE AMS SECRETARY

2016 AMS Award for Impact

on the Teaching and Learning
of Mathematics
Michael Gage and Arnold Pizer have received the 2016 with Foundations” class of twenty-nine students in
AMS Award for Impact on the Teaching and Learning of fall, 1996. They received the first NSF [National Science
Mathematics. Foundation] grant for the support of WeBWorK in 1999,
Citation the same year that WeBWorK received the International
Michael Gage and Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics
Arnold Pizer at the Award for Excellence and Innovation with the Use of Tech-
University of Roches- nology in Collegiate Mathematics. Since then, WeBWorK
ter are the mathema- has received three additional NSF grants and is currently
ticians who created supported by the Mathematical Association of America.
and developed WeB- James Glimm, former president of the AMS, has written
WorK, one of the first about the improvement to student learning that can come
web-based systems from the use of WeBWorK: “The key mechanism for this
that assign and grade improvement seems to be that the students find their
.
Photo courtesy of Sandra Cherin

homework problems homework to be far more rewarding and do more of it,

in mathematics and and, not surprisingly, do learn more.” Instructors praise
science courses and its flexibility in terms of the types of questions that can
the most success- be posed and the benefits of its open source software that
ful that is nonprofit, make it possible for individuals to add onto its capabilities.
free, open source, Biographical Sketches
and textbook/pub- Michael Gage received his bachelor’s degree from Antioch
Michael Gage
lisher independent. College (1971) and his PhD from Stanford University
There are now almost (1978), where his advisor was Robert Osserman. After five
1,000 institutions years in postdoctoral and visiting positions, he joined the
(high schools, col- faculty at the University of Rochester and assumed his
leges, large research present position as professor of mathematics in 1993.
universities) using In 2014 Gage was a plenary speaker at the conference
WeBWorK, and its “WeBWorK and Math Support Center Workshop”, held at
Open Problem Library the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. He has
contains more than served on the AMS Committee on Education (2008–2011).
30,000 problems: col- Arnold Pizer received his bachelor’s de-
lege algebra through
gree from Yale University (1967) and his PhD from
linear algebra, com-
Photo courtesy of Carol Pizer.

Yale University (1971), where his advisor was

plex analysis, proba-
T. Tamagawa. After assistant professor positions at the
bility, and statistics.
University of California, Los Angeles, and at Brandeis Uni-
Gag e and P ize r
versity, he joined the faculty of the University of Rochester
began working on
in 1976 and became a full professor in 1989. In 2007 he
WeBWorK in the mid-
became a professor emeritus at Rochester.
1990s and launched
In 1999 Gage and Pizer received the International Con-
Arnold Pizer it with the “Calculus
gress on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics (ICTCM)
award for creating WeBWorK. This award recognizes
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: an individual or group for excellence and innovation in
[email protected]. using technology to enhance the teaching and learning
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1371 of mathematics.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 539

 American Mathematical Society
Information about hosting WeBWorK is available at
webwork.maa.org and about the WeBWork community
at webwork.maa.org/wiki.
Response
We are extremely honored to accept the AMS Award for
Impact on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics for
Algebraic Geometry II the development of the WeBWorK homework system. We
David Mumford, Brown University, Providence, RI, and
have been gratified by the positive benefit that WeBWorK
Tadao Oda, Tohoku University, Japan has had on student homework performance. We, along
Several generations of students of algebraic geometry have with our co-principal investigator Dean Vicki Roth, direc-
learned the subject from David Mumford’s fabled “Red Book”, tor of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
which contains notes of his lectures at Harvard University. Their at the University of Rochester, wish to acknowledge the
genesis and evolution are described by Mumford in the preface:
support of the National Science Foundation and the
Initially, notes to the course were mimeographed and bound and
sold by the Harvard mathematics department with a red cover. Mathematical Association of America in helping to cre-
These old notes were picked up by Springer and are now sold as ate an active open source academic support community
The Red Book of Varieties and Schemes. However, every time I
taught the course, the content changed and grew. I had aimed to
around the WeBWorK software. The mathematicians in
eventually publish more polished notes in three volumes… this community who are augmenting and upgrading the
This book contains what Mumford had then intended to be open source software and contributing to and curating the
Volume II. It covers the material in the “Red Book” in more depth, collection of Creative Commons licensed questions in the
with several topics added. Mumford has revised the notes in col-
laboration with Tadao Oda. Open Problem Library continue to improve the resources
The book is a sequel to Algebraic Geometry I, published by made freely available for the teaching of mathematics. We
Springer-Verlag in 1976. are grateful for the recognition that the AMS has given to
Hindustan Book Agency; 2015; 516 pages; Hardcover; ISBN: us for initiating the WeBWorK project and fostering the
978-93-80250-80-9; List US$76; AMS members US$60.80; Order code growth of this WeBWorK community.
HIN/70
About the Award
Operators on Hilbert Space The Award for Impact on the Teaching and Learning of
Mathematics was established by the AMS Committee on
V. S. Sunder, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai,
India Education (COE) in 2013. The Award is given annually to
This book’s principal goals are: (i) to present the spectral theorem a mathematician (or group of mathematicians) who has
as a statement on the existence of a unique continuous and mea- made significant contributions of lasting value to mathe-
surable functional calculus, (ii) to present a proof without digress- matics education. Priorities of the award include recogni-
ing into a course on the Gelfand theory of commutative Banach
algebras, (iii) to introduce the reader to the basic facts concerning tion of (a) accomplished mathematicians who have worked
the various von Neumann-Schatten ideals, the compact oper- directly with pre-college teachers to enhance teachers’
ators, the trace-class operators and all bounded operators, and
finally, (iv) to serve as a primer on the theory of bounded linear
impact on mathematics achievement for all students or
operators on separable Hilbert space. (b) sustainable and replicable contributions by mathemati-
Hindustan Book Agency; 2015; 110 pages; Softcover; ISBN: 978- cians to improving the mathematics education of students
93-80250-74-8; List US$40; AMS members US$32; Order code HIN/69 in the first two years of college. The US$1,000 award is
given annually. The endowment fund that supports the
Problems in the Theory award was established in 2012 by a contribution from
of Modular Forms Kenneth I. and Mary Lou Gross in honor of their daughters,
M. Ram Murty, Michael Dewar, and Hester Graves, Laura and Karen. The award is presented by the COE acting
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada on the recommendation of a selection subcommittee. The
This book introduces the reader to the fascinating world of mod- members of the subcommittee were Matt Baker, David
ular forms through a problem-solving approach. As such, it can
be used by undergraduate and graduate students for self-instruc-
Bressoud, Jennifer Taback (Chair), and Karen Vogtmann.
tion. The topics covered include q -series, the modular group, Previous recipients of the Impact Award were Paul J.
the upper half-plane, modular forms of level one and higher Sally Jr. (2014) and W. James Lewis (2015).
level, the Ramanujan τ -function, the Petersson inner product,
Hecke operators, Dirichlet series attached to modular forms, and
further special topics. It can be viewed as a gentle introduction —AMS Committee on Education
for a deeper study of the subject. Thus, it is ideal for non-experts
seeking an entry into the field.
Hindustan Book Agency; 2015; 310 pages; Softcover; ISBN: 978-
93-80250-72-4; List US$58; AMS members US$46.40; Order code
HIN/68

bookstore.ams.org
Publications of Hindustan Book Agency are distributed within the
Americas by the American Mathematical Society. Maximum discount
of 20% for all commercial channels.

bookstore.ams.org

540 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 American Mathematical Society

AMS EXEMPLARY PROGRAM AWARD

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The AMS Award for Exemplary Program or
Achievement in a Mathematics Department is
presented annually to a department that has
distinguished itself by undertaking an unusual
or particularly effective program of value to the
mathematics community, internally or in relation
to the rest of the society. Examples might include
a department that runs a notable minority
outreach program, a department that has
instituted an unusually effective industrial
mathematics internship program, a department
that has promoted mathematics so successfully
that a large fraction of its university’s
undergraduate population majors in mathemat-
ics, or a department that has made some form of
innovation in its research support to faculty and/
or graduate students, or which has created a
special and innovative environment for some
aspect of mathematics research.

The award amount is $5,000. All

departments in North America that
offer at least a bachelor’s degree in
the mathematical sciences are eligible.

The Award Selection Committee requests nomi-

nations for this award, which will be announced in Spring 2017. Letters of nomination may be sub-
mitted by one or more individuals. Nomination of the writer’s own institution is permitted. The letter
should describe the specific program(s) for which the department is being nominated as well as the
achievements that make the program(s) an outstanding success, and may include any ancillary doc-
uments which support the success of the program(s). The letter should not exceed two pages, with
supporting documentation not to exceed an additional three pages.

Nominations with supporting information should be submitted to

www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/nominations. Those who prefer to submit by regular
mail may send nominations to the AMS Secretary, Professor Carla D. Savage, North Carolina State
University, Department of Computer Science, Campus Box 8206, Raleigh, NC 27695-8206. The
nominations will be forwarded by the Secretary to the Prize Selection Committee.

Deadline for nominations is September 15, 2016.

FROM THE AMS SECRETARY

2016 Award for an Exemplary

Program or Achievement in a
Mathematics Department
The Department of Mathematics at Califor- Students tend to enter the program thinking
nia State University at Northridge is the that the only career for math majors is high
recipient of the 2016 Award for an Exemplary school teaching. Many have not declared math
Program or Achievement in a Mathematics De- majors before the program. After the program,
partment. most become math majors; they are enthusiastic
Citation about mathematics research. As an example, more
The American Mathematical Society is pleased than 80 percent of PUMP participants from 2013
to recognize the Department of Mathematics at (who graduated college in 2015) have now started
California State University at Northridge (CSUN) graduate programs in the mathematical sciences.
with the 2016 Award for an Exemplary Program or The 2013 cohort included 52 percent women, 54
Achievement in a Mathematics Department. CSUN percent Hispanic, 10 percent African American,
is being recognized for its program “Preparing and 2 percent Native American students.
This program is a true gem. It offers a model
Undergraduates through Mentoring towards PhDs’’
that can be adopted nationwide. The program
(PUMP). The diversity efforts at all levels of the
creates a mathematics research culture that is
PUMP program have been truly exemplary.
inviting and inclusive for undergraduates from
The PUMP program was created in 2005 by a
underrepresented groups. Its impact is enormous.
group of faculty members at CSUN with the aim
The California State Universities involved in this
of increasing access to PhD programs in the Math-
program should be proud of this achievement and
ematical Sciences for underrepresented minority
their administrations should capitalize on this
students. CSUN is a large Hispanic-serving insti-
success by institutionalizing the program with
tution in an ethnically and economically diverse
local support.
region. Before PUMP, the number of mathematics
For the many ways in which the PUMP program
majors at CSUN was tiny and essentially none
at California State University Northridge has had
continued to PhD programs. While PUMP began a large impact on underrepresented groups in the
as a program at CSUN, it was expanded in 2013 mathematical sciences, we are happy to present
to include 10 Cal State campuses. The program the AMS Award for Exemplary Program or Achieve-
has two main features: a centralized residential ment to the Department of Mathematics at Califor-
summer boot camp and a research experience nia State University at Northridge.
during the academic year at the students’ home
About the Award
institutions (across the 10 participating Cal State
The Award for an Exemplary Program or Achieve-
campuses). Throughout the program, students are
ment in a Mathematics Department was estab-
closely mentored. They participate in regional and
lished by the AMS Council in 2004 and was given
national conferences, and gain a strong sense of
for the first time in 2006. The purpose is to rec-
community. ognize a department that has distinguished itself
by undertaking an unusual or particularly effective
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: program of value to the mathematics community,
[email protected]. internally or in relation to the rest of society.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1376 Departments of mathematical sciences in North

542 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY
America that offer at least a bachelor’s degree in

MathJobs.Org
mathematical sciences are eligible. Through the
generous support of an anonymous donor, the
award carries a cash prize of US$5,000.
The automated job application database sponsored by the AMS
The award is presented by the AMS Council
acting on the recommendation of a selection
committee. For the 2016 award, the members of
Free for Applicants
the selection committee were: Michael Dorff, Eric
Grinberg, Aloysius Helminck (Chair), Monica Jack-
son, and Cesar Silva.
The previous recipients of the award are:
• Harvey Mudd College (2006)
• The University of California,
Los Angeles (2007)
• The University of Iowa (2008)
• The University of Nebraska, Lincoln (2009)
• North Carolina State University (2010)
• The Math Center at the University
of Arizona (2011)
• Bryn Mawr College (2012) MathJobs.Org
• The University of Texas at Arlington (2013)
offers a paperless
• Williams College (2014)
• Iowa State University (2015). application process for applicants
—Exemplary Program Award and employers in mathematics
Selection Committee
Registered Applicants Can:
• Create their own portfolio of application documents
• Make applications online to participating employers
• Choose to make a cover sheet viewable by all
registered employers

Registered Employers Can:

• Post up to seven job ads
• Set all criteria for required documents, and add
specific questions
• Receive and upload reference letters
• Manage applicant information and correspondence
quickly and easily
• Set limited access permissions for faculty and EOE
administrators
• Search for and sort additional applicants in the
database
• Choose an advertising-only account, or a discounted
single ad account

Visit mathjobs.org for pricing information

Contact: Membership and Programs Department

American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street
Providence, RI 02904-2294 USA
800.321.4267, ext. 4105
Email: [email protected]

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 543

COMMUNICATION

PUMPed about Math: CSU

Northridge Wins Exemplary
Program Award
Allyn Jackson

For many kids growing up in the San Fernando Valley of who are members of groups traditionally underrepre-
Los Angeles County, the default university is California sented in the field. It is also profoundly changing the lives
State University Northridge (CSUN). It’s not a “destina- of the students it touches. For initiating PUMP and over-
tion campus”; it’s the campus down the street. CSUN seeing the program after its expansion to other campuses,
(pronounced “see-sun”) has more than 40,000 students, the CSUN mathematics department has received the AMS
around half of them low-income and around 40 percent Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a
Hispanic. Most commute to campus, and many work part- Mathematics Department.
time or even full-time and juggle complex family lives.
Many are the first in their families to attend college, so Upping Commitment to Underrepresented Students
their aspirations don’t stretch beyond a bachelor’s degree. The CSUN mathematics department, which grants bache-
Those who choose mathematics as a major typically see lor’s and master’s degrees, has always had a commitment
exactly one career option: teaching high school math. to encouraging students underrepresented in mathemat-
So how did it come about that, in the past decade, more ics. After all, these are the students the department sees
than fifty CSUN math majors enrolled in PhD programs? every day. With PUMP, this commitment has reached an
And how is it that many of them landed in top-quality entirely new level over the past decade.
mathematics programs like Georgia, Utah, UCLA, Johns PUMP started on the initiative of CSUN mathematics
Hopkins, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and professor Helena Noronha, a native of Brazil who earned
University of Texas Austin? And how is it that some her PhD at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in
of them took postdocs at the likes of Dartmouth, Rice, 1983 and joined the CSUN faculty in 1990. Having served
and the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Paris? as a program officer in the Division of Mathematical
Perhaps the CSUN mathematics department is becoming Sciences of the National Science Foundation (NSF) from
a “destination department”. 2000 until 2002 (and later from 2009 to 2011), Noronha
These surprising and inspiring developments stem saw the potential for her department to have a national
impact. She and three CSUN colleagues, Alberto Candel,
from PUMP (Preparing Undergraduates through Mentor-
Rabia Djellouli, and Werner Horn, developed the idea
ing towards PhDs), a program that originated in the CSUN
of PUMP and collaborated on a successful proposal to
mathematics department. Now encompassing an alliance
the NSF. Noronha was the principal investigator and
of ten Cal State institutions, PUMP is making a significant
the other three were co-principal investigators. With
contribution to increasing the number of mathematicians
Noronha as director, PUMP started in 2005. Its main goal:
prepare underrepresented minority students from the
Allyn Jackson is senior writer and deputy editor of Notices. Her San Fernando Valley for success in PhD programs in the
email address is [email protected]. mathematical sciences.
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: “In the beginning we made probably every mistake
[email protected]. we could have made, like any program startup,” said
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1384 Horn, who served as director of PUMP from 2009 to 2012.

544 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 At the summer institute,
Photo courtesy of Helena Noronha.

participants also learn about

doctoral programs in mathe-
“It is unusual
matics through presentations
by faculty from nearby univer-
that an under-
sities, who explain what they graduate
look for in graduate school
applicants. In addition, PUMP student in the
alumni who are succeeding
in graduate school give talks, department
PUMP students discuss mathematics together.
and what they have to say
really hits home. Horn said
does not do
that many of the more recent any type of
PUMP students have told them
Undiscouraged, the PUMP personnel used the knowledge that this part of the program research.”
gained to improve and fine-tune the program. For example, changed their lives. “The cur-
at the beginning PUMP emphasized to students the offer rent students now see someone who has a demographic
of stipends to help them prepare for graduate work in background similar to their own and is doing something
mathematics. The stipends were certainly attractive, as they never dreamed of,” Horn said. “That gives them the
many CSUN students work and receive financial aid, but idea, ‘I can do that as well.’ ”
they didn’t always understand the career benefits of a Another component of the PUMP structure is its un-
PhD, and many struggled with the more immediate goal dergraduate research projects. These take place during
of graduating from CSUN. the academic year, with PUMP providing a bit of financial
So PUMP changed support to the faculty and students involved. Djellouli,
its strategy to empha- a co-PI on the original PUMP grant and now chair of the
size how it would help “It’s cool to be in CSUN mathematics department, has worked extensively
with students on research projects. He said the projects
students do better in
their classes and reach
PUMP.” have become an integral part of the department. “We are
graduation. As a side now in a situation where it is unusual that an undergrad-
benefit, the students would get information about PhD uate student in the department does not do any type
programs and the career options such a degree opens. of research activity,” he said. “Faculty have seen that it
“After that they could decide whether graduate school works, it helps students, it motivates them and lifts their
was for them,” Noronha said. This change in emphasis aspirations.” The enthusiasm is now spreading in the CSU
changed students’ perception of PUMP. “It went from the Alliance departments, where faculty can apply to PUMP for
students thinking that maybe the program was not for small grants to support Undergraduate Research Groups
them, it was a difficult program, to ‘It’s cool to be in (URGs) consisting of a faculty member and at least two
PUMP.’ ” students.
The PUMP research projects have a ripple effect in that
A Winning Program Structure even after support for the projects ends, the faculty and
students often continue to work together. The activity
By 2007 the PUMP personnel had come to understand well
fosters closer engagement between faculty and students,
the needs of the students and hit upon a winning structure
thereby leading naturally to better mentoring. In addition,
for the program. This structure serves as a model for
students gain experience in presenting their work in the
the multicampus version, called the CSU Alliance for
PUMP Symposium, which brings together all the PUMP
PUMP, which began in 2013 with a new five-year NSF
URG students across the CSU Alliance campuses.
grant (see sidebar for a list of the Alliance institutions).
Another component of PUMP is its systematic efforts to
A centerpiece of PUMP in both incarnations is the PUMP
get students to apply for off-campus opportunities, such
Summer Institute. Originally the institute took place on
as the many Research Experiences for Undergraduates
the CSUN campus, and now it rotates among the various
programs that take place in various locations across
campuses in the CSU Alliance. Students receive stipends to the United States. PUMP provides support for students
attend the four-week institute, in which they take intensive, to attend regional and national conferences, such as
rigorous courses in linear algebra and analysis. Noronha meetings of chapters of the Mathematical Association
said that those two subjects were chosen because they are of America and the Joint Mathematics Meetings. Many
fundamental to any area of specialization the students PUMP students attend the Field of Dreams Conference,
might choose. During the institute, she said, “They live sponsored by the National Alliance for Doctoral Studies
in the dorms, they work together on mathematics night in the Mathematical Sciences. Held annually, Field of
and day, Saturday and Sunday.” The shared experience Dreams has become one of the major annual events
forges long-lasting bonds among the students and greatly where faculty come together with students from groups
increases their motivation and confidence. underrepresented in the mathematical sciences.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 545

Photo courtesy of Helena Noronha.

PUMP students attend the 2014 Field of Dreams conference.

Positive Effects on the Department PUMP, more students are staying on campus for a full
The CSUN mathematics department soon saw the positive day. The department has helped in various ways, such as
effects of PUMP. Faculty reported that they could teach providing tutoring jobs for advanced undergraduates and
at a deeper level than before. More undergraduate stu- designating a room where students can hang out and work
dents were turning up in the department’s master’s-level together. Now, said Horn, “There is an undergraduate and
courses. The department was able to augment its degree beginning graduate mathematical community” within the
offerings to include a bachelor of science option, which department. “And it all started with the original PUMP
specifically prepares majors for graduate school. Prior grant from 2005.”
to PUMP, most math majors took the department’s sec- An increasing number of CSUN math majors are enter-
ondary teaching option for their degrees. Today there are ing and progressing in doctoral programs. Between 2005
over 110 majors in the BS/BA option versus around fifty and 2015, over 50 CSUN math majors entered PhD pro-
in the secondary teaching option; around 35 students are grams. They are well equipped for the rigors of graduate
in the applied mathematics/statistics option. school; very few have dropped out. Moreover, Horn said
Students are also finding the department a more that in the few cases where students have dropped out,
welcoming place. CSUN is largely a commuter campus, the reasons were always personal. “I know of no case
and prior to PUMP many mathematics students would where it was for academic reasons,” he noted. Prior to
come for two hours to attend a class and then leave PUMP, the number of CSUN math majors going to graduate
to work jobs or take care of their families. “They did school was far smaller. For example, NSF statistics show
not stick around on campus,” Horn remarked. But with that between 1996 and 2000, only one CSUN math major
completed a PhD. Each year between 2007 and 2012, an
average of five CSUN math majors completed a PhD.
PUMP students have been accepted into some of the top
graduate programs in mathematics in the nation and are
continuing on to good positions as postdoctoral or junior
faculty or in industry. Three PUMP students received
Photo courtesy of CSU Channel Islands.

NSF Graduate Fellowships. One is CSUN student Evan

Randles, who went to Cornell. The other two are from
Cal Poly Pomona and participated in the CSU-Alliance
for PUMP: Kristin Dettmers, in applied mathematics at
MIT, and Natalie Gasca, in statistics at the University
of Washington. Another PUMP student, William Yessen,
received an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship and is at Rice
University. Such distinctions for Cal State students were
extremely rare prior to PUMP.

Student Successes
Cynthia Flores lectures to her students at Cal State
University Channel Islands. There are many inspiring stories among the PUMP stu-
dents, and one is that of Cynthia Flores. To say that she

546 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 was the first in her family to attend college seems inade- professor Jing Li. “Clearly, PUMP has had a direct,
quate to describe the enormous leap she has made. Her positive effect on my career as a mathematician,” he
parents fled El Salvador as civil war raged, got amnesty in said.
the United States, and settled in Los Angeles. Although Fleischer is now a doctoral student and teaching
she grew up a few blocks from the University of Southern assistant at UC Davis. He noted that if his original goal
California, she had no idea what it was, and no one around had been an academic career, he might have tried for
her did either. She suspected it was a church, “since ev- one of the many fancier institutions in the Los Angeles
eryone who went there dressed nice,” she said. When she area. But after taking part in PUMP at CSUN, he has no
was identified as gifted at the age of six, she and her regrets. “I ended up having a great experience, since there
parents were not sure what the term meant, other than was less competition to do research with professors and
that she was given extra assignments. She loved math and I received lots of one-on-one attention when I sought it
excelled in the subject, but by high school she found her out in office hours,” he said. His experience at UC Davis
math classes dull. On the advice of a guidance counselor, made him appreciate CSUN and PUMP all the more. For
she enrolled in college algebra at a nearby community undergraduates at big research-oriented universities, he
college and enjoyed it greatly. This was her first inkling observed, “there is much greater potential to get lost and
of what college would be like. not receive adequate attention from professors.”
Intending to become a high school math teacher, Flores
enrolled in CSUN. She did well academically but held many Keys to Success
misconceptions about career paths. She thought that
One reason PUMP is so successful in getting underrepre-
college professors were people who had been outstanding
sented minority students into mathematics is that PUMP
high school teachers and had been promoted. It was not
lives where these students live. While other programs
until Flores enrolled in PUMP that Noronha explained
make heroic efforts to recruit qualified students from
the actual career path of a mathematics professor. Given
underrepresented groups, CSUN does essentially no re-
Flores’s excellent grades, Noronha recommended she
cruiting for PUMP. The same is true for the institutions
stay on for a master’s degree at CSUN and then apply
in the CSU Alliance for PUMP, where the percentage of
to graduate school. PUMP “changed my life,” Flores said.
Hispanic students ranges between 25 and 50 percent.
A major factor was the dedication of the PUMP faculty.
Programs that recruit underrepresented students often
“They strike a balance between mentoring, advising, and
rigorous teaching” that provided a strong foundation for must put in a lot of effort to strengthen the students’
graduate school, she said. backgrounds to prepare them for graduate school. PUMP
Today, as assistant professor at California State Uni- works differently in that its summer program reaches
versity Channel Islands, Flores is once again involved with students much earlier, when they are sophomores or
PUMP, through the CSU Alliance. Like the other universi- juniors. As Djellouli put it, PUMP operates at a “crossroads”
ties in the alliance, Channel Islands is a Hispanic-serving point for the students. By the time PUMP students are
institution. PUMP allows the mathematics faculty there to seniors, “they know so many things about mathematics,
capitalize on their experience mentoring students from about the beauty of math, the variety of the math, and also
underrepresented groups. Said Flores, “I am so excited about possible jobs, whether in academia or industry,” he
that PUMP is making a difference in the lives of many said. “Also, they know themselves.... Those who decide to
underserved undergraduate students.” go into PhD programs really know that this is what they
Another PUMP student, Sam Fleischer, has a very want. These are not students who are going to start and
different story. Out of drop.”
high school he was The success of PUMP has put CSUN on the map
accepted into a top- in various ways. Students at community colleges in
level art conservatory California who are interested in mathematics often want
in New York. He stud- to transfer to CSUN for bachelor’s degrees, to join PUMP.
ied theater there for a The department is able to attract very good job candidates
year and a half before who fit its elevated profile as a center for undergraduate
deciding that wasn’t research. For the first time, the department is getting job
Photo courtesy of Sam Fleischer.

what he wanted to applications from overseas candidates. Also for the first
do. He ended up at time, CSUN’s very own alumni are applying for jobs in the
CSUN mainly because department.
his mother works there The effects of PUMP have also raised the profile of the
and he got a tuition mathematics department on the CSUN campus. As the
reduction. After enter- largest department in terms of enrollments, mathematics
ing PUMP, he attended used to be viewed solely as a service teaching department.
a Field of Dreams That view has shifted, as the department has become
Sam Fleischer leafs through a conference and began more research-oriented, partly because of PUMP and
newspaper in a coffee house exploring predator-prey partly because of new hires. Also, the number of students
in San Francisco. models under the guid- the mathematics department sends to graduate programs
ance of CSUN math is now on a par with, for example, the biology department.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 547

“We are a little more respected now as a valid academic
department,” said Horn.
What PUMP has done at CSUN and is now spreading
to the other campuses in the CSU Alliance is to foster a
“doctoral culture” in an undergraduate institution. PUMP
students thrive in this culture. And in the end, the students
are the real reason for the success of PUMP. PUMP provides
a structure and setting where the students’ knowledge
and aspirations can blossom. Said Djellouli, “The students
when we talk to them, they are so happy, so thankful that
they had this opportunity.”

CSU Alliance for PUMP

The CSU Alliance for PUMP comprises the following campuses in the California State
University system:

Channel Islands Los Angeles

Dominguez Hills Northridge
Fresno Pomona
Fullerton San Marcos
Long Beach San Bernardino

548 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 In Her Own Words: A PUMP Success Story

PUMP had a very strong impact on my academic goals graduate programs in computational biology and bio-
and achievements, so I am very passionate about this statistics. My URG research advisor Bruce Shapiro was
program. very supportive of my career path and my new status as
I was accepted into the PUMP Summer Program in a mother. He offered me an opportunity to continue the
2011, during my sophomore year. Until then I was set research at Caltech, where I collaborated with biologists,
on becoming a math teacher, mainly because teaching presented my work at a large conference, and learned
was familiar, since my mom is a teacher. But I wanted new programming skills.
to learn more about graduate school because academ- After that, I was accepted to do the PUMP Summer
ics is what I really enjoyed and excelled in. Program and PUMP URG a second time. I was men-
A week before PUMP started, I found out I was tored by Ramin Vakilian in multiple research projects
expecting my first child—I was only nineteen years and attended more conferences to present our work.
old. I had always hoped to become Both he and PUMP founder Hel-
a mother, but at such a young age ena Noronha supported me and
and in an unplanned situation, I wanted to see me succeed.
felt as if I had failed. I felt I was no During my last year, I applied
longer a good role model for my to graduate programs, mostly
family. I am from the Northridge teaching credential and master
area and am the oldest of my of education programs. I wanted
cousins and siblings. We grew up to retreat to something that was
in a low-income area with not so more familiar and that I could
many great influences, so I had do closer to home. Also, the
a lot of pressure to be "perfect''. negative responses I'd had from
How could I consider graduate some of the professors during
school when I was unsure I would my pregnancy made me wary.
even be able to finish my under- However, Helena really pushed
Photo by Jesus Reyes.
graduate degree? me to apply to master's pro-
I decided to attend PUMP any- grams in biostatistics, including
way, and I am glad I did. Many the one at Duke University.
PUMP guest speakers told of their All but one of the programs
experiences. One of them was Brianna Amador teaches her son some I applied to accepted me with
earning her PhD and had her first mathematics by counting fruit snacks. scholarships. My mind was set
child at age eighteen. Meeting her on UCLA, because it was nearest
gave me hope. After the program I really considered to home and it was a teaching program. But I also
making a PhD my goal and sought more opportunities went to visit Duke. I did not feel there that negativity
that could help me get there. However, while trying I had encountered before---people actually wanted to
to talk about my goals with professors, some of them know more about my son and my experience. I kept
put me down. One reacted with rolling eyes when I reminding myself of what I had learned at PUMP and
said I'd be taking a semester off because I was preg- how many of the people I met there had struggles but
nant. Another lectured me about how long it took overcame them and were succeeding. During the last
some women to earn their PhDs. Another just sighed. week before decision deadlines, my scholarship from
I was filled with guilt, anger, sadness. But I wanted Duke was increased.
to prove them wrong. I had to keep reminding myself I am now in the master of biostatistics program at
of the women I had met in PUMP. Duke University. I owe so much of where I'm at today
I had my son in January 2013. Although I took to PUMP. It paved the way for many opportunities and
some time off classes, I found another opportunity gave me confidence to keep pushing through. It has
to go after: The PUMP Undergraduate Research Group definitely been challenging, but I'm making it just fine.
(URG). That was a perfect fit for me because it allowed As for my son, he is now three and is loving the new
me to gain research experience and did not require sights in North Carolina.
me to move out of state.
The URG helped me realize that I really enjoy com- —Brianna Amador
putational biology, analyzing data, and building math-
ematical models. This experience led me to consider

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 549

 A View from a CSU Alliance Member

I first heard about PUMP when I met Helena Noronha at and service responsibilities. The stipends faculty receive
a conference at Harvey Mudd College in 2013. I could through the PUMP Undergraduate Research Groups (URG)
hardly believe that such a program exists: stipends for are crucial.
Cal State faculty and students to learn mathematics and Similarly, the stipends provided to the students
conduct research together. I got involved in the CSU Al- allow them to forgo part-time work and focus on
liance for PUMP and ran the 2014 PUMP Summer Pro- their mathematical development. Plus, PUMP supports
gram at my university, Cal the URG-supported fac-
Poly Pomona. I also applied ulty and students as they
for and received support travel to conferences to
to conduct research with a give talks or present post-
pair of undergrads (one of ers at mathematics con-
whom, Kristin Dettmers, is ferences.
now at MIT pursuing her The future of PUMP
PhD in applied math). is very bright. Word has
Photo courtesy of Helena Noronha.

begun to spread through

What makes PUMP so suc- the Cal State System that
cessful is the confidence it PUMP is a program that
ignites in its students. PUMP makes a difference. The
applicants are typically un- recognition of PUMP
derrepresented students who provided by Phil Kutzko
may not have ever thought and the Math Alliance
about pursuing a graduate Students at the PUMP Summer Program in July has sparked interest in
degree in math. The PUMP 2015. In the front row are PUMP director Helena PhD-granting institutions
Summer Program provides Noronha on the far left and, on the far right, two Cal and other four-year and
a unique opportunity at a Poly Pomona faculty members who are co-directors master's-granting institu-
critical point in their devel- of the CSU Alliance for PUMP, John Rock and Arlo tions. There is significant
opment to learn about proof- Caine. potential for the PUMP
based mathematics beyond program to grow beyond
the computations of calculus courses in a challenging the Cal State System and become a force for strengthen-
and supportive environment. The stipend and lodging ing mathematics programs across the country.
support the Summer Program provides are vital: with-
out this monetary support, many applicants might, for —John Rock, Cal Poly Pomona, co-director,
example, be under pressure to make money by taking CSU Alliance for PUMP
a part-time job to support themselves or their families.
CSU Alliance member departments see improvement
in the performance of students who have taken part
in the PUMP Summer Program and an increase in the
number of math faculty who conduct research with
undergraduates. Cal State faculty members are always
encouraged to conduct research with students, but this
is frequently not feasible due to our significant teaching

550 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

υ
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
AMS Award for

+σ
Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference
Deadline: September 15, 2016

2λ
This award was established in 2005 in response to a recommendation from the AMS’s
Committee on the Profession that the AMS compile and publish a series of profiles of
programs that:
1. aim to bring more persons from underrepresented backgrounds into some portion
of the pipeline beginning at the undergraduate level and leading to advanced degrees in
mathematics and professional success, or retain them once in the pipeline;
2. have achieved documentable success in doing so; and
3. are replicable models.

φ
ω
Preference will be given to programs with significant participation by underrepresented
minorities.
One or two programs are highlighted annually.
Nomination process: Letters of nomination may be submitted by one or more individuals.
Nomination of the writer’s own program or department is permitted. The nomination
should describe the specific program which is being nominated as well as the achievements
that make the program an outstanding success. The letter of nomination should not exceed
two pages, with supporting documentation not to exceed three more pages. Up to three
supporting letters may be included in addition to these five pages.

ζη
Send nominations to:
Programs that Make a Difference
c/o Associate Executive Director, Meetings and Professional Services
American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street

ετ
Providence, RI 02904
or via email to [email protected]

Recent Winners:
2016: Department of Mathematics, Morehouse College
2015: Pacific Coast Undergraduate Math Conference (PCUMC);
Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM)
2014: Carleton College Summer Math Program;

γ
Rice University Summer Institute of Statistics
2013: Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM)
2012: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
FROM THE AMS SECRETARY
2016 Mathematics Programs
That Make a Difference
Photo courtesy of the Morehouse College Department of Mathematics.

The Harriett J. Walton Symposium on Undergraduate Mathematics Research, held

annually at Morehouse College, brings mathematics students from Georgia and beyond
to share oral presentations about their work.

E
ach year, the AMS Committee on the Profession in STEM disciplines, a majority of those in the mathe-
(CoProf) chooses outstanding programs to be des- matical sciences. Notably, three alumni earned mathe-
ignated as Mathematics Programs That Make a Dif- matics PhDs in 2015 (and a total of six in the past seven
ference. For 2016 CoProf has selected the Department years); for comparison, a total of fifteen black male US
of Mathematics at Morehouse College. citizens earned a PhD in
mathematics nationwide
Citation Alumni laud in 2013–14.
According to one of the
Be it resolved that the American Mathematical Society and
its Committee on the Profession recognize the Department
Morehouse letters in support of its
of Mathematics at Morehouse College for its significant faculty for nomination, “The More-
house program empha-
efforts to encourage students from underrepresented
groups to continue in the study of mathematics. fostering a sizes a culture of mento-
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, historically ring and strong personal
black college in Atlanta, Georgia, with enrollment of ap-
welcoming interactions between fac-
proximately 2,200 students. In recent years its Department
of Mathematics has graduated an average of fourteen
and caring ulty and students.… When
I talk to Morehouse stu-
mathematics majors per year. This places Morehouse environment dents, the common theme
as the nation’s top producer of black male mathematics is not what led to their
degree recipients (and one of the top producers of all success but who did so.”
black mathematics graduates). Roughly half of recent Alumni of the program
mathematics majors have gone on to graduate programs laud the Morehouse faculty for fostering a welcoming and
caring environment while at the same time establishing
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: and maintaining high expectations for the majors.
[email protected]. The AMS commends the members of the Department of
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1378 Mathematics at Morehouse College for their high level of

552 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

commitment and successful efforts to improve diversity
in the profession of mathematics in the United States.

Program Description

Photo courtesy of the Morehouse College

Each year, the Department of Mathematics at Morehouse
College hosts the Harriett J. Walton Symposium on
Undergraduate Mathematics Research. Now in its four-

Department of Mathematics.
teenth year, the conference gives undergraduate math
majors in Georgia and neighboring states a venue in which
to present their own research and to make contact with
others sharing their interests. The conference was named
to honor Harriett J. Walton, a remarkable black woman
who joined the Morehouse faculty in 1958. By that time
she held master’s degrees in mathematics from both How-
ard and Syracuse Universities. While teaching full-time at
Morehouse and raising four children, she earned her PhD Morehouse mathematics professor Ulrica Wilson
in mathematics education from Georgia State University (second from left) with students Aquia Richburg,
in 1974. A teacher and mentor of exceptional dedication Terrell Glenn, and Caleb Bugg on the Morehouse
and a beloved member of the department, she retired Mathematics Awards Day in April 2015.
from Morehouse in 2000, after forty-two years of service.
That the conference was named after this inspirational sions and at local and national mathematics conferences,
figure gives a hint of the soul of the Morehouse depart- including the Harriett J. Walton Symposium.
ment. This is a place that values and draws on its heritage The department hosts various social events that build
and traditions while striving to improve itself today and community among the students and foster a sense of
plant seeds for the future. camaraderie centered on shared interest in mathematics.
Founded in 1867, Morehouse College is the nation’s When a mathematics education researcher, Christopher
only institution of higher education dedicated to black Jett, was invited by the department to interview its majors
men. Its approximately 2,200 students are all male, in 2014, he found that “[the students’] mathematical bond
and nearly all of them are black. With an emphasis on created a brotherly sense of community among them”
top-quality academics, the college aims to produce highly (quotation from a summary report submitted to the More-
educated and morally conscious graduates who are, as the house department). He described the atmosphere in the
Morehouse website puts it, “the heart, soul and hope of Morehouse department as a “Mathematical Brotherhood.”
the community.” Today the department has about sixty mathematics
The Department of Mathematics at Morehouse is ori- majors, and an average of fourteen of them graduate
ented to this ideal. Its faculty strive to provide a challeng-
ing yet nurturing environment for all of its students. Much

Photo courtesy of the Morehouse College

of the depart-
ment’s energy
is focused on
A mathematical

Department of Mathematics.
excelling in
the ordinary
business of all
bond that creates a
mathematics
departments:
brotherly sense of
delivering community
high-quality
instruction in
rigorous courses. Faculty provide plenty of office hours Morehouse students do mathematics at an “analysis
for one-on-one help, students can join study sessions to party”.
work together, and the Mathematics Lab offers a sociable
setting where students provide or receive tutoring. Encour- each year, making Morehouse the nation’s top producer
agement and support are given both to students who are of black male mathematics bachelor’s degree recipients.
struggling and to students who are excelling. Increasingly, Morehouse math majors are continuing on to
Through interactions with faculty and colloquium
graduate school. Of the twenty-nine majors who finished
speakers, Morehouse mathematics students gain new
in 2014 and 2015, half are now in graduate programs,
perspectives on the opportunities a degree in mathematics
most of them in the mathematical sciences and nearly all
opens up. They also start to see beyond their coursework
in science, engineering, or technology disciplines.
and to get a taste of what research in mathematics is like.
The year 2015 was a banner year for the department, as
Mathematics majors are encouraged to participate in
three of its alumni received PhDs in mathematics: Kevin
Research Experiences for Undergraduates programs, and
Buckles (PhD, Tufts University), now at Henry Ford College;
some also do research projects with Morehouse faculty.
Bobby Wilson (PhD, University of Chicago), now a Moore
Students make presentations in departmental poster ses-

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 553

 Instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

Photo courtesy of the Morehouse College Department

and Samuel J. Ivy (PhD, North Carolina State University),
now an assistant professor at the United States Military
Academy in West Point. They are among a total of six More-
house alumni who received mathematics doctorates over
the past seven years. To put those numbers in context,
consider that, between 2007 and 2014, an average of 13
mathematics PhDs went to black men each year, out of an
average yearly total of 1,700 mathematics PhDs.
Photo courtesy of the Morehouse College

of Mathematics.
Department of Mathematics.

Morehouse mathematics professors Curtis Clark

(far left) and Duane Cooper (far right) flank students
Arman Green, Aquia Richburg, and Johnny Gillings Jr.
during commencement in May 2015.

sity of Iowa, and Summer Institute in Mathematics for

Undergraduates at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Humacao
Morehouse mathematics students at the Joint
Mathematics Meetings: Tre Willis, Zerotti Woods, (2006); Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE)
Aquia Richburg, Jordan Clark, Jerrell Mure, at Bryn Mawr College and Spelman College, and Mathe-
Octavious Talbot, and Malachi Morgan. matical Theoretical Biology Institute (MTBI) at Arizona
State University (2007); Mathematics Summer Program
in Research and Learning (Math SPIRAL) at University
In a letter supporting the nomination of Morehouse
for the Programs That Make a Difference award, Ivy wrote of Maryland, and Summer Undergraduate Mathematical
that the Morehouse Department of Mathematics has great Science Research Institute (SUMSRI) at Miami University
professors who “perpetuate the ideals of Morehouse in (Ohio) (2008); Department of Mathematics at University of
producing great leaders and mathematical scholars….I
Mississippi, and Department of Statistics at North Carolina
only wish to continue the efforts of this program and its
faculty within my career.” In this way, the seeds the More- State University (2009); Department of Computational
house department is planting are bearing fruit beyond the and Applied Mathematics at Rice University, and Summer
borders of its own institution. Program in Quantitative Sciences at Harvard School of
About the Award Public Health (2010); Center for Women in Mathematics
CoProf created the Mathematics Programs That Make a and the Center's Post-Baccalaureate Program at Smith
Difference designation in 2005 as a way to bring recogni- College, and Department of Mathematics at North Carolina
tion to outstanding programs that successfully address State University (2011); Mathematical Sciences Research
the issue of underrepresented groups in mathematics. Institute in Berkeley (2012); Nebraska Conference for
Each year CoProf identifies one or two exemplary pro-
grams that: Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (2013); Carleton
1. aim to bring more individuals from underrepresented College Summer Mathematics Program, and Rice Univer-
minority backgrounds into some portion of the pipeline sity Summer Institute of Statistics (2014); and Center for
beginning at the undergraduate level and leading to an Undergraduate Research in Mathematics at Brigham Young
advanced degree and professional success in mathematics
University, and Pacific Coast Undergraduate Mathematics
or retain them in the pipeline,
2. have achieved documentable success in doing so, and Conference (2015).
3. are replicable models. —Allyn Jackson
The CoProf subcommittee making the selection for this
year’s awards consisted of Michael Dorff, Pamela Gorkin,
Kendra Killpatrick, William McCallum, and David Savitt
(Chair).
Previously designated Mathematics Programs That
Make a Difference are: Graduate Program at the Univer-

554 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

William Thurston Marcel Berger Cédric Villani

Luis A. Caffarelli Michael Freedman Vladimir Drinfeld
Shlomo Sternberg Terence Tao John Milnor
Jean-Pierre Serre Lars Gårding Jean Bourgain
Sigurdur Helgason Victor Guillemin

Join the company

of great mathematicians
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WHY PUBLISH WITH THE AMS?
We are mathematicians. The AMS is one of the world’s leading publishers of mathemat-
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for the advancement of science and mathematics. Consequently, our publications meet the
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Expertise. Our editorial boards consist of experienced mathematicians. The AMS pro-
duction staff is talented and experienced at producing high-quality books and journals.
The author support group consists of experts in TeX, graphics, and other aspects of the
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Supporting mathematics. The AMS publication program is a part of our broader activi-
ties. The revenue it generates helps support our other professional activities. Thus, pub-
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Learn more at: www.ams.org/becomeauthor

FROM THE AMS SECRETARY

2016 Joint Policy

Board of Mathematics
Communications Awards
Two Communications Awards of the Joint Policy Board •Steven H. Strogatz (2007)
for Mathematics (JPBM) were presented at the Joint •Carl Bialik (2008)
Mathematics Meetings in Seattle, Washington, in January •George Csicsery (2009)
2016. The Museum of Mathematics received the 2016 •Marcus du Sautoy (2010)
Communications Award for Public Outreach, and Simon
•Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton (2011)
Singh was presented the 2016 JPBM Communications
•Dana Mackenzie (2012)
Award for Expository and Popular Books. The JPBM Com-
•John Allen Paulos (2013)
munications Award is presented annually to reward and
•Danica McKellar (2014)
encourage journalists and other communicators who, on
a sustained basis, bring mathematical ideas and informa- •Nate Silver (2015)
tion to nonmathematical audiences. JPBM represents the Citation: MoMath
American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical The 2016 JPBM Communications Award for Public Out-
Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and reach is presented to the Museum of Mathematics,
the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Each “MoMath”, for its innovative approach to presenting fun-
award carries a cash prize of US$1,000. damental mathematical ideas to the public in a variety
Previous recipients of the JPBM Communications Award of creative, informative, and entertaining exhibits and
are: events that engage audiences with the beauty and utility
• James Gleick (1988)
of mathematics in daily life.

• Hugh Whitemore (1990) Biographical Sketch of MoMath

• Ivars Peterson (1991) To a mathematician, math is a world of discovery and

• Joel Schneider (1993) exploration. It’s a place where one can wonder “what

• Martin Gardner (1994)

if” and then seek the answers. It’s a world of color,

• Gina Kolata (1996)

imagination, and beauty, a place where one can be creative
and discover a host of unexpected connections to the
• Philip J. Davis (1997) world around us. But this place, this idea of math as an
• Constance Reid (1998) unbounded realm yet to be fully explored, is foreign to
• Ian Stewart (1999) many people. Mathematics is often portrayed as a tool; a
• John Lynch and Simon Singh series of steps one performs to solve a particular problem.
(special award, 1999) And those problems may have nothing to do with the
• Sylvia Nasar (2000) world around us, or with the human experience.
• Keith J. Devlin (2001) The National Museum of Mathematics was founded
• Claire and Helaman Ferguson (2002) to share the real world of mathematics with the public
• Robert Osserman (2003) and to allow everyone to experience the sense of the
• Barry Cipra (2005)
wonder and beauty that can be found within this world.

• Roger Penrose (2006)

For more than seven years, the Museum has been work-
ing to create a sense of community, to bring together
seasoned professionals with bright young students,
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: academic mathematicians with their counter-
[email protected]. parts in education, senior citizens with wide-eyed
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1368 toddlers, and people from all walks of life and all

556 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Singh published The Code Book, a history of codes
and codebreaking, in 1999. His most recent book is The
Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, which explores
the numerous references to mathematics hidden in the
world’s most successful TV show. The references are the
result of a writing team that contains several people with
strong mathematical backgrounds. His other books are Big
Bang, a history of cosmology, and Trick or Treatment? Al-
ternative Medicine on Trial, coauthored with Edzard Ernst.
He has presented several radio and TV shows in the
United Kingdom, most notably The Science of Secrecy (a
Photo by Buck Ennis.

five-part history of cryptography), Mind Games (a puzzle

series), and Five Numbers, Another Five Numbers, and A
Further Five Numbers.
His mathematical activities on stage have included
Glen Whitney, MoMath Treasurer, and Cindy Lawrence, Theatre of Science (which he performed with Richard
MoMath Executive Director and CEO. Wiseman in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and New York)
and The Uncaged Monkeys (a show involving comedians
backgrounds, sharing together a unique experience as and nerds, which played to forty thousand people across
they view the world around them through a new, mathe- twenty-three shows in the United Kingdom). Online, he is
matical lens. a contributor to Brady Haran’s very successful YouTube
Response from the Museum of Mathematics channel “Numberphile”.
It is with great honor and appreciation that the National He has spoken to approximately five hundred school
Museum of Mathematics accepts the 2016 Communi- groups over the last twenty-five years, and his school-
cations Award for Public Outreach of the Joint Policy based projects include the Undergraduate Ambassadors
Board for Mathematics. Since its inception, MoMath has Scheme, which currently runs in over one hundred STEM
been warmly welcomed by the mathematical societies departments in the United Kingdom, sending one thou-
and indeed by the entire mathematical community. Your sand undergraduates into schools each year in order to
members have provided support, encouragement, ideas, support pupils.
and feedback, and the Museum simply would not exist Response from Simon
today and would not continue to flourish without the Singh
continued involvement and collaboration of each of your I am delighted to receive
organizations and its members. It is our sincere hope that this award, particularly
together we will continue to foster a greater understanding as my background is in
of mathematics and to provide a place that encourages physics rather than math-
one to step into this exciting world. ematics.
Citation: Singh Although I am very
The 2016 JPBM Communications Award for Expository proud of my books and
and Popular Books is presented to Simon Singh for his my other work, I am some-
fascinating books on mathematical topics, including Fer- times concerned that we
mat’s Enigma, The Code Book, and The Simpsons and Their place too much emphasis
on popularizers such as

Photo by Nick Smith.

Mathematical Secrets, which have opened up the beauty
of mathematics and mathematical thinking to broad au- myself while paying insuf-
diences with clear and charming prose. ficient attention to what
happens in high schools.
Biographical Sketch of Singh
And when we do look at the
Simon Singh is a writer and broadcaster who lives in achievements of schools, Simon Singh
London. Having completed his PhD in particle physics at my experience is that we tend to focus on supporting and
the University of Cambridge and CERN, Singh joined the encouraging the weak or average students, while perhaps
BBC’s Science Department in 1990. He was a producer and ignoring the strong students.
director on programs such as Tomorrow’s World, Horizon, While many keen, strong young mathematicians will
and Earth Story. His documentary about Fermat’s Last read popular books on mathematics, they are not a
Theorem was titled “The Proof” in North America and replacement for a rich and challenging curriculum, pre-
broadcast as part of the Nova series on PBS. The film was sented day after day, year and year, something that will
nominated for an Emmy and won a British Academy of provide a springboard for the mathematicians (and scien-
Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. tists and engineers) of tomorrow.
In 1997 he wrote a book on the same subject, titled Fer-
mat’s Last Theorem in the United Kingdom and Fermat’s
Enigma in North America, which was the first mathematics
book to become a number one bestseller in Britain. It has
been translated into over twenty-five languages.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 557

COMMUNICATION

2016 Breakthrough Prize and New Horizons

in Mathematics Prizes Awarded

Breakthrough Prize: conjecture, which had been reduced to Marden’s

Ian Agol conjecture by Thurston and Canary.
Ian Agol of the Uni- “Agol, with Storm and Thurston, was the first
versity of California to apply Perelman’s work on Ricci flow to a prob-
Berkeley and the Insti- lem outside of geometrization to address many
tute for Advanced Study important questions about volumes of hyperbolic
has been selected as the 3-manifolds. In particular, their paper gave a new
recipient of the 2016 proof of a result of Agol-Dunfield that was used
Breakthrough Prize in to find the minimal volume closed orientable
Mathematics by the hyperbolic 3-manifold (Gabai-Meyerhoff-Milley).
Photo courtey of Ian Agol.

Breakthrough Prize Agol, with Codá Marques and Neves, used the
Foundation. Agol was min-max theory and the Willmore conjecture (Codá
honored “for spectacu- Marques-Neves) to solve a long-standing conjec-
lar contributions to low ture of Freedman-He-Wang on Möbius energy of
links. Using ideas from sutured manifold theory,
dimensional topology
Agol found an elegant criterion for a 3-manifold
and geometric group
Ian Agol to have a finite sheeted cover that fibers over the
theory, including work
circle. This, together with the deep work of Dani
on the solutions of the
Wise on quasi-convex virtual hierarchy groups and
tameness, virtual Haken and virtual fibering con-
the foundational work of Haglund-Wise on special
jectures.”
cube complexes, proved Thurston’s virtual fibering
The Notices asked David Gabai of Princeton
conjecture for Haken hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Agol
University to comment on the work of Agol. Gabai
used geometric group theory (in part with Groves
responded: “Ian Agol is a brilliant mathematician
and Manning) and his 3-manifold intuition to solve
who has made many important and fundamental
a conjecture of Wise that implied that all closed
contributions to such areas as 3-dimensional
hyperbolic 3-manifold groups are quasi-convex
topology, geometric group theory, hyperbolic
virtual hierarchy groups. (This used the Kahn-Mar-
geometry, foliation theory, and knot theory. His
kovic solution to the surface subgroup problem
work utilizes an uncommonly wide range of tech-
and the seminal work of Sageev, as shown by
niques and methods. Using hyperbolic geometry
Bergeron and Wise, who proved that fundamental
and 3-manifold topology he proved the Marden
groups of closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds satisfy the
Tameness conjecture (independently proved by
hypothesis of Wise’s conjecture.) In combination
Danny Calegari and Gabai). That result is crucial
with Agol’s virtual fibering criterion, this proved
to many other results in hyperbolic geometry, such the full Thurston virtual fibering conjecture and
as the ending lamination theorem of Brock-Canary- hence Waldhausen’s virtual Haken conjecture.
Minsky. It also proved the Ahlfors measure (That Waldhausen’s conjecture reduces to one on
hyperbolic 3-manfolds relies on Perelman’s geom-
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: etrization theorem.)
[email protected]. “Beyond solving famous long-standing conjec-
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1370 tures, this monumental work proves that the group

558 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

theory of hyperbolic 3-manifolds has tremendous New
structure not incomparable with that of two-di- Horizons in
mensional manifolds. Surfaces have great struc- Mathematics
ture in large part because (except for the sphere) Prize: Larry
they can be reduced to the disc by sequentially Guth
cutting along essential curves. This enables one Larry Guth
to prove theorems via induction arguments (often of the Mas-
very sophisticated). A consequence of this work is sachusetts
that given any closed hyperbolic 3-manifold, one Institute of
can first pass to a finite sheeted cover and then Technology
cut by a single surface and be left with the product has been

Photo courtesy of MIT.

of a surface with the interval. That in turn is the awarded a
starting point for many deep results in 3-manifold New Horizons
theory.” in Mathemat-
Biographical Sketch ics Prize for
Ian Agol was born in 1970 in Hollywood, California. his “ingenious
He obtained his PhD in 1998 from the University of and surpris- Larry Guth
California San Diego under the direction of Michael ing solutions to
Freedman. He taught at the University of Illinois long-standing open problems in symplectic geome-
at Chicago from 2001 to 2007 before joining the try, Riemannian geometry, harmonic analysis, and
faculty at Berkeley. He was awarded the 2009 Clay combinatorial geometry.”
Research Award (with Danny Calegari and David The Notices asked Terence Tao of the University
Gabai). He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in of California Los Angeles to comment on the work
2005. In 2013 he was awarded, with Daniel Wise, of Guth. Tao responded: “By introducing powerful
the AMS Veblen Prize in Geometry. He was elected techniques from geometry and topology, Guth
a Fellow of the AMS in 2012. has solved or made key breakthroughs on many
fundamental and difficult problems in harmonic
Response from Ian Agol
analysis, combinatorics, and (most recently) ana-
I would like to acknowledge my teachers who
lytic number theory. For instance, he ingeniously
encouraged my interest in mathematics. This in-
used algebraic topology tools relating to the Ham
cludes my doctoral advisor, Mike Freedman, whose
Sandwich Theorem to prove an important inequal-
example encouraged me to be fearless—to work on
ity now known as the endpoint multilinear Kakeya
hard problems and to not be afraid to admit what I
inequality, which, roughly speaking, describes the
do not know. I would also like to acknowledge the extent to which ‘transverse’ families of tubes (or
many mathematicians whose work mine builds on tubelike objects) can intersect each other. He has
and to which I’ve added only a small amount. Their since used this inequality (and variants thereof)
vision encouraged me to go places mathematically for many further applications, most recently in
that I would not have considered otherwise. I will his solution (with Bourgain and Demeter) of the
only single out Daniel Groves and Jason Manning, Vinogradov main conjecture on exponential sums,
with whom it has been a pleasure to collaborate. which is connected to such fundamental problems
Finally, I’d like to thank my family, especially my in analytic number theory as Waring’s problem (on
wife, Michelle, for her support, and my mother, representing large natural numbers as sums of kth
Maureen, for all the sacrifices she made to get the powers) and bounds on the Riemann zeta function.
best education for my brother and me. With Nets Katz, he unexpectedly deployed tools
About the Prize from algebraic geometry (such as the classification
The Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics was cre- of ruled surfaces) to almost fully resolve a famous
ated by Mark Zuckerberg and Yuri Milner in 2013. problem of Erdős on the minimum number of dis-
It aims to recognize major advances in the field, to tinct distances in the plane generated by n points
honor the world’s best mathematicians, to support in the plane. Guth’s work has given us several new
their future endeavors, and to communicate the toolboxes of techniques that we will be using to
excitement of mathematics to the general public. attack further problems in analysis and combi-
The prize is accompanied by a cash award of US$3 natorics for many years to come.” (Note: Tao was
million. As have all five past math laureates, Agol among those who nominated Guth for this prize.)
plans to give US$100,000 of his prize winnings to Biographical Sketch
support graduate students from developing coun- Larry Guth received his PhD from the Massachu-
tries through the Breakout Graduate Fellowships setts Institute of Technology in 2005 under the
administered by the International Mathematical direction of Tomasz Mrowka. He held a professor-
Union. Previous winners of the Breakthrough Prize ship at the Courant Institute before joining the MIT
are Simon Donaldson, Maxim Kontsevich, Jacob faculty. He received a Sloan Fellowship in 2010.
Lurie, Terence Tao, and Richard Taylor (2015). He was an Invited Speaker at the International

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 559

 Congress of Mathematicians in 2010 and a Simons pletely new territory. In another direction, Neves
Investigator in 2014. He received the Salem Prize is one of the leading experts on Lagrangian mean
in 2013 and the Clay Research Award (with Nets curvature flow, which is important in connection with
Katz) in 2015. Calabi-Yau geometry and mirror symmetry. Among
Response from Larry Guth other results, he showed that, in a certain sense,
I want to take this moment to thank my teachers, singularities in this flow are unavoidable.
my collaborators, and my family. I feel very for- “These are just a few highlights of Neves’s
tunate to have spent time with so many special work—there are many other important contri-
teachers. I think of them often, especially now butions, for example, to the Yamabe functional
that I also teach and I get to try to pass on to my and to the asymptotic geometry of Riemannian
students some of the things that I learned. I’ve manifolds—and we can be sure that there will be
also been very fortunate in my collaborations, and many more to come. His work is characterized by
I think that my best work has been collaborative. exceptional technical power, combining ingenious
It has opened up new doors and changed the di- geometrical constructions with deep results from
rection of my career. Finally, I want to thank my analysis and PDE.”
family for all their love and support. Biographical Sketch
André Neves was born in 1975 in Lisbon, Portugal,
New Horizons in Mathematics Prize: André and received his PhD from Stanford University in
Arroja Neves 2005 under Richard Schoen. He is a recipient of
André Arroja the Leverhulme Prize (2012), the Whitehead Prize
Neves of Imperial of the London Mathematical Society (2013), and the
College London has AMS Veblen Prize (with Fernando Codá Marques)
been awarded a New in 2016. He was an Invited Speaker at the Interna-
Horizons in Mathe- tional Congress of Mathematicians in 2014.
matics Prize for his Response from André Arroja Neves
“outstanding contri- Twenty years ago I was very fortunate to find math-
butions to several ematics and fall in love with it. It has been a great
areas of differential journey so far, with its adequate share of surprises
geometry, including and disappointments, new paths and dead ends. I
work on scalar curva- haven’t traveled it alone, and two mathematicians
ture, geometric flows, have had a great influence on my career: my advi-
and his solution with sor, Rick Schoen, a constant source of inspiration,
Codá Marques of the and my collaborator, Fernando Marques, with
50-year-old Willmore whom discovering mathematics together has been
Conjecture.” a tremendous pleasure. I must also thank Filipa, as
The Notices asked none of this would have any meaning without her
André Arroja Neves Simon Donaldson of tremendous generosity and unyielding support,
the Simons Center for and our two little children, Eva and Tomás, who
Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University effortlessly fill my days with constant joy.
to comment on the work of Neves. Donaldson About the Prize
responded: “In the ten years from his PhD, André The New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes were
Neves has produced a series of deep results, cut- created in 2015 to recognize promising junior
ting a wide swath through differential geometry. researchers who have produced important work.
In one direction, he and Fernando Codá Marques Up to three of these prizes will be given each year.
have made spectacular use of variational meth- These prizes carry a cash award of US$100,000,
ods, bringing new ideas and techniques into this each.
venerable field. Fifty years ago, Willmore made
a conjecture whose statement can be under- —Elaine Kehoe
stood in a first course in surface geometry: the
L2 norm of the mean curvature of an immersed
surface of positive genus in 3-space is at least
2π. This was a major problem in the subject,
attacked by many leading experts and finally
solved by Codá Marques and Neves. Their proof
is a technical masterpiece of great subtlety. They
also used variational methods to establish the
existence of infinitely many minimal hypersur-
faces in certain Riemannian manifolds, a result
to set alongside the renowned classical literature
on closed geodesics but which opens up com-

560 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 COMMUNICATION

Eliashberg Awarded 2016

Crafoord Prize in Mathematics

The 2016 Crafoord that there are regions where symplectic geometry
Prize in Mathematics is rigid and other regions where it is completely
Photo by Rose Stauder. Courtesy of Y. Eliashberg.

has been awarded to flexible. But where the boundary is between the
Yakov Eliashberg flexible and the rigid regions, and how it can be
of Stanford Univer- described mathematically, is still a question that
sity “for the develop- is awaiting an answer.
ment of contact and Biographical Sketch
symplectic topology Yakov Eliashberg is the Herald L. and Caroline L.
and groundbreaking Ritch Professor of Mathematics at Stanford Uni-
discoveries of rigidity versity. Born in Russia in 1946, he received his
and flexibility phe- PhD from Leningrad University in 1972 under the
nomena”. direction of Vladimir Rokhlin. He moved to the
Citation United States in 1988 and has been at Stanford
Yakov Eliashberg Yakov Eliashberg has since 1989. He received the Leningrad Mathemati-
solved many of the cal Prize in 1972 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in
most important problems in the field and found 1995. He has been an invited speaker at the Inter-
new and surprising results. He has further devel- national Congress of Mathematicians in 1986 and
oped the techniques he used in contact geometry, 1998 and has been the recipient of a number of
a twin theory to symplectic geometry. While sym- lectureships. He was awarded the AMS Veblen Prize
plectic geometry deals with spaces with two, four, in Geometry in 2001 and the Heinz Hopf Prize in
or other even dimensions, contact theory describes 2013. Eliashberg was elected to the US National
spaces with odd dimensions. Both theories are Academy of Sciences in 2003 and became an AMS
closely related to current developments in modern Fellow in 2012.
physics, such as string theory and quantum field About the Prize
theory. The Crafoord Prize in Mathematics is awarded by
Symplectic geometry’s link to physics has old the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences approxi-
roots. For example, it describes the geometry of a mately every three years. It is intended to promote
space in a mechanical system, the space phase. For international basic research in several disciplines
a moving object, its trajectory is determined each of science, including astronomy, geosciences, bio-
moment by its position and velocity. Together, sciences (particulary ecology), and polyarthritis,
they determine a surface element that is the basic as well as mathematics. These disciplines were
structure of symplectic geometry. The geometry chosen to complement those for which Nobel
describes the directions in which the system can Prizes are awarded. The prize carries a cash
develop; it describes movement. Physics becomes award of 6 million Swedish krona (approximately
geometry. One of Yakov Eliashberg’s first and US$700,000). The prize is awarded at a ceremony
perhaps most surprising results was the discovery in Stockholm.

—Elaine Kehoe
For permission to reprint this article, please contact:
[email protected].
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1369

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 561

COMMUNICATION

Negotiating for Release Time and Leave

Maura Mast and Nathan Tintle
Communicated by Christina Sormani

Editor’s Note: We encourage readers to post their com-

ments and suggestions at the Notices website, www.ams.
org/notices.

Many large-scale research projects require a course re- this request by making the case that your research likely
lease or a complete reduction in teaching responsibilities has relatively low start-up costs compared to lab scien-
for a semester, a year, or more. This article suggests some tists. You should also be prepared to outline a specific
ways to get them. project that you can reasonably accomplish given the
course releases.
Finding Funding
Both new and continuing faculty who ask for course re-
There are three main sources of funding for course re-
ductions should be prepared to make an argument that it
leases and leaves for research-active faculty: institutional
is worthwhile to get this exception. Don’t assume that the
or internal funding, external public funding (typically in
institution will understand how important this time is for
the form of federal support from agencies such as the
you. Instead, be clear about what you would achieve if you
National Science Foundation, the National Security Agency,
or the National Institutes of Health), and external private had the course release and be ready to update the chair
funding (typically from foundations or industry). during the semester. Be specific, concrete, and realistic. It’s
better to say, “I will use this time to build on work I’ve done
Making the Case on affine root systems to prepare a paper for submission
Many institutions view their internal research funding as to the Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra by the end of
“venture capital” or seed money; often this funding takes the semester” than “I need time to get started on some
the form of a course release or summer salary. Early in the work I’ve been thinking about for a while.” If you have
life of a new research project, securing institutional fund- achievements that resulted
ing may be the best way to find a small amount of time from these requests in the
and resources to get preliminary work done to position past, remind the chair of Be prepared
yourself for external funding. Making this case explicit to this (“Last fall I used my
your internal funding officer is a good idea. reduced teaching load to to tell a
Regarding internally funded course releases, the best
opportunity to negotiate for a course release with your
organize a grant-funded
international conference.
good story
institution is when you are hired. It’s much easier for I’ve been invited to edit a about your
your chair to agree to a reduced teaching load for several volume based on talks at
semesters than to agree to a higher salary or credit toward that meeting, and a course work and
tenure. Definitely ask for what you need regarding salary
and credit toward promotion, but know that if the answer
release this fall would allow why it’s
me to focus on that respon-
is no to those requests, the chair may be willing to give
you a reduced load as a compromise. You can help with
sibility.”) You know your important.
work best and you can help
Maura Mast is dean at Fordham College at Rose Hill. Her email the chair make the case to
address is [email protected].
the dean by giving the chair some talking points to support
Nathan Tintle is associate professor of statistics and director for your request. The administration will look for measurable
research and scholarship, Dordt College. His email address is
outcomes—grants applied for, grants received, total fund-
[email protected].
ing amounts, papers submitted, talks given, conferences
For permission to reprint this article, please contact:
organized, etc.—and you should couch your request with
[email protected].
that in mind. When your paper does get accepted or when
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1379

562 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

you do get the grant, notify the chair and the dean and You also need to be willing to eliminate the dogs from
thank them for their support. your portfolio—projects that, despite initial promise, are
Different offices in your institution may provide sup- no longer worthy of your time.
port in the form of a course release or summer salary for Momentum and Persistence
preparing grant or foundation applications. If you are part Once you receive your first funding for a release or leave,
of a larger system, such as a state university system, you you should certainly enjoy the moment. However, you
may be able to apply for a system-wide grant to support must now doubly commit to completing the projects you
the development of a significant grant application or re- proposed and writing additional proposals to build mo-
search project. Your sponsored-research office will likely mentum in your research. This commitment also needs
view this type of program as a small expenditure with a to be able to persist in the face of unfunded proposals,
large potential payback. Your international programs of- rejected papers, and the general roller-coaster ride of
fice may also provide small grants for international travel, research.
either to a conference or for research work abroad. Even if
Learn to Be a Salesperson
these offices don’t offer such support, talk to them about
Obtaining support for your research requires learning
getting access to grant opportunities (such as a foundation
about sales. The product is you and your research, and
database), help with grant writing, and offer ideas for
you are trying to get the funding agency to buy your prod-
making connections with other faculty with whom you
uct. Some people are better at sales than others. Don’t be
could partner on proposals.
discouraged if you’re uncomfortable with this. It may be
Like the sponsored-research office, the senior admin-
helpful to go to a course or do some online reading about
istrators at your institution may have seed money in the
grant writing in order to learn about the art of sales from
form of a course release or other activity to help faculty
the perspective of grant writing. Agencies such as the
prepare a major grant proposal or start significant re-
search work. Even if no such formal program exists, it’s National Science Foundation regularly give grant-writing
worth asking if the dean has discretionary funding to presentations at the national meetings. If you can’t attend
support your request. Be prepared to point to examples one of these, contact the presenter to ask for a copy of
of how this has been successful, perhaps at your school’s the presentation. It’s always a good idea to have someone
peer or aspirant peer institutions. And be prepared to tell who has been funded before read your proposal and give
a good story about your work and why it’s important. The their sales critique before sending it off to the funding
dean may be able to connect you to an external donor, such agency. Another key to being in sales is networking. This
as an alum of your institution who shares your passion for includes talking with your program officer as well as the
this research and is willing to buy equipment or provide other major players in your field of research. Identify stra-
other support for it. tegic partners who are already successful in your research
To be successful at obtaining external funding, you area and begin to cultivate collaborative relationships
will need to do your research (find opportunities), learn with them.
how the system works (talk to grants officers, look at Plan Ahead
examples of successful proposals), and invest time in Too many researchers are not thinking more than a couple
writing (and rewriting) a solid proposal that fits with the of steps ahead in their work. But in a highly competitive
funding guidelines. While it may be initially more difficult funding environment you need to be thinking three to
to identify opportunities for funding from foundations or five years ahead at a minimum. Federal funding agencies
industry partners, it is worthwhile to look. Work with your have turnaround times of at least six months, often with
institution’s advancement/development office and your only one call for proposals for a specific program each
sponsored-research office early in this process. year. Thus, being rejected twice before being successful
could mean three years before your proposal is funded.
Other Keys to Success While turnaround times at the institutional level tend to
In this final section, we offer a few ideas for success in be shorter, it will still take time to get the relevant parties
finding funding for your work. onboard and convinced. Take the time to plan ahead.
Shotgunning Avoiding the Two Big Mistakes
The funding landscape is much too fickle to let your entire In our experience, there are two big mistakes that we’ve
research career and agenda ride on a single proposal. You seen made by junior research faculty who are trying to get
must explore multiple funding options for each project. support to start their research. The first is that they feel
This likely will involve multiple different funding agencies entitled, which leads to an unwillingness to compromise
and different spins on your core ideas. Just be careful that or a feeling of frustration at being rejected for funding.
your proposal legitimately fits the request for proposals. It’s important to learn to listen carefully to peer reviewers
Take the time to pitch your proposal carefully. and funding agencies, learn from them, and make sure you
Developing a Research Portfolio keep your options for funding open. The second mistake is
Just like any good investment portfolio, your research not getting started. It’s true that writing a proposal is a lot
portfolio of projects should be well diversified. This in- of work. It’s true that it’s not fun to get turned down. It’s
cludes projects that are mature and in a place where they also true that if you don’t start, you’ll never get funded and
are generating many important results, as well as new you risk losing the excitement, momentum, and passion
projects that may, some day, turn into a mature project. that you currently have for your research.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 563

 Small Funding Opportunities Shouldn’t Be Overlooked
Look to different organizations for small funding. The
Association for Women in Mathematics, for example, has
regular competitions for travel grants and for mentor-
ing grants. Applying for these grants will give you good
practice in writing larger grant applications; success in
obtaining these grants will help funding agencies and
foundations see that you have a track record. Similarly, get
on email distribution lists for grant opportunities, either
from databases that your school subscribes to or from
federal grant agencies. Don’t forget private foundations
and industry-sponsored opportunities!
Accountability and Moral Support
Consider forming a grant-writing group with other faculty,
especially faculty from other disciplines. These networks
can provide moral support and be a good resource for Twenty Years Ago in the Notices
trying out ideas and proofreading proposals. These con-
versations may also lead to interdisciplinary projects.
May 1996: A Personal Perspective on Mathemat-
Get Started!
Now that you’ve made it to the end of this article, it’s time
ics Research in Industry, by Robert Calderbank.
to get started. Create an action plan based on what you
Industrial labs where mathematics research is
just read, including at least one specific to-do. Now go do
done have largely disappeared but still existed in
it and enjoy the ride!
1996. His article gives insight into the rationale
About the Authors for having such labs.

www.ams.org/notices/199605/comm-calder-
Photo courtesy of Jack Reynolds.

bank.pdf
Photo courtesy of Lisa Tintle.

In the summer of 2015, Nathan Tintle hiking in

Maura Mast moved with the Palisades of South
her family from Boston Dakota with his two-year-
to the Bronx to take old son, Mason.
the position of Dean of
Fordham College at Rose
Hill, part of Fordham
University. She is the
first woman—and the
first mathematician—to
serve as dean of the
college.

564 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 COMMUNICATION

Liberal Arts Colleges:

An Overlooked Opportunity?
David Damiano, Stephan Ramon Garcia, and Michele Intermont
Communicated by Steven J. Miller

Introduction Teaching at a Liberal Arts College

Liberal arts colleges have been part of the American At a liberal arts college, teaching is as important as, if
academic landscape almost since the beginning of higher not more important than, research. This is reflected in
education in the United States; the oldest were founded the daily experience, which revolves around interactions
in the late 1700s. They are largely an American invention, with undergraduates. The time spent in the classroom
although there are fledgling liberal arts colleges being is interspersed with office hours (Figure 1), although
established around the world as we write. US News & students are likely to drop by any time the office door
World Report lists more than 175 institutions in its
ranking of National Liberal Arts Colleges, and there are
national organizations for both private (Consortium of
Liberal Arts Colleges) and public liberal arts colleges
(Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges).
Liberal arts colleges, which typically enroll at most a
few thousand students, are known for their attention to
teaching and mentoring undergraduate students. These
colleges are frequently residential, with a majority of
students living on campus. They usually do not have
graduate or professional programs, although some of
them do. Liberal arts colleges aim to produce well-rounded
graduates, armed with general intellectual skills rather
than specific vocational skills.
The smaller, more intimate environment of liberal arts
colleges shapes the experiences of the faculty as well as
the students. As faculty members at three substantially
different liberal arts colleges in different regions of the
country, we would like to share our experiences with the
broader mathematical community. This article is a brief
overview of the opportunities, rewards, and challenges of
working at a liberal arts college.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Niles.

David Damiano is professor of mathematics at the College of the

Holy Cross. His email address is [email protected].
Stephan Ramon Garcia is associate professor of mathematics
at Pomona College. His email address is stephan.garcia@
pomona.edu.
Michele Intermont is associate professor of mathematics at Kala-
mazoo College. Her email address is [email protected].
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: Figure 1. The third author with students during
[email protected]. office hours.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1381

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 565

 Photo by Dan Vaillancourt, College of the Holy Cross.
Photo by Alexa Miller. Photography courtesy of
Pomona College.

Figure 2. Pomona College students working on an Figure 3. The first author with a research student.
in-class assignment.

is open. Faculty-student interaction outside the confines

courses often allow enough degrees of freedom for faculty
of the classroom or office is also common. There may
members to tailor them to their interests.
be departmental lunches, a Putnam seminar, or an un- There is a great deal of faculty ownership of the curricu-
dergraduate colloquium, although there are many other lum. Faculty members are concerned about how courses
possibilities. For instance, each semester the Pomona Col- and departmental activities fit together as a whole and
lege mathematics department holds an overnight retreat convey the dynamic nature of mathematics. Discussions
at the college’s cabin in the nearby San Jacinto mountains. often cross departmental boundaries in pursuit of educa-
At Holy Cross, the Math and Computer Science Club holds tional goals. The experience that nonmajors have in the
the weekly Tea and Games get-together and sponsors department is also of concern; there is an effort to ensure
the annual Pi Mu Epsilon banquet, both of which are that students who will take only one math course have a
for students and faculty. Kalamazoo math students and positive and enlightening experience.
faculty take occasional hikes along a trail and walk to the Working with individuals or
neighboring university for math events. small groups during the academic
Faculty members teach a mix of courses each year. … there is year is common. This can be
This likely includes lower-level courses and one or two in the context of a focused re-
intermediate (e.g., mulitvariable calculus and linear al- generally a search project, senior thesis, or
gebra) or upper-level courses (e.g., abstract algebra and
real analysis). One can even teach an upper-level topics
great deal of independent study course (Figure
3). Such small-scale interactions
course as staffing allows. Class sizes are often capped freedom in have been some of the most re-
around thirty, with more advanced courses sometimes warding experiences for the third
significantly smaller. Faculty members grade exams and, designing author, who has held some small,
in many instances, the homework in upper-level courses. informal seminars over the years;
However, it is not uncommon to have math majors grade syllabi and exploring some of the key ideas of
homework for lower-level courses. mathematics with a small group
Although some introductory courses might have choosing of motivated and interested stu-
department-mandated syllabi, there is generally a great
deal of freedom in designing syllabi and choosing
pedagogical dents proved to be a great source
of energy.
pedagogical approaches. Small class sizes make it approaches.
possible to employ various active-learning strategies, First-Year Seminars
including group assignments (Figure 2), projects, and Many liberal arts colleges, includ-
oral presentations. Since there are no graduate teaching ing Holy Cross, Kalamazoo, and
assistants, students are inclined to attend office hours, Pomona, feature opportunities to teach outside the stan-
either individually or in groups. dard mathematics curriculum. One can develop courses
The terms “lower-level course” and “nonmajors course” for nonmajors on topics where quantitative literacy and
at a liberal arts college do not refer to business calculus, the interests of the instructor overlap, such as sports
college algebra, or precalculus. Those courses are probably and statistics, and it is sometimes possible to team-teach
not even in the course catalog at some liberal arts courses with colleagues from other disciplines. The most
colleges. Instead, the introductory calculus sequence common opportunity, however, is to teach a first-year
serves students majoring in all disciplines. Institutions seminar.
may also offer a noncalculus course which meets a First-year seminar programs have a variety of incarna-
quantitative literacy requirement. The parameters of such tions, but most feature small, discussion-based courses

566 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

that reflect interests or topics not in the yearly mathemat- at another. Each liberal arts college is different, and it
ics course offering. Can Zombies Do Math?, Rap Music, is difficult to make any blanket statements regarding
Privacy in the Digital Age, and Ciphers and Heroes are research expectations, except perhaps that research ex-
some of the titles of seminars taught by mathematicians pectations at liberal arts colleges generally do not rise to
at our institutions recently. the level of those encountered at R1 institutions.
Most first-year sem- Although external research grants are not expected for
inars have goals tenure or promotion, there are National Science Founda-
beyond content, such Research is an tion (NSF) programs that support research at primarily
as developing writ-
ing and presentation
essential part of undergraduate institutions. These include the Research in
Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) and Research Opportu-
skills and acclimating
students to collegiate
professional nity Awards (ROA) programs. For instance, several faculty
members at Pomona and Holy Cross are supported by
expectations. There is development at RUI grants.
often institutional sup- Faculty members at liberal arts colleges are active
port for instructors liberal arts in the AMS, MAA, and other professional organizations.
who are new to this They serve as editors of journals and on elected and
venture, such as guide- colleges. appointed committees. For instance, the president-elect
lines to assess writing, of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is
librarians who teach students how to perform academic from Pomona College, the editor-in-chief of the Notices of
research in the library, and informal meetings with other the AMS is from Williams College, and the president of
seminar faculty to discuss their experiences. The third the MAA is from Harvey Mudd College. In fact, the second
author has taught in this program several times. The ex- author is on the editorial board of the Proceedings of the
perience included a mentoring aspect not present in other AMS. In the last ten years, Holy Cross (2011), Macalester
courses which produced a rewarding esprit de corps. She College (2010), and Claremont McKenna College (2008)
also enjoyed the opportunity to develop a seminar course
each hosted AMS Sectional Meetings.
that indulged her interest in writing and her enthusiasm
One key difference between life at a liberal arts college
for topology.
and at a large, research-oriented institution is that faculty
members must actively seek out research opportunities.
Research at Liberal Arts Colleges Visiting scholars do not appear in the department as regu-
Research is an essential part of professional development larly as they do at research-intensive institutions. Liberal
at liberal arts colleges, and all faculty members are ex- arts colleges typically do not boast specialized research
pected to engage in research; the exact requirements vary seminars in which like-minded researchers keep up with
between institutions. Maintaining the balance between the latest developments in the field, and there are no grad-
research and teaching is a concern; the challenges of uate seminars. Many liberal arts colleges, however, do have
finding time to keep up with research must be addressed
a colloquium series. Some have a colloquium requirement
by each individual.
for their students and hence a habit of regular speakers;
Some liberal arts colleges have, in the last decade
others have a more spontaneous approach. While the talks
or two, reduced their teach-
are geared toward undergraduate mathematics majors,
ing loads in order to
encourage their faculty to be Most liberal for the faculty they provide accessible talks on a variety of
topics and, more importantly, opportunities to network
more productive. Research
expectations for new fac-
arts colleges within the larger mathematical world. For many liberal
arts colleges, neighboring research institutions may also
ulty members, who may
have lower teaching loads
greatly prize be a source of inspiration; in such a setting, faculty mem-
bers can attend seminars and collaborate with colleagues
than their predecessors did, those who are in research-oriented departments.
are often higher than they
were several decades ago. able to Undergraduate Research
Most liberal arts colleges
greatly prize those who are regularly Undergraduate research is now widely embraced by lib-
able to regularly incorporate eral arts colleges. While some colleges, such as Wabash
undergraduates into their incorporate un- College, Hope College, and Lafayette College, have their
own NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduate
research.
Research expectations are
dergraduates (REU) programs, many now have college-wide undergrad-
often higher at liberal arts
colleges with lower teach-
into their uate research initiatives that include summer research
components. These are typically funded by established
ing loads than at those with research. institutional budget lines and institutional grants, supple-
higher loads, although there mented occasionally by individual grants. The summer
can be significant variations between otherwise compa- programs provide experiences similar to federally funded
rable institutions. Output that might be sufficient for REUs: students work with a faculty mentor, either
tenure at one institution might be insufficient to be hired individually or in small groups (Figure 4).

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 567

 programs and several have
Photo by Carrie Rosema, courtesy of Pomona College.

earned NSF Graduate Research

One of the Fellowships, most of them did
most not start college intending to
major in mathematics. One of
rewarding the most rewarding aspects of
working at a liberal arts col-
aspects … is lege, in the opinion of the
second author, is being able
being able to to reach out to students who,
without individual guidance,
reach out to might not envision themselves
doing research or becoming
students who mathematicians.
… might not At some schools, such as
Pomona and Kalamazoo, ev-
Figure 4. Pomona College professor Johanna Hardin
working with a research student. envision ery mathematics major must
write a senior thesis. Be-
themselves cause the mathematics major is
Pomona’s most popular major,
doing each faculty member super-
vises three to five senior theses
research or per year. In contrast, at Holy
becoming Cross no more than a handful
of students write a thesis in
mathemati- a given year. While these the-
ses may be expository, many
cians. advisors pose projects involv-
Photo courtesy of Andrew Niles.

ing original research, some of

which will lead to publications. Although a thesis is not
required at Holy Cross, all students are required to com-
plete a project-based course in which students work in
small groups on a project related to the topic of the
course. Many involve original problem solving related to
new examples or applications of mathematics. There are,
of course, a wide variety of programs leading to student
projects. For example, Carleton College’s Comps program
Figure 5. Holy Cross student presenters at the 2015 for mathematics and mathematics/statistics majors pro-
Joint Mathematics Meetings. vides the flexibility of small group or individual work
leading to a public presentation and a possible paper.
The time that faculty members spend on undergraduate
In-house summer opportunities can continue during projects during the academic year varies. Some meet with
the academic year in the form of independent study students once a week as a graduate advisor might, others
meet more regularly as one does in an undergraduate
projects, capstone projects, or senior theses, or a re-
course. While the students are talented and desire to be
search project might begin during the academic year
independent, they are not advanced graduate students.
as a senior thesis project or an independent study
Supervisors should be ready to spend more time with
course. There are many opportunities for students to
their students as needed. Project topics can vary; they
present posters or give talks on their work at regional
might be outgrowths of course-related projects that are
conferences and national meetings, including the Joint essentially for the benefit of the student or they might be
Mathematics Meetings (Figure 5). In addition, schools that in areas that are central to the supervisor’s own research.
support internal research programs often have in-house While theses and projects are time consuming for faculty
poster sessions or conferences that bring together all the advisors, they can also lead to stimulating interactions
undergraduate research at the institution. Depending on with students and can lead to new research directions.
the quality of the work, the students and mentor may
write up the results for publication. Diversity
The second author has written dozens of articles with One of the challenges for many liberal arts colleges is
student coauthors; the vast majority of these articles stem diversifying the ethnic and socio-economic profile of their
from senior theses or academic-year research projects. campuses. Among other issues, these institutions are sim-
Although many of these students went on to top graduate ply not well known among many immigrant communities

568 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 proactive advising and community building allows PSM
students to immediately feel at home in the mathematics
department. Kalamazoo College has a similar program,
funded by the NSF, for underrepresented students in all
STEM fields (Figure 6).
It is worth noting that while the “sticker price” of
attending a liberal arts college is generally high, many
colleges provide generous financial aid for students. Some
liberal arts colleges have “need-blind” admissions; that is,
they accept students regardless of financial need. A few
Photo by Michele Intermont.

of these liberal arts colleges are committed to meeting

demonstrated financial need with loans or scholarships.

So You Want to Work at a Liberal Arts College?

A premise of this article is that liberal arts colleges are
something of an unknown quantity for people at research
universities. Graduate students and recent PhDs may be
Figure 6. Some of the students in Kalamazoo’s NSF unaware of the career opportunities at liberal arts colleges
STEM scholar program. and how best to prepare for them.
While some liberal arts colleges may consider new PhDs
for tenure-track positions, they all prefer candidates who
have led their own classes, who have taught courses be-
and underrepresented groups. For example, the second
yond calculus, and who have developed an independent
author is the son of immigrant parents and grew up in
research trajectory. Most universities provide programs
California but had never heard of the Claremont Colleges
to help graduate students develop their teaching. Whether
until he was on the job market after his postdoc. Over the
these are run by the mathematics department or by the
last decade many liberal arts colleges have made strides
university, they likely provide instruction on best prac-
in the direction of diversification, and they continue to
tices as well as opportunities for critiques of teaching.
work toward that goal.
Many departments provide opportunities for interested
The Posse Foundation is an important national player
graduate students to take on more significant teaching
in promoting underrepresented students in higher ed-
responsibilities, such as teaching an advanced course. “Sig-
ucation; roughly half of the fifty-three Posse partner
nificant” here refers to the quality of teaching experience
institutions are liberal arts colleges. Posse partners with
rather than the quantity.
schools to identify and bring to campus students who In addition, liberal arts colleges look for some indica-
might otherwise be overlooked in the admissions process. tion that an applicant knows the nature of the position.
A cohort of talented students from public schools in a The cover letter will be read very carefully; it should be
large urban area (e.g., Chicago, Los Angeles, or Miami) more than a perfunctory announcement of the fact that
arrive on a campus together and navigate their four years the applicant is applying for the position. Instead, the
together under the close mentorship of a faculty member. applicant should address his or her interest in a profes-
The Posse Scholars graduate from college at a rate of sional atmosphere as described in this article. A cover
about 90 percent nationally. letter which also conveys familiarity with some of the
Depending on geography and regional demographics, features of the particular in-
some liberal arts colleges have devised their own outreach stitution will be noticed. The
programs for bringing students from underrepresented teaching statement will be read The balanced
groups to campus. These may start with college prepara- carefully, and the research
tory or educational events, with the hope of eventually statement will be read with an
nature of …
enrolling some of these students. They likely include pro-
grams to provide academic and social support on campus
eye toward assessing how well
an applicant communicates
professional
for their students from underrepresented groups.
Pomona College recently introduced the Pomona Schol-
with a nonspecialist. expectations
Graduate students might
ars of Mathematics (PSM) program, a cohort model of find a recent trend at liberal is the
holistic advising for students from traditionally under- arts colleges interesting: the
represented groups in the mathematical sciences. The creation of postdoctoral posi- centerpiece of
PSM students enter the college with a strong interest in tions which carry a reduced
mathematics-based disciplines (e.g., mathematics, statis- teaching load. These provide an working at a
tics, physics, economics, and computer science). Faculty
members work closely with about sixteen students, meet-
opportunity to develop one’s
teaching while protecting some
liberal arts
ing weekly with each individually. The entire PSM cohort
meets as a group over lunch every week to discuss topics
time for research. Liberal arts
colleges view these as a means
college.
of interest or to interact with an outside speaker. This of recruitment and as a method

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 569

 A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY

Introducing a
of providing potential candidates for tenure-track posi-
tions time to hone their skills beyond the structure of

NEW
graduate school.

NEW
Although teaching at a liberal arts college is not
for everyone, liberal arts colleges provide a stimulating

AMS Member Benefit

environment in which both teaching and research are ap-
preciated and supported throughout one’s career. Indeed,
the balanced nature of those professional expectations is
the centerpiece of working at a liberal arts college. This
has been true for the authors, who are at different stages
of their careers and at substantially different liberal arts
colleges; it is also true for many of our colleagues.
We hope some of our readers will consider joining us
and that all our readers can appreciate the attractions of
careers at liberal arts colleges.
Early View allows individual AMS members to
Biographical Sketches
read peer-reviewed and accepted article man-
David Damiano has been at the College of the Holy Cross
uscripts long before they appear in published since 1984. He was trained as a topologist, and in the past
form. Articles in Early View will be available un- decade he has pursued projects in applied mathematics,
til replaced by their final copyedited and proof- including immunological modeling and computational
read versions. Articles will be tagged with a DOI topology. He has been extensively involved in undergrad-
that will carry through to their final versions, uate research and the mentoring of majors as well as
making it easy to cite them in your research. mentoring minority students. He was the recipient of
the college’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award in
The Early View system will launch with these 2011.
four journals:
Stephan Ramon Garcia has been at Pomona College
• Journal of the American since 2006. He is the author of two books and over sixty
Mathematical Society research articles in operator theory, complex analysis,
• Mathematics of Computation matrix analysis, number theory, discrete geometry, and
• Proceedings of the American other fields. Many of these publications are with under-
Mathematical Society graduates. He received three NSF research grants and five
• Transactions of the American teaching awards from three different institutions.
Mathematical Society Michele Intermont has been at Kalamazoo College
Start using AMS Early View today! since 1998. She is an algebraic topologist. Her interests
are in homotopy theory and, more recently, in topological
www.ams.org/ams-early-view data analysis. She has taught in the college’s freshman
seminar program and directed several undergraduate
research projects. She has also served in the leadership
of the Michigan section of the MAA.

570 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 BOOK REVIEW

Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous

Mathematical Theory Shaped the
Modern World
Reviewed by Slava Gerovitch

Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory ing, from the chaos of imprecise analogies to the order
Shaped the Modern World of disciplined reasoning. Yet, as Amir Alexander argues
Amir Alexander in his fascinating book Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous
Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 2014 Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World, it was
US$27.00/US$16.00, 368 pages precisely the champions of offensive infinitesimals who
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-0-37-417681-5 propelled mathematics forward, while the rational critics
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-37-453499-8 slowed the development of mathematical thought. More-
over, the debate over infinitesimals reflected a larger clash
From today’s perspective, a mathematical technique that in European culture between religious dogma and intellec-
lacks rigor or leads to paradoxes is a contradiction in tual pluralism and between the proponents of traditional
terms. It must be expelled from mathematics, lest it dis- order and the defenders of new liberties.
credit the profession, sow chaos, and put a large stain on Known since antiquity, the concept of indivisibles gave
the shining surface of eternal truth. This is precisely what rise to Zeno’s paradoxes, including the famous “Achilles
the leading mathematicians of the most learned Catholic and the Tortoise” conundrum, and was subjected to scath-
order, the Jesuits, said about the “method of indivisibles”, ing philosophical critique by Plato and Aristotle. Archime-
a dubious procedure of calculating areas and volumes by des used the method of indivisibles with considerable suc-
representing plane figures or solids as a composition of in- cess, but even he, once a desired volume was calculated,
divisible lines or planes, “infinitesimals”. While the method preferred proving the result with a respectable geometrical
often produced correct results, in some cases it led to method of exhaustion. Infinitesimals were revived in the
spectacular failures generating glaring contradictions. works of the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin, the
This kind of imprecise reasoning seems to undermine Englishman Thomas Harriot, and the Italians Bonaventura
the very ideals of rationality and certainty often associated Cavalieri and Evangelista Torricelli in the late sixteenth to
with mathematics. A rejection of infinitesimals might look the early seventeenth century. The method of indivisibles
like a natural step in the progress of mathematical think- was appealing not only because it helped solve difficult
problems but also because it gave an insight into the struc-
Slava Gerovitch is a lecturer in history of mathematics at the Mas- ture of geometrical figures. Cavalieri showed, for example,
sachusetts Institute of Technology. His email address is slava@ that the area enclosed within an Archimedean spiral was
math.mit.edu. equal to one-third of its enclosing circle because the indi-
For permission to reprint this article, please contact: reprint- visible lines comprising this area could be rearranged into a
[email protected]. parabola. Torricelli, in order to demonstrate the power
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1367 and flexibility of the new method, published a remark-

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 571

 able treatise with twenty-one The Jesuits were largely responsible for raising the
different proofs of an already- status of mathematics in Italy from a lowly discipline to a
known result (the area inside paragon of truth
a parabola). In ten different and a model for
proofs, Torricelli used indi-
visibles, producing effective
social and po- The Jesuits
litical order. The
explanatory arguments instead Gregorian reform viewed the
of cumbersome Euclidean of the calendar of
constructions. He called the 1582, widely ac- notion of
Public Domain.

method of indivisibles “the cepted in Europe

Royal Road through the math- across the reli- infinitesimals
Bonaventura Cavalieri
ematical thicket,” while the
traditional Euclidean approach
gious divide, had
very favorable
as a dangerous
(1598–1647). deserved “only pity” (p. 110).
Due to their calculating power
political ramifi-
cations for the
idea.
and explanatory appeal, infini- Pope, and this
Photographic reproduction of public domain work.

tesimals quickly gained popu- project endeared

larity until they faced stern mathematics to
opposition from the Jesuits. the hearts of Catholics. In an age of religious strife and po-
The method of indivisibles litical disputes, the Jesuits hailed mathematics in general,
had glaring flaws. Compar- and Euclidean geometry in particular, as an exemplar of
ing the infinitesimals compos- resolving arguments with unassailable certainty through
ing one figure to the infini- clear definitions and careful logical reasoning. They lifted
tesimals composing another mathematics from its subservient role well below philoso-
could produce different re- phy and theology in the medieval tree of knowledge and
sults, depending on the pro- made it the centerpiece of their college curriculum as an
cedure used. For example, indispensable tool for training the mind to think in an
if one drew a diagonal in a rect- orderly and correct way.
Evangelista Torricelli angle with a greater horizontal The new, enviable position of mathematics in the Jesu-
(1608–1647), by side, it would split into two its’ epistemological hierarchy came with a set of strings
Lorenzo Lippi (circa equal triangles, as in Figure attached. Mathematics now had a new responsibility
1647, Galleria Silvano 1 (below). Using the method to publicly symbolize the ideals of certainty and order.
Lodi & Due). of indivisibles, however, one Various dubious innovations, such as the method of in-
could argue that each hori- divisibles, with their inexplicable paradoxes, undermined
zontal segment in the upper triangle was greater than this image. The Jesuits therefore viewed the notion of
the vertical segment drawn through the same point on infinitesimals as a dangerous idea and wanted to expunge
the diagonal in the lower triangle, and therefore the two it from mathematics. In their view, infinitesimals not only
triangles differed in size. Torricelli found a way out of this tainted mathematics but also opened the door to subver-
conundrum by claiming that the indivisible lines of the sive ideas in other areas, undermining the established
lower triangle were “wider” than the lines of the upper and social and political order. The Jesuits never aspired to
built a whole mathematical apparatus around the concept mathematical originality. Their education was oriented
of indivisibles of different width. However ingenious, this toward an unquestioning study of established truths, and
explanation did not fly with the Jesuits. it discouraged open-ended intellectual explorations. In
the first decades of the seventeenth century the Revisors
A B General in Rome issued a series of injunctions against in-
finitesimals, forbidding their use in Jesuit colleges. Jesuit
E mathematicians called the indivisibles “hallucinations”
F
and argued that “[t]hings that do not exist, nor could they
exist, cannot be compared” (pp. 154, 159).
The champions of infinitesimals chose different strate-
gies to deal with the Jesuit onslaught. In 1635 Cavalieri
expounded the method of indivisibles in a heavy volume,
filled with impenetrable prose, which even the best math-
ematicians of the day found hard to get through. He dis-
D G C
missed the paradoxes generated by his method with long
Figure 1. The method of indivisibles can lead to and convoluted explanations aimed to intimidate more
contradictions. Here each horizontal segment in than persuade. Later on, when asked about the paradoxes,
the upper triangle is longer than the corresponding the defenders of infinitesimals often simply gestured
vertical segment in the lower triangle, wrongly toward Cavalieri’s volumes, claiming that he had already
implying that the upper triangle has greater area. resolved all of them. Neither the critics nor the support-

572 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 ers of the indivisibles dared The Royal Society was ini-

Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London.

to penetrate Cavalieri’s ob- tially suspicious of mathemat-

Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London.

scure fortress. Evangelista ics. Society fellows prized
Torricelli, by contrast, found experimental science, public
the paradoxes the most fas- demonstrations, and open in-
cinating part of the topic tellectual debate as a model for
and published several de- peaceful resolution of societal
tailed lists of them, believing tensions. Mathematics, with its
that a study of such para- reputation as a solitary, private
doxes was the best way to pursuit, its claims for incontro-
understand the structure vertible truth, its reliance on
of the continuum. For him, obscure professional language,
John Wallis (1616– the study of paradoxes was and its inaccessibility to lay- Thomas Hobbes
1703), after Sir Godfrey akin to an experiment, for it men, seemed like a poor match (1588–1679), by John
Kneller, Bt oil on pushed a phenomenon to its for the liberal ideals of the so- Michael Wright, oil on
canvas, feigned oval, extreme in order to reveal its ciety. Wallis, the only math- canvas, circa 1669–
(1701), NPG 578. true nature. ematician among the founders, 1670, NPG 225.
The dispute over infini- took upon himself the task of
tesimals was at the same time a dispute over the nature of reconciling mathematics with the spirit of the society’s
mathematics. Do mathematical proofs have to show only ideals. Claiming that “[m]athematical entities exist not in
the correctness of a theorem (as in Euclidean geometry) or the imagination but in reality” (p. 263), he put forward a
to explain why it is true (as in the method of indivisibles)? new, “experimental” mathematics. In contrast to the Eu-
Should one pursue a top-down approach, clidean approach of constructing geometri-
starting with universal first principles, put cal objects from the first principles, Wallis
mathematical objects in order, and then
impose this order on the world, or should
...a clash assumed that geometrical figures already ex-
isted in the world. Modifying the method of
one build mathematics from the bottom between indivisibles, he viewed a triangle as actually
composed not of lines but of infinitely thin
up, beginning with one’s intuition about the
world and moving up to higher and higher two trapezoids, two-dimensional objects making
abstractions? The latter question pitted up the original triangle, just like mountains
the Jesuits against Galileo, which led to his visions of formed by geological strata. Studying geo-
eventual condemnation and lifetime house metrical objects for him was akin to the work
arrest. Harsh administrative measures were modernity. of a scientist probing geological formations.
also taken against the remaining stalwarts of His method relied on induction, was open
infinitesimals, who lost their jobs and were to discussion, and aimed to persuade the
forbidden to teach or publish. The Jesuits reader by examining a series of particular
even went so far as to engineer the dissolution of a small cases, much like the laboratory experiments that became
monastic order, the Jesuats, which had sheltered the hallmark of the Royal Society’s approach to studying
Cavalieri and Stefano degli Angeli, the leading nature. In the eyes of its fellows, this kind of mathematics
promoters of the method of indivisibles. The Jesuit was aligned with the society’s epistemological ideals, and
mathematicians saw their mission in preserving the its legitimation paved the way for the later transformation
eternal truths of Euclidean geometry and in of the method of infinitesimals into calculus in the hands
suppressing any threat of potentially disruptive of Isaac Newton.
innovation. This led, Alexander argues, to “the slow Alexander persuasively argues that the fight over in-
suffocation and ultimate death of a brilliant Italian finitesimals was a reflection of a more fundamental clash
mathematical tradition” (p. 165). between what he calls two “visions of modernity.” While
The battle over the method of indivisibles played out the Jesuits and Hobbes embodied the desire to achieve
differently in England, where the Royal Society proved a societal unity through the imposition of a single truth
capable of sustaining an open intellectual debate. One of and suppression of debate, the champions of infinitesi-
the most prominent critics of infinitesimals in England mals valued the freedom of discussion and investigation
was philosopher and amateur mathematician Thomas and a pluralism of opinions. Their opponents feared that
Hobbes. A sworn enemy of the Catholic Church, he intellectual pluralism might lead to political and religious
nevertheless shared with the Jesuits a fundamental pluralism and wanted to squash the seeds of instability be-
commitment to hierarchical order in society. He fore they produced full chaos. Following the Jesuits’ purge
believed that only a single-purpose organic unity of a of creative mathematicians, not only Italy’s mathematical
nation, symbolized by the image of Leviathan, could save tradition declined but the country itself became unrecep-
England from the chaos and strife sowed by the civil tive to innovation and began falling behind. In England,
war. In the 1650s–70s his famously acrimonious by contrast, the support of mathematical novelty by the
dispute with John Wallis, the Savil-ian Professor of Royal Society was part of greater openness in intellectual
Geometry at Oxford and a leading propo-nent of the and social debates and resulted in rapid scientific and
method of indivisibles, again pitted a champion of social
order against an advocate of intellectual freedom.
573
technological development, leading up to the Industrial fruitful ideas from nonrigorous fields, such as supersym-
Revolution. The author implies that the different fate of metric quantum field theory and string theory.
infinitesimals in different countries shaped the fortunes Alexander’s book meaningfully points to a fundamental
of these nations in the long run. tension between the popular image of mathematics as
Alexander clearly outlines a cultural split between po- a collection of eternal truths which never changes and
litical conservatives and knows no debate and its actual practice, filled with uncer-
tainty, frustration, failure, and rare glimpses of profound
“liberalizers” with respect
Innovation to the method of indivis-
insight. If, as in the case of the Jesuits, maintaining the
appearance of infallibility becomes more important than
often grows ibles. His own discussion
of Hobbes’s early fascina-
exploration of new ideas, mathematics loses its creative
spirit and turns into a storage of theorems. Innovation
out of tion with infinitesimals, often grows out of outlandish ideas, but to make them
however, somewhat chal- acceptable one needs a different cultural image of math-
outlandish lenges this overly neat ematics—not a perfectly polished pyramid of knowledge,
separation. Despite his but a freely growing tree with tangled branches.
ideas. royalist and traditionalist
convictions, Hobbes care- About the Author
fully read and absorbed Slava Gerovitch teaches
Cavalieri’s subversive mathematical treatises. Reinterpret- cultural history of
ing the indivisibles as material objects, he developed an mathematics at MIT.
His research inter-

Photo courtesy of Slava Gerovitch.

unconventional geometry in which mathematical objects
ests include history
were generated by the motion of simpler objects—lines by
of twentieth-century
motion of points, surfaces by motion of lines, and solids
mathematics, cybernet-
by motion of surfaces—before he turned against infinitesi- ics, astronautics, and
mals in his personal vendetta against Wallis. Well, good computing. His current
history of mathematics, like good mathematics, might project explores how
occasionally benefit from a paradox or two. the Soviet mathematics
In the 1960s, three hundred years after the Jesuits’ community creatively
ban, infinitesimals eventually earned a rightful place in adapted to various political, institutional, and cultural
mathematics by acquiring a rigorous foundation in Abra- pressures. He is the author of From Newspeak to Cyber-
ham Robinson’s work on nonstandard analysis. They had speak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics, Voices of the Soviet
played their most important role, however, back in the Space Program, and Soviet Space Mythologies. A poet and
days when the method of indivisibles lacked rigor and was a translator, he has also published Wordplay: A Book of
fraught with paradoxes. Perhaps it should not come as a Russian and English Poetry.
surprise that today’s mathematics also borrows extremely

574 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 BOOKSHELF
A man is known by the books he reads. —Emerson

New and Noteworthy Titles on Our Bookshelf referred to in the title: Does
May 2016 the world embody beautiful
ideas? Noting that what artists
do is embody ideas, he poses a
Burn Math Class and Reinvent
closely related question: Is the
Mathematics for Yourself, by
world a work of art? He notes
Jason Wilkes (Perseus Books,
that in art one is accustomed
March 2016). Jason Wilkes is
to the idea that old styles
on a mission to liberate math-
that have been superseded by
ematics from its position as an
newer ones can nevertheless be
arcane set of rules that must
enjoyed and appreciated. In the
be memorized and to restore
book he similarly approaches
the field to its proper status as
his question through the his-
a living subject that everyone
tory of science, an approach that compels one to proceed
can explore, enjoy, and use.
from the simpler to the more complex and shows how
After a preface, followed by a
great thinkers struggled with new ideas. A central theme
“prefacer”, the book begins in
of the book is the Standard Model of physics, which Wil-
earnest with these sentences:
czek suggests should instead be called the Core Theory.
“Forget everything you’ve been told about math. Forget
He presents the Core Theory as geometry, adapting for
all those silly formulas you’ve been told to memorize.
a wide audience his work in fundamental physics. In an
Make a little room in your head with clean white walls
original twist, he uses human color perception as a means
and no math. Without leaving that room, let’s reinvent
for thinking about extra dimensions and for opening new
math for ourselves.” Wilkes believes people should learn
ways of understanding local symmetry. While the book is
mathematics by creating concepts and ideas on their own
really about physics, it contains much that would appeal
through experimentation and discovery rather than by
to readers with a mathematical bent.
memorizing facts handed down from authority figures.
Using this approach, he takes readers from the basics of
Elements of Mathematics:
arithmetic to calculus. One of his main strategies is to re-
From Euclid to Gödel, by John
place standard terminology that doesn’t capture concepts
Stillwell (Princeton Univer-
very well, such as “chain rule”, and replace it with more
sity Press, May 2016). This
evocative terms. In this book the chain rule is one of sev-
new book by the author of
eral types of “hammers” for taking derivatives. He tackles
Roads to Infinity (A K Peters,
ideas that can be mystifying through conversational and
2010) traces the history of
often humorous explanations: “What does it mean for two
mathematical topics that are
points to be infinitely close to each other? I don’t know!
today considered as “elemen-
Let’s decide. Let’s write tiny to stand for a number that’s
tary” and shows that they
infinitely small. It’s not zero, but it’s also smaller than
were anything but at the time
any positive number.…” He tries to reveal the big ideas,
they were first discovered.
as in this summary of what calculus is all about: “If we
Stillwell argues that it is the
zoom in on curvy stuff, it starts to look more and more
notion of infinity that leads
straight.” But the book is not filled only with entertaining
us from the elementary to
prose: once Wilkes has presented the concepts in narrative
the advanced in mathematics. Stillwell has written a few
form, he translates them into mathematical equations and
articles for the Notices, including “The Story of the 120-
formulas. The writing style will no doubt have its devotees
Cell” (January 2001, www.ams.org/notices/200101/
and detractors, but the author’s whimsy and subversive
fea-stillwell.pdf) and a review of Jeremy Gray’s sci-
humor are complemented by a sincere desire to get people
entific biography of Poincaré (April 2014, www.ams.org/
to experience the beauty of mathematics for themselves.
notices/201404/rnoti-p378.pdf). Stillwell’s earlier
book Yearning for the Impossible (A K Peters, 2006) was
A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design, by
reviewed by Daniel Biss in the June/July 2007 issue of the
Frank Wilczek (Penguin Press, July 2015). Right after the
Notices (www.ams.org/notices/200706/tx070600722p.
“User’s Manual”, which substitutes for a preface for this
pdf).
book, Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek reveals the question

MAY 2016 NOTICES OF THE AMS 575

 Inside the AMS

AMS Holds Department Chairs Other Saucy Things”, by Anna Haensch; “Look Around
You: Spherical Videos and Möbius Transformations”, by
Workshop Evelyn Lamb; “Are You Thinking of Working in Industry?”,
by Sharon Arroyo and Les Button; “27 Lines on a Cubic
The annual AMS Department Chairs Workshop was held on Surface”, by John Baez; and “The Benefits of Tutoring:
January 5, 2016, just prior to the Joint Mathematics Meet- More Than Extra Income”, by Natalie Coston.
ings in Seattle, Washington. Forty-five department leaders Browse the AMS Blogs at blogs.ams.org and subscribe
from across the country participated in the workshop to to get email notification of new posts.
discuss diversity in mathematics, evaluation of teaching,
and issues in entry-level mathematics.
The workshop was led by Matthew Ando, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; William (Bus) Jaco, Okla-
homa State University; Krista Maxson, University for Sci-
ence and Arts of Oklahoma; and Judy Walker, University
Photo courtesy of the AMS Public Awareness Office.

of Nebraska–Lincoln.
The workshop format helps to stimulate discussion
among attending chairs and workshop leaders.
Photo courtesy of Anita Benjamin.

Pi Day 2016's WWtBaM contestants with AMS Public

Awareness Officer Mike Breen.

Pi Day Celebration. One of the most popular events an-

nually is the Pi Day (3/14) game that takes place at Provi-
AMS Department Chairs Workshop, 2016.
dence College. Read about this year’s Who Wants to Be a
Sharing ideas and experiences with peers provides a form Mathematician at www.ams.org/programs/students/
of “department chair therapy”, creating an environment wwtbam/pi-day-2016.
that enables attending chairs to address departmental
matters from new perspectives. —Annette Emerson and Mike Breen
AMS Public Awareness Officers
—AMS Washington Office

From the AMS Public Deaths of AMS Members

Awareness Office Florencio Gonzales Asenjo, of Aspinwall, Pennsylvania,
died on June 10, 2013. Born on September 28, 1926, he
A Sampling from AMS Blogs. “Keep Good Company”, by was a member of the Society for 54 years.
Edward Dunne, on Fields Medalists, Abel Prize winners, Lalgudy J. Balasundaram, of Quincy, Massachusetts,
and Nobel Prize winners who were also active review- died on December 2, 2014. Born on May 24, 1932, he was
ers; “Collaboration, Bias, and Tenure”, by Beth Malm- a member of the Society for 7 years.
skog; “Preparing the Next Generation of Students in the Donald A. Darling, of Newport Beach, California, died
Mathematical Sciences to ‘Think with Data’”, by Johanna on June 24, 2014. Born on May 4, 1915, he was a member
Hardin and Nicholas J. Horton; “Counting Aloud and of the Society for 68 years.

576 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Mathematics People
Pestun Awarded Weyl Prize particular between Teichmüller dynamics and Hodge
theory. His recent interests also involve K3 surfaces and
Vasily Pestun of the Institut their special geometric properties. He has been appointed
des Hautes Études Scienti- as a Clay Research Fellow for a term of five years begin-
fiques has been awarded the ning July 1, 2016.
2016 Hermann Weyl Prize for Yu received his PhD in 2016
his groundbreaking results in from Université Paris Diderot
the study of supersymmetric under the supervision of Maxim
gauge theories, such as his Kontsevich and Antoine Cham-
ingenious computation of par- bert-Loir. He works on nonar-
tition functions that led to the chimedean geometry, tropical
Credit: MCV/IHES.

discovery of rich connections geometry, and mirror symme-

between four-dimensional try. He aims to build a theory
of enumerative geometry in

Photo by Jindie Mi.

and two-dimensional quan-
tum field theories. the setting of Berkovich spaces.
Vasily Pestun Such a theory will give us a new
The chair of the Selection
Committee, Edward Frenkel of the University of Califor- understanding of the enumera-
nia Berkeley, said: “Vasily Pestun’s original contributions tive geometry of Calabi-Yau
Tony Yue Yu
opened new opportunities for fruitful interaction between manifolds, as well as the struc-
mathematics and quantum physics. It is quite fitting that ture of their mirrors. It is also intimately related to the
his work is honored by the prize named after Hermann theory of cluster algebras and wall-crossing structures. He
Weyl, a pioneer in both of these fields who used to say has been appointed as a Clay Research Fellow for a term
that in his research he always tried to unite the true and of five years beginning September 1, 2016.
the beautiful.”
The Hermann Weyl Prize was established by the Stand- —From a CMI announcement
ing Committee of the International Colloquium on Group
Theoretical Methods in Physics in 2002 and is awarded
every two years to recognize young scientists who have Salisbury Receives Graham
performed original work of significant scientific quality
in the area of understanding physics through symmetries. Wright Award
The International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Meth-
Thomas Salisbury of York
ods in Physics takes place every two years. In 2016 it will
University has been named the
be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
recipient of the 2015 Graham
Wright Award for Distinguished

Photo by Faculty of Science, York University.

—Edward Frenkel
Service of the Canadian Mathe-
matical Society (CMS). His service

2016 Clay Research Fellows to the mathematics community

includes terms as president of
Chosen the CMS (2006–2008), as well
as deputy director of the Fields
Simion Filip of the Univer- Institute (2003–2006), editor in
sity of Chicago and Tony chief of the Canadian Mathemati-
Yue Yu of the Université cal Bulletin and associate editor
Paris Diderot have been ap- of Probability Theory and Related Thomas Salisbury
pointed Clay Research Fel- Fields, Potential Analysis, and the Canadian Journal of
lows for 2016 by the Clay Statistics. He has served on numerous CMS committees
Mathematics Institute (CMI). and organizing committees for CMS meetings and train-
ing camps. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical
Photo by Eduard Duryev.

Filip will receive his PhD in

June 2016 from the Univer- Statistics and of the Fields Institute. He and his wife, Kathy,
sity of Chicago under the su- have three grown children and enjoy hiking, music, books,
pervision of Alex Eskin. He is and their cottage near Minden, Ontario.
interested in the connections
between dynamical systems —From a CMS announcement
Simion Filip and algebraic geometry, in

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 577

Mathematics People
tinguished Service to Mathematics “for his remarkable
career empowering generations of high school students
An incorrect version of this announcement was printed in to pursue their mathematical and scientific passions by
the December 2015 Notices. Following is the official promoting the art of problem solving, creating national
announcement from the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society. and international mathematical talent searches, and sup-
Notices regrets the error: porting mathematical competitions.”
Susan Marshall and Donald R. Smith, both of Mon-
mouth University, were awarded the Chauvenet Prize for
Freitas Awarded Rubio de their article “Feedback, Control, and the Distribution of
Francia Prize Prime Numbers”, Mathematics Magazine 86 (2013), no. 3.
Jordan Ellenberg of the University of Wisconsin–
Nuno Freitas of the Max Planck Institute, Bonn, has Madison received the Euler Book Prize for his book How
been awarded the eleventh Rubio de Francia Prize of Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (RSME). Freitas’s (Penguin Press, New York, 2014).
contributions are in the fields of arithmetic and number The Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for
theory. Freitas and his collaborators, B. V. Le Hung and Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathemat-
S. Siksek, have proven that elliptic curves defined over ics were awarded to Satyan Davadoss (Williams College),
real quadratic fields are modular, extending the pioneer- Tyler Jarvis (Brigham Young University), and Glen Van
ing work on Fermat’s last theorem by Wiles and Taylor, Brummelen (Quest University, British Columbia).
who proved the same result for elliptic curves defined
over the rational numbers. This result is a crucial step —From MAA announcements
toward the general modularity conjecture. The jury also
praised Freitas’s recent work with S. Siksek, in which they
prove that Fermat’s equation xn + yn = zn has no solution
over a real quadratic field K once n is large enough, for
2016 AWM Awards
an infinite and rather explicit set of real quadratic fields, The Association for Women in
which is then shown to have density at least 5/6. Freitas Mathematics (AWM) presented
received his PhD in Mathematics from the University of a number of awards at the Joint
Barcelona in 2012. Mathematics Meetings in Seattle,
The prize honors the memory of renowned Spanish ana- Washington, in January 2016.
lyst J. L. Rubio de Francia (1949-1988). The RSME awards Naomi Jochnowitz of the
the prize annually to a mathematician from Spain or who University of Rochester was

Photo by Carl Mueller.

has received a Ph.D. from a university in Spain and who is honored with the M. Gweneth
at most thirty-two years of age. The prize is awarded for Humphreys Award for Mentor-
high-caliber contributions to any area of pure or applied ship of Undergraduate Women
mathematics. This year a three-year fellowship provided in Mathematics for her devotion
by the BBVA Foundation will also be awarded to the recipi-
“to the development and support
ent, together with the prize. Naomi Jochnowitz
of undergraduate students of
The Rubio de Francia Prize is awarded by an inter-
mathematics, in addition to her activities with math gradu-
national jury covering a range of mathematical areas.
ate students and postdocs, with a particular impact on
This year the prize committee was chaired by Jesús
scores of women students.” Jochnowitz tells the Notices:
Bastero (Universidad de Zaragoza) and consisted of Ingrid
“In addition to my mathematics,
Daubechies (Duke University), Timothy Gowers (University
I have an interest in Talmudic
of Cambridge), Subhash Khot (Courant Institute, New York
University), Marco A. López Cerdá (Universidad de Ali- studies, which despite significant
cante), Álvaro Pelayo (University of California San Diego), progress in recent years remains
and Claire Voisin (École Polytechnique). Recent prize win- a field of study that is to a large Photo by UNL Communications.

ners include Angel Castro (2013), María Pe (2012), Alberto extent closed to women, even
Enciso (2011), Carlos Beltran (2010), Álvaro Pelayo (2009), more so than math.”
and Francisco Gancedo (2008). Judy Walker of the Univer-
sity of Nebraska was awarded the
—From an RSME announcement Louise Hay Award for Contribu-
tions to Mathematics Education
for “creating and adapting inno- Judy Walker
2016 MAA Awards vative courses at all levels”, from
high school through graduate school, including practicing
The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) awarded teachers.
a number of prizes at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Mackenzie Simper of the University of Utah was
Seattle, Washington, in January 2016. awarded the Alice T. Schafer Prize for Excellence in
George Berzsenyi of Rose-Hulman Institute of Tech- Mathematics by an Undergraduate Woman for her “stel-
nology was awarded the Gung and Hu Award for Dis- lar academic track record, proven ability to do original

578 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Mathematics People
mathematical research,” and her commitment to “excelling
in her mathematical career.”
National Academy of
Bettye Anne Case of Florida State University was Engineering Elections
honored with the AWM Life Time Service Award for her
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected a
many services, including her decades-long role as meetings
number of new members and foreign associates for 2016.
coordinator, as well as being on the executive committee Following are the new members whose work involves the
from 1978 through 2015. Heather Lewis of the University mathematical sciences:
of Richmond, Heather Russell of Nazareth College, and Dan Boneh of Stanford University for contributions
Rebecca Segal of Virginia Commonwealth University also to the theory and practice of cryptography and computer
received service awards for their involvement in AWM security.
programs and activities. Emily A. Carter of Princeton University for develop-
ment of quantum chemistry computational methods for
the design of molecules and materials for sustainable
—From AWM announcements
energy.
Gérard P. Cornuéjols of the Tepper School of Busi-
ness, Carnegie Mellon University, for contributions to the
Sloan Research Fellows theory, practice, and application of integer programming.

Announced David S. Johnson of Columbia University for contri-

butions to the theory and practice of optimization and
approximation algorithms.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has announced the names
Charles E. Leiserson of the Massachusetts Institute
of the recipients of the 2016 Sloan Research Fellowships. of Technology for theoretically grounded approaches to
Each year the foundation awards fellowships in the fields digital design and parallel computer systems.
of mathematics, chemistry, computational and evolu- Elected as foreign members were:
tionary molecular biology, computer science, econom- Peter Stoica of Uppsala University for contributions
ics, neuroscience, physics, and ocean sciences. Grants to array signal processing in communications, sensing,
of US$55,000 for a two-year period are administered by and imaging.
each Fellow’s institution. Once chosen, Fellows are free Peter Whittle of the University of Cambridge for
contributions to the mathematics of operations research
to pursue whatever lines of inquiry most interest them,
and statistics.
and they are permitted to employ the Fellowship funds
in a wide variety of ways to further their research aims. —From an NAE announcement
Following are the names and institutions of the 2016
awardees in mathematics.
Stefanos Aretakis, Princeton University
Rina Foygel Barber, University of Chicago
Venkat Chandrasekaran, California Institute
of Technology
Artem Chernikov, University of California,
Los Angeles
Thomas Church, Stanford University Corrections
Jeffrey Danciger, University of Texas, Austin
Benjamin Elias, University of Oregon Notices regrets the following error that appeared
Elena Fuchs, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in the 2016 March issue:
Adrianna Gillman, Rice University
Vadim Gorin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Mathematics People section within the
March issue had incorrect placements of Rahul
Zaher Hani, Georgia Institute of Technology
Singh and Lesley Sibner’s photos.
Matthew J. Hirn, Michigan State University RAHUL SINGH of Yale University was awarded
Zongming Ma, University of Pennsylvania a Marshall Scholarship for 2015 and will study
Matthias Morzfeld, University of Arizona econometrics and mathematical economics at
Marcel Nutz, Columbia University the London School of Economics, and computa-
Wesley Pegden, Carnegie Mellon University tional statistics and machine learning at Univer-
Claudiu Raicu, University of Notre Dame sity College London.
LESLEY SIBNER unexpectedly passed away on
Nikhil Srivastava, University of California Berkeley
September 11, 2013. Lesley was the Eastern Sec-
Kevin Tucker, University of Illinois at Chicago
tion Associate Secretary of the AMS from 1993
Lu Wang, University of Wisconsin, Madison. to 2009. She was also in the inaugural class of
Fellows of the AMS.
—From a Sloan Foundation announcement

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 579

Mathematics Opportunities

Participants in Women in Numbers 3, AWM, April 20–25, 2014.

AWM ADVANCE Grant for Most Research Collaboration Networks for Women
conferences so far have taken place at Banff International
Research Networks for Women Research Station.
—AWM announcement
The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) has
received a five-year, US$750,000 ADVANCE grant for re-
search networks for women in mathematics. Workshops at
Call for Nominations for
the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings and SIAM Meetings Clifford Prize
will bring together women from one of the Research Col- The W. K. Clifford Prize is an international scientific prize
laboration Networks to showcase their work and encour- for young researchers which aims to encourage them to
age continued collaboration and mentoring. AWM will also compete for excellence in theoretical and applied Clifford
organize biennial Research Symposia, with high-profile algebras, their analysis and geometry. The deadline for
plenary speakers and special sessions in research areas nominations is September 30, 2016. Nominations should
be sent to [email protected]. For details
linked to the Research Collaboration Networks. Proposals
see www.wkcliffordprize.org.
for new Research Networks for Women may be submit-
ted to Magnhild Lien by July 1. For more information see —Hendrik De Bie
awmadvance.org. Ghent University

580 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Mathematics Opportunities

NSF Postdoctoral Research

Fellowships
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards Mathemati-
cal Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MSPRF)
in areas of the mathematical sciences, including applica-
tions to other disciplines. Awards are either Research
Fellowships or Instructorships. The Research Fellowship
provides full-time support for any eighteen academic-year
months in a three-year period. The Research Instructor-
ship provides either two academic years of full-time sup-
port or one academic year of full-time and two academic
years of half-time support. The deadline for proposals
is October 19, 2016. See www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_
summ.jsp?pims_id=5301&org=NSF.

—NSF announcement

Research Training Groups in

the Mathematical Sciences
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Train-
ing Groups in the Mathematical Sciences (RTG) program
provides funds for the training of US students and post-
doctoral researchers. The deadline for full proposals is
June 7, 2016. See www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.
jsp?pims_id=5732.

—NSF announcement

International Mathematics
Competition for University
Students
The Twenty-Third International Mathematics Competition
for University Students will be July 25–31, 2016, at Ameri-
can University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Students complet-
ing their first, second, third, or fourth years of university
education are eligible. See www.imc-math.org.uk.

—John Jayne, University College London

*The most up-to-date listing of NSF funding opportunities from

the Division of Mathematical Sciences can be found online at:
www.nsf.gov/dms and for the Directorate of Education and
Human Resources at www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?org=ehr.
To receive periodic updates, subscribe to the DMSNEWS listserv by
following the directions at www.nsf.gov/mps/dms/about.jsp.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 581

New Publications
Offered by the AMS
To subscribe to email notification of new AMS publications,
please go to www.ams.org/bookstore-email.

Algebra and Algebraic Geometry Matrix Groups for

Undergraduates
Second Edition
Galois Theories of Linear
Kristopher Tapp, Saint Joseph’s
Difference Equations: University, Philadelphia, PA
An Introduction
Matrix groups touch an enormous spectrum
Charlotte Hardouin and Jacques of the mathematical arena. This textbook
Sauloy, Institut de Mathématiques brings them into the undergraduate
curriculum. It makes an excellent
de Toulouse, France, and Michael
one-semester course for students familiar with linear and abstract
F. Singer, North Carolina State algebra and prepares them for a graduate course on Lie groups.
University, Raleigh, NC
Matrix Groups for Undergraduates is concrete and example-driven,
This book is a collection of three with geometric motivation and rigorous proofs. The story begins
introductory tutorials coming out of three courses given at the and ends with the rotations of a globe. In between, the author
CIMPA Research School “Galois Theory of Difference Equations” in combines rigor and intuition to describe the basic objects of Lie
Santa Marta, Columbia, July 23–August 1, 2012. The aim of these theory: Lie algebras, matrix exponentiation, Lie brackets, maximal tori,
tutorials is to introduce the reader to three Galois theories of linear homogeneous spaces, and roots.
difference equations and their interrelations. Each of the three articles This second edition includes two new chapters that allow for an easier
addresses a different galoisian aspect of linear difference equations. transition to the general theory of Lie groups.
The authors motivate and give elementary examples of the basic
From reviews of the First Edition:
ideas and techniques, providing the reader with an entry to current
research. In addition each article contains an extensive bibliography This book could be used as an excellent textbook for a one semester
that includes recent papers; the authors have provided pointers to course at university and it will prepare students for a graduate
these articles allowing the interested reader to explore further. course on Lie groups, Lie algebras, etc. … The book combines an
intuitive style of writing with rigorous definitions and proofs, giving
Contents: M. F. Singer, Algebraic and algorithmic aspects of linear
examples from fields of mathematics, physics, and other sciences
difference equations; C. Hardouin, Galoisian approach to differential
where matrices are successfully applied. The book will surely be
transcendence; J. Sauloy, Analytic study of q-difference equations.
interesting and helpful for students in algebra and their teachers.
Mathematical Surveys and Monographs, Volume 211
—European Mathematical Society Newsletters
May 2016, 171 pages, Hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-4704-2655-2, LC
This is an excellent, well-written textbook which is strongly
2015039225, 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 05A19, 12H05, recommended to a wide audience of readers interested in
12H10, 20G15, 20H20, 39A06, 39A10, 39A13, AMS members US$88, mathematics and its applications. The book is suitable for a one
List US$110, Order code SURV/211 semester undergraduate lecture course in matrix groups, and would
also be useful supplementary reading for more general group theory
courses.
—MathSciNet (or Mathematical Reviews)
Contents: Why study matrix groups?; Matrices; All matrix groups
are real matrix groups; The orthogonal groups; The topology of
matrix groups; Lie algebras; Matrix exponentiation; Matrix groups are
manifolds; The Lie bracket; Maximal tori; Homogeneous manifolds;
Roots; Bibliography; Index.

582 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 New Publications Offered by the AMS

Student Mathematical Library, Volume 79 31A15, 33C50, 35L67, 40A15, 41A21, 42C05, 60B20, AMS members
US$86.40, List US$108, Order code CONM/661
May 2016, 239 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-4704-2722-1, LC
2015038141, 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 20-02, 20G20;
20C05, 22E15, All Individuals US$39.20, List US$49, Institutional
member US$39.20, Order code STML/79 Differential Equations

Analysis Imaging, Multi-scale and

High Contrast Partial
Differential Equations
Modern Trends in Habib Ammari, Ecole Normale
Constructive Function Supérieure, Paris, France, Yves
Theory Capdeboscq, Mathematical
Institute, Oxford, United Kingdom,
Douglas P. Hardin, Vanderbilt Hyeonbae Kang, Inha University,
University, Nashville, TN, Doron Incheon, Korea, and Imbo Sim,
S. Lubinsky, Georgia Institute of National Institute of Mathematical
Technology, Atlanta, GA, and Brian Sciences, Daejeon, Korea, Editors
Z. Simanek, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, TN, Editors This volume contains the proceedings of the Seoul ICM 2014 Satellite
Conference on Imaging, Multi-scale and High-Contrast PDEs, held
This volume contains the proceedings of the conference Constructive from August 7–9, 2014, in Daejeon, Korea.
Functions 2014, held from May 26–30, 2014, at Vanderbilt University, The mathematical analysis of partial differential equations modelling
Nashville, TN, in honor of Ed Saff’s 70th birthday. materials, or tissues, presenting multiple scales has been a very
The papers in this volume contain results on polynomial active area of research. The study of the corresponding imaging
approximation, rational approximation, Log-optimal configurations or reconstruction problem is a more recent area. If the material
on the sphere, random continued fractions, ratio asymptotics parameters of the partial differential equation present high
for multiple orthogonal polynomials, the bivariate trigonometric contrast ratio, then the solution to the PDE becomes particularly
moment problem, minimal Riesz energy, random polynomials, Padé challenging to analyze and compute. On the other hand, imaging
and Hermite-Padé approximation, orthogonal expansions, hyperbolic in highly heterogeneous media poses significant challenges to the
differential equations, Bergman polynomials, the Meijer G-function, mathematical community.
polynomial ensembles, and integer lattice points. The focus of this volume is on recent progress towards complete
Contents: D. S. Lubinsky, Ed Saff at three score and ten; V. Totik, understanding of the direct problem with high contrast or high
The tale of a formula; P. D. Dragnev, Log-optimal configurations frequencies, and unified approaches to the inverse and imaging
on the sphere; L. Lorentzen, Convergence of random continued problems for both small and large contrast or frequencies. Of
fractions and random iterations of Möbius transformations; W. Van particular importance in imaging are shape representation techniques
Assche, Ratio asymptotics for multiple orthogonal polynomials; and regularization approaches. Special attention is devoted to new
J. S. Geronimo and A. Pangia, Study of a parametrization of the models and problems coming from physics leading to innovative
bivariate trigonometric moment problem; J. S. Brauchart, Explicit imaging and signal processing methods.
formulas for the Riesz energy of the Nth roots of unity; I. E. Pritsker, This item will also be of interest to those working in applications.
Asymptotic zero distribution of random polynomials spanned by
general bases; G. López Lagomasino, On row sequences of Padé Contents: H. Ammari, S. Mallat, I. Waldspurger, and H. Wang,
and Hermite-Padé approximation; Y. Xu, Orthogonal expansions Wavelet methods for shape perception in electro-sensing; H. Ammari
for generalized Gegenbauer weight function on the unit ball; and H. Wang, Time-domain multiscale shape identification in
A. I. Aptekarev, The Mhaskar-Saff variational principle and location electro-sensing; H. Kang and E. Kim, Estimation of stress in the
of the shocks of certain hyperbolic equations; N. Stylianopoulos, presence of closely located elastic inclusions: A numerical study;
Boundary estimates for Bergman polynomials in domains H. Lee and J. Lee, Array dependence of effective parameters
with corners; A. Martínez-Finkelshtein, E. A. Rakhmanov, and of dilute periodic elastic composite; M. Lim, A review on the
S. P. Suetin, Asymptotics of type I Hermite–Padé polynomials for enhancement of near-cloaking using the multilayer structure;
semiclassical functions; A. Cuyt and W.-S. Lee, Sparse interpolation G. S. Alberti and Y. Capdeboscq, On local non-zero constraints in
and rational approximation; Y. Lin and R. Wong, Asymptotics PDE with analytic coefficients; J. Garnier, Daylight imaging for virtual
of the Meijer G-functions; A. B. J. Kuijlaars, Transformations of reflection seismology; M. Afzal, M. Ayub, R. Nawaz, and A. Wahab,
polynomial ensembles; J. Bourgain, P. Sarnak, and Z. Rudnick, Mode-matching solution of a scattering problem in flexible waveguide
Local statistics of lattice points on the sphere; M. Budišić and M. with abrupt geometric changes; D. P. Challa, Direct scattering by a
Putinar, Conditioning moments of singular measures for entropy sound hard small body; G. Ciraolo, Helmholtz equation in unbounded
maximization II: Numerical examples. domains: Some convergence results for a constrained optimization
problem.
Contemporary Mathematics, Volume 661
April 2016, 297 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-4704-2534-0, LC
2015035790, 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 11P21, 26C10,

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 583

New Publications Offered by the AMS

Contemporary Mathematics, Volume 660 Contents: Introduction; The case of academician Luzin in the
collective memory of the scientific community; Minutes of the
April 2016, 148 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-4704-1923-3, LC
meetings of the USSR Academy of Sciences Commission in the case of
2015037186, 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 35B10, 35B30, academician Luzin: Minutes of the meeting of the USSR Academy
35J05, 35J25, 35R30, 35R60, 65N15, 65T60, 86A15, AMS members of Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin: 7
US$86.40, List US$108, Order code CONM/660 July; Minutes of the meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Commission in the matter of academician Luzin: 9 July; Minutes
of the meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences Commission in
the matter of academician Luzin: 11 July; Minutes of the meeting
General Interest of the USSR Academy of Sciences Commission in the matter of
academician Luzin: 13 July; Minutes of the meeting of the USSR
Academy of Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin:
15 July; Commentaries on the minutes of the meetings of the USSR
The Case of Academy of Sciences Commission in the case of academician Luzin:
Academician Commentary on the minutes of the meeting of the USSR Academy
of Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin: 7
Nikolai Nikolaevich July 1936; Commentary on the minutes of the USSR Academy of
Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin: 9 July 1936;
Luzin Commentary on the minutes of the meeting of the USSR Academy of
Sergei S. Demidov, Russian Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin: 11 July
1936; Commentary on the minutes of the meeting of the USSR
Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
Academy of Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin:
Russia, and Boris V. Lëvshin, 13 July 1936; Commentary on the minutes of the meeting of the USSR
Editors Academy of Sciences Commission in the matter of academician Luzin:
Translated by Roger Cooke 15 July 1936; Literature; Appendices: Appendices introduction; A
pleasant disillusionment; Reply to academician N. Luzin; Enemies
The Soviet school, one of the glories of twentieth-century wearing a Soviet mask; Letter from L. Z. Mekhlis, editor of Pravda,
mathematics, faced a serious crisis in the summer of 1936. It was to the Central Committee, 3 July 1936; Resolution concerning the
suffering from internal strains due to generational conflicts between articles “Response to academician Luzin” and “Enemies wearing a
the young talents and the old establishment. At the same time, Soviet Soviet mask” in Pravda; Draft of the proposal of the special session of
leaders (including Stalin himself) were bent on “Sovietizing” all of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 4 July 1936; Letter
science in the USSR by requiring scholars to publish their works in from P. L. Kapitsa to Molotov, 6 July 1936; Excerpt from the minutes of
Russian in the Soviet Union, ending the nearly universal practice of the Presidium meeting of 7 July 1936; Letters from V. I. Vernadskii and
publishing in the West. A campaign to “Sovietize” mathematics in the N. V. Nasonov to the Academy of Sciences Division of Mathematical
USSR was launched with an attack on Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin, the and Natural Sciences and to academicians A. E. Fersman and N. P.
leader of the Soviet school of mathematics, in Pravda. Luzin was Gorbunov in support of academician Luzin; Letter from academician
fortunate in that only a few of the most ardent ideologues wanted N. N. Luzin to the Central Committee of the Communist Party 7 July
to destroy him utterly. As a result, Luzin, though humiliated and 1936; Traditions of servility; Resolution of the General Assembly of
frightened, was allowed to make a statement of public repentance Scientists of the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics and
and then let off with a relatively mild reprimand. A major factor in Institutes of Mathematics, Mechanics, and Astronomy at Moscow
his narrow escape was the very abstractness of his research area University; Letter from Luzin to an undetermined addressee, 11
(descriptive set theory), which was difficult to incorporate into a July 1936; Enemies wearing a Soviet mask; The Leningrad scholars
propaganda campaign aimed at the broader public. respond; Letter from L. Z. Mekhlis, editor of Pravda, to Stalin and
Molotov, 14 July 1936; The enemy exposed; Luzin’s statement to the
The present book contains the transcripts of five meetings of the
Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, 14 July 1936; Academician
Academy of Sciences commission charged with investigating the
Gubkin on so-called academician Luzin; The Belarus scholars on
accusations against Luzin, meetings held in July of 1936. Ancillary
the exposed enemy Luzin; The scholarly community condemns
material from the Soviet press of the time is included to place these
enemies wearing a Soviet mask; Note accompanying the draft of the
meetings in context.
findings of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences regarding
It is wonderful to have this book available in English translation. academician N. N. Luzin, 25 July 1936; Conclusion of the Commission;
“The Case of Academician Luzin” is a highly significant event in On academician N. N. Luzin. Findings of the Presidium of the USSR
the history of Soviet mathematics; with its presentation of original Academy of Sciences, 5 August 1936; To rid academia of Luzinism;
sources, together with ample commentary, this book will now convey Glossary of Soviet terms and people; Subject index; Name index.
the full import of this event to a new readership.
History of Mathematics, Volume 43
—Christopher Hollings, Oxford University, author of “Mathematics
across the Iron Curtain” May 2016, approximately 386 pages, Hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-4704-
2608-8, 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 01A70, 01A72,
. . . an important contribution toward the understanding of the fate of
01A60, AMS members US$47.20, List US$59, Order code HMATH/43
a great mathematician in Stalin’s time. We learn here the details of
how he was judged in a political trial. I would like to immodestly
suggest that reading this source together with Jean-Michel Kantor’s
and my recent book “Naming Infinity” will clarify an episode in both
the history of mathematics and of the Soviet Union that has long
mystified observers.
—Loren Graham, professor emeritus of the history of science,
MIT and Harvard

584 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 New AMS-Distributed Publications

Differential Equations
New AMS-Distributed
Publications Critical Functional
Framework and
Maximal Regularity in
Analysis Action on Systems of
Incompressible Flows
Raphaël Danchin, Université
Prequantum Transfer Paris-Est, Créteil, France, and Piotr
Operator for Symplectic Bogusław Mucha, Uniwersytet
Warszawski, Poland
Anosov Diffeomorphism
This memoir is devoted to endpoint maximal regularity in Besov
Frédéric Faure, Institut Fourier, St. spaces for the evolutionary Stokes system in bounded or exterior
Martin d’Hères, France, and Masato domains. The authors get estimates with global-in-time integrability
Tsujii, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, in intersection of Besov spaces. They apply them in particular to
Japan solve locally for large data or globally for small data the slightly
inhomogeneous Navier–Stokes equations in critical Besov spaces in an
The authors define the prequantization of exterior domain.
a symplectic and Anosov diffeomorphism. A publication of the Société Mathématique de France, Marseilles (SMF),
They study the spectral properties of the transfer operator associated distributed by the AMS in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Orders from
to a smooth potential. After restriction to the N-th Fourier mode and other countries should be sent to the SMF. Members of the SMF receive
letting N tend to infinity, a structure of concentric bands appear. They a 30% discount from list.
study the eigenvalue repartition in the most external band and they
show that this repartition follows a Weyl law. The authors give a Contents: Go to www.ams.org/bookstore.
physical interpretation of the results and they compare them to the Mémoires de la Société Mathématique de France, Number 143
geometric quantization which appears in quantum chaos theory.
December 2015, 151 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-2-85629-824-4, 2010
A publication of the Société Mathématique de France, Marseilles (SMF), Mathematics Subject Classification: 35B33, 35B45, 35B65, 35Q30,
distributed by the AMS in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Orders from 35Q35, 76D03, 76N10, AMS members US$41.60, List US$52, Order
other countries should be sent to the SMF. Members of the SMF receive
code SMFMEM/143
a 30% discount from list.
Contents: Go to www.ams.org/bookstore.
Astérisque, Number 375 Geometry and Topology
December 2015, 222 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-2-85629-823-7, 2010
Mathematics Subject Classification: 37D20, 37D35, 37C30, 81Q20,
81Q50, AMS members US$53.60, List US$67, Order code AST/375
Sobolev Estimates
for Two Dimensional
Gravity Water Waves
Thomas Alazard, École Normale
Supérieure et CNRS UMR, Paris,
France, and Jean-Marc Delort,
Université Paris 13, Villetaneuse,
France
The authors’ goal in this volume is to apply a
normal forms method to estimate the Sobolev norms of the solutions
of the water waves equation. They construct a paradifferential change
of unknown, without derivatives losses, which eliminates the part of
the quadratic terms that bring non zero contributions in a Sobolev
energy inequality. The authors’ approach is purely Eulerian: they
work on the Craig-Sulem-Zakharov formulation of the water waves
equation.
In addition to these Sobolev estimates, the authors also prove
α
L2 -estimates for the ∂x Z β -derivatives of the solutions of the water

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 585

 New AMS-Distributed Publications
A MERICAN M ATHEMATICAL S OCIETY
waves equation, where Z is the Klainerman vector field t∂t + 2x∂x .
These estimates are used in one of the book’s references. In that
reference, the authors prove a global existence result for the
water waves equation with smooth, small, and decaying at infinity
Cauchy data, and they obtain an asymptotic description in physical
coordinates of the solution, which shows that modified scattering
holds. The proof of this global in time existence result relies on
the simultaneous bootstrap of some Hölder and Sobolev a priori
estimates for the action of iterated Klainerman vector fields on the
solutions of the water waves equation. The present volume contains
the proof of the Sobolev part of that bootstrap.
This item will also be of interest to those working in algebra and
algebraic geometry.

Spend smart. A publication of the Société Mathématique de France, Marseilles (SMF),

distributed by the AMS in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Orders from
As an AMS member, other countries should be sent to the SMF. Members of the SMF receive
a 30% discount from list.
enjoy up to 20% off any Contents: Go to www.ams.org/bookstore.
of our titles. Visit the Astérisque, Number 374
Bookstore regularly for special monthly November 2015, 241 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-2-85629-821-3, 2010
sales and discounts. Mathematics Subject Classification: 53C24, 20F65, 53C23, 20E08,
20F67, 20F69, 19D35, AMS members US$60, List US$75, Order code

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Our full listing of books Lagrangian Floer Theory

is conveniently and Mirror Symmetry
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Kenji Fukaya, State University
exactly what you need.
of New York, Stony Brook, NY,
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Hiroshi Ohta, Nagoya University,
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This item will also be of interest to those working in algebra and
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bookstore.ams.org A publication of the Société Mathématique de France, Marseilles (SMF),

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Astérisque, Number 376
facebook.com/amermathsoc February 2016, 340 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-2-85629-825-1, 2010
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586 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 MATHEMATICS CALENDAR
This section contains new announcements of worldwide meet- 16 – 20 Workshop: Categorification
ings and conferences of interest to the mathematical public, Location: Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn,
including ad hoc, local, or regional meetings, and meetings Bonn, Germany.
and symposia devoted to specialized topics, as well as an- URL: www.math.uni-bonn.de/people/dtubben/
nouncements of regularly scheduled meetings of national or categorification2016.htmpl
international mathematical organizations. New announce-
ments only are published in the print Mathematics Calendar 17 – 20 Static Metrics and Bartnik’s Quasi-Local Mass Conjecture
featured in each Notices issue. 2016
An announcement will be published in the Notices if it contains Location: University of Tübingen, Germany.
a call for papers and specifies the place, date, subject (when URL: www.math.uni-tuebingen.de/static-metric-
applicable). A second announcement will be published only conference-2016
if there are changes or necessary additional information. As-
terisks (*) mark those announcements containing revised 18 – 20 Spectra of Graphs and Applications (SGA 2016)
information. Location: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Ser-
In general, print announcements of meetings and con- bia.
ferences carry only the date, title and location of the URL: www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/conferences/sga2016.htm
event.
The complete listing of the Mathematics Calendar is available 18 – 20 The 9th Asian Conference on Fixed Point Theory and Opti-
at: www.ams.org/meetings/calendar/mathcal mization 2016 (ACFPTO2016)
All submissions to the Mathematics Calendar should be done Location: Science Laboratory Building, Faculty of Science,
online via: www.ams.org/cgi-bin/mathcal/mathcal- King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT),
submit.pl Bangkok, Thailand.
Any questions or difficulties may be directed to mathcal@ams. URL: acfpto2016.kmutt.ac.th
org.
27 – 29 Lehigh University Geometry/Topology Conference
Location: Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.
April 2016 URL: www.lehigh.edu/~dlj0/geotop.html
25 – 29 Conference - Workshop on Nonsmooth Dynamics
Location: Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra, 30 – June 3 Constructive Approximation and Harmonic Analysis
Barcelona, Spain. Location: Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra,
URL: www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/ Barcelona, Spain.
Pages/Workshop-on-Nonsmooth-Dynamics.aspx URL: www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/
Pages/Constructive-Approximation.aspx
May 2016
June 2016
2 – 7 Quivers and Bipartite Graphs: Mathematics and Physics
Location: University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway, 1 – 2 The First Indonesian GeoGebra Institutes Conference 2016
1 Suffolk St. London SW1Y 4HG, United Kingdom. Location: Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, Serang,
URL: www3.nd.edu/~conf/quivers/ Indonesia.
URL: www.geogebra.org
4 – 6 Eighth Discrete Geometry and Algebraic Combinatorics Con-
ference 6 – 8 VI International Conference in Optimization Theory and its
Location: South Padre Island, TX. Applications (ALEL)
URL: www.utrgv.edu/discgeo/ Location: Cartagena, Spain.
URL: www.um.es/beca/alel2016
9 – 13 Advances in Geometric Representation Theory
Location: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. 6 – 10 School/Workshop on Applicable Theory of Switched Systems
URL: www-personal.umich.edu/~snkitche/Conference/ Location: University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX.
URL: www.utdallas.edu/sw16/
12 – 15 Computationally Assisted Mathematical Discovery and
Experimental Mathematics 6 – 10 Conference on Harmonic Analysis and Approximation Theory
Location: University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, (HAAT 2016)
Canada. Location: Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra,
URL: www.acmes.org Barcelona, Spain.
URL: www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/
Pages/HAAT2016.aspx

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 587

Mathematics Calendar

9 – 10 IV Workshop on Functional Analysis 27 – July 1 This meeting is one of the ESGI and will bring together
Location: Cartagena, Spain. several academics with a large experience in industrial mathematics
URL: www.um.es/beca/workshop2016 to tackle problems that the leading industries are facing.
Location: Porto Design Factory, Porto, Portugal.
13 – 17 Nilpotent Orbits and Representation Theory
Location: Centro di Ricerca Matematica Ennio De Giorgi, Colle- URL: www2.estgf.ipp.pt/esgi/
gio Puteano, Piazza dei Cavalieri 3, 56100 PISA, Italy.
URL: http://www.crm.sns.it/event/367/
27 – July 1 3rd Barcelona Summer School on Stochastic Analysis
13 – 17 Leuca2016 Celebrating Michel Waldschmidt’s 70th birthday Location: Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra, Barcelona,
Location: Hotel Monte Callini, Marina di San Gregorio, Patu’ Spain.
(Lecce), Italy. URL:
URL: www.mw70.eu www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/Pages/
3rd-BCN-Summer-School-on-Stochastic-Analysis.
13 – 17 Conference on MURPHYS-HSFS 2016 WORKSHOP
aspx
Location: Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra, Barcelona,
Spain.
URL: www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/ 27 – July 2 CNRS-PAN Mathematics Summer Institute, Cracow,
Pages/MURPHYS.aspx
Poland, 27 June - 2 July, 2016
16 – 17 Conference on BARCCSYN 2016 Location: Cracow, Poland.
Location: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, Spain. URL: www.impan.pl/~peszat/
URL: www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/
Pages/BARCCSYN-2016.aspx
July 2016
20 – 22 Conference on Probability and Statistics in High Dimensions:
A Scientific Tribute to Evarist Giné 4 – 7 VII Jaen Conference on Approximation Theory, Computer Aided
Location: Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Geometric Design, Numerical Methods and Applications
Spain. Location: Ubeda, Jaen, Spain.
URL: www.crm.cat/en/Activities/Curs_2015-2016/ URL: www.ujaen.es/revista/jja/jca/index.php
Pages/MEG.aspx

20 – 24 International Conference on Complex Analysis and Related

5 – 8 5th International Conference on Uniform Distribution Theory
Topics - The 14th Romanian-Finnish Seminar
Location: Sopron, Hungary.
Location: Simion Stoilow Institute of Mathematics of the Roma-
URL: udt2016.inf.unideb.hu/
nian Academy, Bucharest, Romania.
URL: imar.ro/RoFinSem2016/conf.php

20 – 24 10th International Summer School on Geometry, Mechanics, 5 – 9 New Methods in Finsler Geometry
and Control Location: Department of Mathematics, Leipzig University
Location: La Cristalera, Madrid, Spain. Paulinum, Augustusplatz 10, D-04109 Leipzig Germany.
URL: gmcnet.webs.ull.es/?q=activity-detaill/1656 URL: www.math.uni-leipzig.de/Finsler2016/

20 – 24 Short Term Course On Reliability and Safety Analysis

Location: Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India. 7 – 8 1st Workshop on Dynamical Systems in the Real Life. RDS 2016
URL: www.ismdhanbad.ac.in/short-course/ Location: IMAC. Instituto de Matemáticas y Aplicaciones de
Castellón. Universitat Jaume I. Castellón, Spain.
21 – 24 Workshop on Algorithms for Modern Massive Data Sets
URL: www.rds2016.uji.es/
(MMDS 2016)
Location: University of California, Berkeley.
URL: mmds-data.org/
10 – 15 Differential Geometry and its Applications
26 – July 9 Integrable Systems and Geometry at the XXXVth Work- Location: Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
shop on Geometric Methods in Physics (WGMP) URL: web.math.muni.cz/dga2016/
Location: Bialowieza, Poland.
URL: wgmp.uwb.edu.pl
17 – 23 Knots in Hellas 2016 International Conference on Knots,
27 – 29 Recent Trends in Differential Equations (RTDE2016) Low-Dimensional Topology and Applications
Location: University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal. Location: International Olympic Academy Ancient Olympia,
URL: rtde2016.weebly.com Greece.
URL: www.math.ntua.gr/~sofia/KnotsinHellas2016/
index.html

588 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Mathematics Calendar

18 – 22 Summer School on Surgery and the Classification of Mani- 7 – 10 The Organizing Committee of ICAAM and Institute of Math-
folds ematics and Mathematical Modelling are pleased to invite you to the
Location: University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Third International Conference on Analysis and Applied Mathemat-
URL: www.pims.math.ca/scientific-event/160718- ics.
ssscm Location: Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Modelling,
25 – 29 ATMCS7: Algebraic Topology: Methods, Computation, & Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Science URL: www.icaam-online.org/
Location: Polytechnic University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
URL: atmcs7.appliedtopology.org/ 19 – 23 AIM Workshop: Soft Packings, Nested Clusters, and Con-
densed Matter
August 2016
Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
8 – 14 Connecticut Summer School in Number Theory URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/softpack
Location: University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
URL: ctnt-summer.math.uconn.edu/
28 – 30 Third Conference on Recent Trends in Nonlinear Phenomena
12 – 14 Conference on Elliptic Curves, Modular Forms, and related Location: Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, Univer-
topics sità degli Studi di Perugia, Italy.
Location: University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
URL:
URL: ctnt-summer.math.uconn.edu/
www.sti.uniurb.it/servadei/ConferencePerugia2016
21 – 24 Mathematics: Applied, an International Conference
Location: Congress Centre of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Univer-
sity, Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia. October 2016
URL: www.research-publication.com/index.php/ma-
10 – 14 AIM Workshop: Boundaries of Groups
2016
Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
22 – 26 24th International Conference on Finite or Infinite Dimen- URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/groupbdy
sional Complex Analysis and Applications (24ICFIDCAA)
Location: Anand International College of Engineering, Jaipur,
14 – 16 9th International Symposium on Symposium on Biomathe-
Rajasthan, India.
matics and Ecology: Education and Research (B.E.E.R.-2016)
URL: anandice.ac.in/24icfidcaa-2016/
Location: College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.
22 – 26 International Conference Waves in Science and Engineering URL: symposium.beer
2016
Location: Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the
National Polytechnic Institute, Queretaro, Mexico. 19 – 21 International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Con-
URL: qro.cinvestav.mx/wise2016 trol 2016
Location: UC Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Area.
25 – 26 Caucasian Mathematics Conference (CMC-II) URL: www.iaeng.org/WCECS2016/ICMSC2016.html
Location: Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences,
Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey.
URL: www.euro-math-soc.eu/cmc/ 24 – 28 AIM Workshop: Rational Subvarieties in Positive Character-
istic
25 – 28 Geometric Function Theory and Applications - GFTA 2016 Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
Location: 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Alba Iulia, URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/ratsubvarpos
Romania.
URL: gfta2016.uab.ro
November 2016
September 2016
5 – 6 36th Southeastern-Atlantic Regional Conference on Differen-
5 – 9 Combinatorics and Operators in Quantum Information Theory
Location: Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom. tial Equations (SEARCDE)
URL: www.qciao.org Location: Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL USA.
URL: lebesgue.fgcu.edu/SEARCDE2016/

28 – December 2 International Conference on Mathematical Anal-

ysis and its Applications, ICMAA - 2016
Location: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (I.I.T. Roor-
kee), Roorkee, India.
URL: www.iitr.ac.in/icmaa/2016/index.html

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 589

Mathematics Calendar

December 2016 April 2017

1 – 2 Mycrypt 2016 10 – 14 AIM Workshop: Foundations of Tropical Schemes
Location: KL, Malaysia. Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
URL: https://foe.mmu.edu.my/mycrypt2016 URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/tropschemes

5 – 9 AIM Workshop: Global Langlands Correspondence 17 – 21 AIM Workshop: Engel structures

Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA. Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/globlanglands URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/engelstr

9 – 11 International Conference on Applications of Mathematics June 2017

in Topological Dynamics, Physical, Biological and Chemical Systems 26 – 30 The Second Malta Conference in Graph Theory and Combi-
(ICAMTPBCS-2016) natorics (2MCGTC 2017)
Location: Calcutta Mathematical Society Asutosh Bhavan AE- Location: Qawra, St. Paul’s Bay, Malta.
374, Sector-I, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700064, West Bengal, In- URL: www.um.edu.mt/events/2mcgtc2017/
dia.
URL: www.calmathsoc.org July 2017

16 – 18 SPACE 2016 – Sixth International Conference on Security, 3 – 7 Banach Spaces and Operator Theory with Applications. A Con-
Privacy and Applied Cryptographic Engineering ference on the Occasion of the 60th birthday of Mieczysław Mastyło
Location: C.R.Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics Statistics Location: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań,
and Computer Science, Hyderabad-India (AIMSCS). Poland.
URL: www.math.umn.edu/~math-sa-sara0050/space16/ URL: banachspacetheory.wmi.amu.edu.pl/

19 – 23 International Conference ”Anosov Systems and Modern 10 – 15 Computational Methods and Function Theory 2017
Dynamics” Location: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland.
Location: Steklov Mathematical Institute of Russian Academy URL: www.cmft2017.umcs.lublin.pl/index.html
of Sciences and Department of Mathematics of National Re-
August 2017
search University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Rus-
sia. 14 – December 15 Geometric Functional Analysis and Applications
URL: anosov80.mi.ras.ru Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley,
California.
January 2017 URL: www.msri.org/programs/298
17 – 21 The Third International Conference on Mathematics and January 2018
Computing (ICMC 2017)
Location: Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, West-Bengal, 16 – May 25 Group Representation Theory and Applications
India. Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley,
URL: www.hithaldia.co.in/icmc2017/ California.
URL: www.msri.org/programs/293
17 – May 26 Analytic Number Theory (ANT2)
Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, 16 – May 25 Enumerative Geometry Beyond Numbers
CA. Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley,
California.
URL: www.msri.org/programs/297
URL: www.msri.org/programs/295
17 – May 26 Harmonic Analysis (HA2)
Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, January 2019
CA. 22 – May 24 Derived Algebraic Geometry
URL: www.msri.org/programs/300 Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley,
California.
30 – February 3 AIM Workshop: Zero Forcing and its Applications URL: www.msri.org/programs/306
Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/zeroforcing 22 – May 24 Birational Geometry and Moduli Spaces
Location: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley,
March 2017 California.
URL: www.msri.org/programs/311
20 – 24 AIM Workshop: Trisections and Low-Dimensional Topology
Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/trisections

27 – 31 AIM Workshop: Fisher-Hartwig Asymptotics, Szego Expan-

sions, and Applications to Statistical Physics
Location: American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, CA.
URL: aimath.org/workshops/upcoming/fhszego

590 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 MEETINGS & CONFERENCES OF THE AMS
MAY TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Meetings and Conferences section of The most up-to-date meeting and confer- necessary to submit an electronic form,
the Notices gives information on all AMS ence information can be found online at: although those who use LATEX may submit
meetings and conferences approved by www.ams.org/meetings/. abstracts with such coding, and all math
press time for this issue. Please refer to Important Information About AMS displays and similarily coded material
the page numbers cited on this page for Meetings: Potential organizers, (such as accent marks in text) must
more detailed information on each event. speakers, and hosts should refer to be typeset in LATEX. Visit www.ams.org/
Invited Speakers and Special Sessions are page 88 in the January 2016 issue of the cgi-bin/abstracts / a b s t r a c t . p l . Ques-
listed as soon as they are approved by the Notices for general information regard- tions about abstracts may be sent to abs-
cognizant program committee; the codes ing participation in AMS meetings and [email protected]. Close attention should be
listed are needed for electronic abstract conferences. paid to specified deadlines in this issue.
submission. For some meetings the list Unfortunately, late abstracts cannot be
Abstracts: Speakers should submit ab-
may be incomplete. Information in this accommodated.
stracts on the easy-to-use interactive
issue may be dated. Web form. No knowledge of LATEX is

MEETINGS IN THIS ISSUE

–––––––– 2016 –––––––– April 14–15 Portland, Oregon p. 598

September 24–25 Brunswick, Maine p. 592

–––––––– 2019 ––––––––
October 8–9 Denver, Colorado p. 593
October 28–30 Minneapolis, Minnesota p. 594 January 16–19 Baltimore, Maryland p. 598
November 12–13 Raleigh, North Carolina p. 595
–––––––– 2020 ––––––––
–––––––– 2017 ––––––––
January 4–7 Atlanta, Georgia p. 595 January 15–18 Denver, Colorado p. 599
March 10–12 Charleston, South Carolina p. 596
–––––––– 2021 ––––––––
April 1–2 Bloomington, Indiana p. 596
April 22–23 Pullman, Washington p. 596 January 6–9 Washington, DC p. 599
May 6–7 New York, New York p. 596
Conferences in Cooperation with the AMS
July 24–28 Montréal, Quebec, Canada p. 597
September 9–10 Denton, Texas p. 597
Indian Mathematics Consortium
September 16–17 Buffalo, New York p. 597
September 23–24 Orlando, Florida p. 597 December 14–17, 2016
November 4–5 Riverside, California p. 598
Banaras Hindu University
–––––––– 2018 ––––––––
January 10–13 San Diego, California p. 598 Varanasi, India

See www.ams.org/meetings/ for the most up-to-date information on these conferences.

ASSOCIATE SECRETARIES OF THE AMS

Central Section: Georgia Benkart, University of Wisconsin- Southeastern Section: Brian D. Boe, Department of Mathemat-
Madison, Department of Mathematics, 480 Lincoln Drive, ics, University of Georgia, 220 D W Brooks Drive, Athens, GA
Madison, WI 53706-1388; e-mail: [email protected]; 30602-7403, e-mail: [email protected]; telephone: 706-
telephone: 608-263-4283. 542-2547.
Eastern Section: Steven H. Weintraub, Department of Math- Western Section: Michel L. Lapidus, Department of Mathemat-
ematics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015-3174; e-mail: ics, University of California, Surge Bldg., Riverside, CA 92521-
[email protected]; telephone: 610-758-3717. 0135; e-mail: [email protected]; telephone: 951-827-5910.

JUNE/JULY 2016 NOTICES OF THE AMS 591

Meetings
Meetings & Conferences of the AMS
& Conferences
of the AMS
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING MEETINGS PROGRAMS: AMS Sectional Meeting programs do not ap-
pear in the print version of the Notices. However, comprehensive and continually updated meeting and program
information with links to the abstract for each talk can be found on the AMS website. See www.ams.org/meetings/.
Final programs for Sectional Meetings will be archived on the AMS website accessible from the stated URL .

Brunswick, Maine Special Sessions

If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you
should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab-
Bowdoin College
stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/
September 24–25, 2016 cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl.
Saturday – Sunday
Algebraic and Enumerative Combinatorics (Code: SS
Meeting #1121 12A), Thomas Lam, University of Michigan.
Eastern Section Autonomous and Non-autonomous Discrete Dynamical
Associate secretary: Steven H. Weintraub Systems with Applications (Code: SS 2A), M.R.S. Kulenović
Announcement issue of Notices: June 2016
and O. Merino, University of Rhode Island.
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Combinatorial Aspects of Nilpotent Orbits (Code: SS
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
Issue of Abstracts: Volume 37, Issue 3 18A), Anthony Iarrobino, Northeastern University, Leila
Khatami, Union College, and Julianna Tymoczko, Smith
Deadlines College.
For organizers: Expired Combinatorics, at the Crossroads of Algebra, Geometry,
For abstracts: July 19, 2016 and Topology (Code: SS 11A), Ivan Martino, University of
Fribourg (Switzerland), and Alexander I. Suciu, North-
The scientific information listed below may be dated. eastern University.
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/ Convex Cocompactness (Code: SS 14A), Tarik Aougab
sectional.html.
and Sara Maloni, Brown University.
Invited Addresses Decomposing 3-manifolds (Code: SS 8A), Tao Li, Boston
Tim Austin, New York University, Title to be announced. College, and Scott Taylor, Colby College.
Moon Duchin, Tufts University, Title to be announced. Financial Mathematics (Code: SS 13A), Maxim Bichuch,
Thomas Lam, University of Michigan, Title to be an- Johns Hopkins University, and Stephan Strum and Xuwei
nounced. Yang, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Geometric Aspects of Harmonic Analysis (Code: SS 6A),
Matthew Badger and Vasileios Chousionis, University of
Connecticut.

592 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Meetings & Conferences

Geometric Group Theory (Code: SS 4A), Charles Cun- Ronny Hadani, University of Texas, Austin, Title to be
ningham, Bowdoin College, Moon Duchin, Tufts Univer- announced.
sity, and Jennifer Taback, Bowdoin College. Chelsea Walton, Temple University, Philadelphia, Title
Geometry of Nilpotent Groups (Code: SS 5A), Moon to be announced.
Duchin, Tufts University, Jennifer Taback, Bowdoin Col-
lege, and Peter Wong, Bates College. Special Sessions
Mathematics and Statistics Applied to Biology and Re- If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you
lated Fields (Code: SS 7A), Meredith L. Greer, Bates College. should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab-
New Developments in Graphs and Hypergraphs (Code: stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/
SS 16A), Deepak Bal and Jonathan Cutler, Montclair State cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl.
University, and Jozef Skokan, London School of Econom-
ics. Above and Beyond Fluid Flow studies: In celebration of
Noncommutative Ring Theory and Noncommutative Al- the 60th birthday of Prof. William Layton (Code: SS 12A),
gebra (Code: SS 1A), Jason Gaddis, Wake Forest University, Traian Iliescu, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
and Manuel Reyes, Bowdoin College. University, Alexander Labovsky, Michigan Technological
Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations in Material University, Monika Neda, University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
Science and Mathematical Biology (Code: SS 3A), Leonid and Leo Rebholz, Clemson University.
Berlyand, Pennsylvania State University, Dmitry Golo- Algebraic Combinatorics (Code: SS 23A), Anton Betten,
vaty, University of Akron, and Alex Misiats, New York Colorado State University, Jason Williford, University of
University. Wyoming, and Bangteng Xu, Eastern Kentucky University.
Nonlinear Waves in Partial and Lattice Differential Equa- Algebraic Logic (Code: SS 1A), Nick Galatos, University
tions (Code: SS 9A), Christopher Chong, Bowdoin College. of Denver, and Peter Jipsen, Chapman University.
Plethysm and Kronecker Products in Representation Analysis on Graphs and Spectral Graph Theory (Code:
Theory (Code: SS 17A), Susanna Fishel, Arizona State SS 2A), Paul Horn and Mei Yin, University of Denver.
University, and Sheila Sundaram, Pierrepont School. Aspects of PDE Arising from Modeling of the Flows in
Topological Phases of Matter and Quantum Computa- Porous Media (Code: SS 19A), Akif Ibraguimov, Texas
tion (Code: SS 15A), Paul Bruillard and Carlos Ortiz, Pacific Tech University, Viktoria Savatorova, University of Ne-
Northwest National Laboratory, and Julia Plavnik, Texas vada, Las Vegas, and Aleksey Telyakovskiy, University
A&M University. of Nevada, Reno.
Undergraduate Research (Code: SS 10A), Christopher Discontinuous Galerkin methods for partial differential
Chong and Adam Levy, Bowdoin College. equations: Theory and applications (Code: SS 15A), Mah-
boub Baccouch, University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Denver, Colorado
Floer Theoretic Invariants of 3-manifolds and Knots
(Code: SS 22A), Jonathan Hanselman, University of Texas
at Austin, and Kristen Hendricks, University of California,
University of Denver Los Angeles.
Foundations of Numerical Algebraic Geometry (Code: SS
October 8–9, 2016 14A), Abraham Martin del Campo, CIMAT, Guanajuato,
Saturday – Sunday Mexico, and Frank Sottile, Texas A&M University.
Groups and Representation Theory (Code: SS 20A),
Meeting #1122 C. Ryan Vinroot, College of William and Mary, Julianne
Western Section Rainbolt, Saint Louis University, and Amanda Schaeffer
Associate secretary: Michel L. Lapidus Fry, Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Announcement issue of Notices: August 2016 Integrable Systems and Soliton Equations (Code: SS 17A),
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced Anton Dzhamay, University of Northern Colorado, and
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced Patrick Shipman, Colorado State University.
Issue of Abstracts: Volume 37, Issue 3 Nonassociative Algebra (Code: SS 3A), Izabella Stuhl,
University of Debrecen and University of Denver, and Petr
Deadlines Vojtěchovský, University of Denver.
For organizers: Expired Noncommutative Geometry and Fundamental Applica-
For abstracts: August 16, 2016 tions (Code: SS 4A), Frederic Latremoliere, University of
Denver.
The scientific information listed below may be dated. Nonlinear Wave Equations and Applications (Code: SS
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/ 18A), Mark J. Ablowitz, University of Colorado Boulder,
sectional.html. and Barbara Prinari, University of Colorado Colorado
Springs.
Invited Addresses Nonlinear and Stochastic Partial Differential Equations
Henry Cohn, Microsoft Research, New England, Title (Code: SS 13A), Michele Coti Zelati, University of Mary-
to be announced. land, Nathan Glatt-Holtz, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 593

Meetings & Conferences

and State University, and Geordie Richards, University Charles Rezk, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
of Rochester. Title to be announced.
Operator Algebras and Applications (Code: SS 5A), Al- Christof Sparber, University of Illinois at Chicago, Title
varo Arias, University of Denver. to be announced.
Quantum Algebra (Code: SS 11A), Chelsea Walton, Samuel Stechmann, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Temple University, Ellen Kirkman, Wake Forest University, Title to be announced.
and James Zhang, University of Washington, Seattle.
Random matrices, integrable systems, and applications Special Sessions
(Code: SS 16A), Sean D. O’Rourke, University of Colorado If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you
Boulder, and David Renfrew, University of California, should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab-
Los Angeles. stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/
Recent Advances in Structural and Extremal Graph cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl.
Theory (Code: SS 21A), Michael Ferrara, Stephen Hartke,
Michael Jacobson, and Florian Pfender, University of Advances in Algebraic Coding Theory (Code: SS 11A),
Colorado Denver. Sarah E. Anderson, University of St. Thomas, and Katie
Recent Trends in Semigroup Theory (Code: SS 6A), Mi- Haymaker, Villanova University.
chael Kinyon, University of Denver, and Ben Steinberg, Chip-Firing and Divisors on Graphs and Complexes
City College of New York. (Code: SS 3A), Caroline Klivans, Brown University, and
Set Theory of the Continuum (Code: SS 7A), Natasha Gregg Musiker and Victor Reiner, University of Min-
Dobrinen and Daniel Hathaway, University of Denver. nesota.
Unimodularity in Randomly Generated Graphs (Code: Combinatorial Representation Theory (Code: SS 5A), Mi-
SS 8A), Florian Sobieczky, University of Denver. chael Chmutov, University of Minnesota, Tom Halverson,
Vertex Algebras and Geometry (Code: SS 9A), Andrew Macalester College, and Travis Scrimshaw, University of
Linshaw, University of Denver, and Thomas Creutzig and Minnesota.
Nicolas Guay, University of Alberta. Enumerative Combinatorics (Code: SS 4A), Eric Egge,
Zero Dimensional Dynamics (Code: SS 10A), Nic Ormes Carleton College, and Joel Brewster Lewis, University of
and Ronnie Pavlov, University of Denver. Minnesota.
Extremal and Probabilistic Combinatorics (Code: SS

Minneapolis,
13A), Andrew Beveridge, University of Nebraska—Lin-
coln, Jamie Radcliffe, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities,
and Michael Young, Iowa State University.
Minnesota Geometric Flows, Integrable Systems and Moving Frames
(Code: SS 2A), Joseph Benson, St. Olaf College, Gloria
University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis Mari-Beffa, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Peter Olver,
University of Minnesota, and Rob Thompson, Carleton
campus) College.
October 28–30, 2016 Integrable Systems and Related Areas (Code: SS 8A),
Sam Evens, University of Notre Dame, Luen-Chau Li,
Friday – Sunday
University of Minnesota, and Zhaohu Nie, Utah State
Meeting #1123 University.
Modeling and Predicting the Atmosphere, Oceans, and
Central Section
Climate (Code: SS 1A), Sam Stechmann, University of
Associate secretary: Georgia Benkart
Wisconsin-Madison.
Announcement issue of Notices: August 2016
New Developments in the Analysis of Nonlocal Operators
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
(Code: SS 6A), Donatella Danielli and Arshak Petrosyan,
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
Purdue University, and Camelia Pop, University of Min-
Issue of Abstracts: Volume 37, Issue 4
nesota.
Deadlines Representation Theory, Automorphic Forms and Related
Topics (Code: SS 7A), Kwangho Choiy, Southern Illinois
For organizers: Expired
University, Dihua Jiang, University of Minnesota, and
For abstracts: August 30, 2016
Shuichiro Takeda, University of Missouri.
Symplectic Geometry and Contact Geometry (Code: SS
The scientific information listed below may be dated.
9A), Tian-Jun Li and Cheuk Yu Mak, University of Min-
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/
nesota, and Ke Zhu, Minnesota State University.
sectional.html.
Topology and Arithmetic (Code: SS 10A), Tyler Lawson
Invited Addresses and Craig Westerland, University of Minnesota, Twin
Cities.
Thomas Nevins, University of Illinois Urbana-Cham-
Topology and Physics (Code: SS 12A), Ralph Kaufmann,
paign, Title to be announced.
Purdue University, and Alexander Voronov, University of
Minnesota, Twin Cities.

594 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Meetings & Conferences

Raleigh, North Low-dimensional Topology (Code: SS 9A), Caitlin Le-

verson, Georgia Tech, Tye Lidman, North Carolina State
University, and Leonard Ng, Duke University.
Carolina Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Disease and Im-
munity (Code: SS 11A), Lauren Childs, Virginia Tech and
North Carolina State University Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and Stanca Ciupe,
Virginia Tech.
November 12–13, 2016 Mathematical String Theory (Code: SS 3A), Paul Aspin-
Saturday – Sunday wall, Duke University, Ilarion Melnikov, James Madison
University, and Eric Sharpe, Virginia Tech.
Meeting #1124 Metric and Topological Oriented Fixed Point Theorems
Southeastern Section (Code: SS 5A), Clement Boateng Ampadu, Boston, MA,
Associate secretary: Brian D. Boe Sartaj Ali, National College of Business Administration
Announcement issue of Notices: September 2016 and Economics, Lahore, Pakistan, Xiaorong Liu, University
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced of Colorado at Boulder, and Xavier Alexius Udo-Utun,
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria.
Issue of Abstracts: Volume 37, Issue 4 Nonlinear Boundary Value Problems (Code: SS 10A),
Maya Chhetri, UNC Greensboro, and Stephen Robinson,
Deadlines Wake Forest University.
For organizers: Expired Representations of Lie Algebras, Quantum Groups and
For abstracts: September 13, 2016 Related Topics (Code: SS 8A), Naihuan Jing, and Kailash
C. Misra, North Carolina State University.
The scientific information listed below may be dated. Varieties, Their Fibrations and Automorphisms in
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/ Mathematical Physics and Arithmetic Geometry (Code: SS
sectional.html. 4A), Jimmy Dillies and Enka Lakuriqi, Georgia Southern
University, and Tony Shaska, Oakland University.
Invited Addresses
Ricardo Cortez, Tulane University, Title to be an-
nounced.
Jason Metcalfe, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Atlanta, Georgia
Hill, Title to be announced. Hyatt Regency Atlanta and Marriott
Agnes Szanto, North Carolina State University, Title to Atlanta Marquis
be announced.
January 4–7, 2017
Special Sessions Wednesday – Saturday
If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you
should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab- Meeting #1125
stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/ Joint Mathematics Meetings, including the 123rd Annual
cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl. Meeting of the AMS, 100th Annual Meeting of the Math-
ematical Association of America, annual meetings of the
Advances in Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and the
Equations (Code: SS 7A), Andreas Aristotelous, West National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), and the
Chester University, and Thomas Lewis, The University of winter meeting of the Association of Symbolic Logic, with
North Carolina at Greensboro. sessions contributed by the Society for Industrial and Ap-
Algebraic Structures Motivated by and Applied to Knot plied Mathematics (SIAM).
Theory (Code: SS 6A), Jozef H. Przytycki, The George Associate secretary: Brian D. Boe
Washington University, and Radmila Sazdanovic, North Announcement issue of Notices: October 2016
Carolina State University. Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Control, Optimization, and Differential Games (Code: SS Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
12A), Lorena Bociu, North Carolina State University, and Issue of Abstracts: Volume 38, Issue 1
Tien Khai Nguyen, Penn State University.
Difference Equations and Applications (Code: SS 2A), Deadlines
Michael A. Radin, Rochester Institute of Technology, and For organizers: Expired
Youssef Raffoul, University of Dayton. For abstracts: To be announced
Geometry and Topology in Image and Shape Analysis
(Code: SS 13A), Irina Kogan, North Carolina State Uni-
versity, and Facundo Mémoli, The Ohio State University.
Homological Methods in Commutative Algebra (Code:
SS 1A), Alina Iacob and Saeed Nasseh, Georgia Southern
University.

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 595

Meetings & Conferences

Charleston, South Special Sessions

If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you

Carolina should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab-
stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/
cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl.
College of Charleston
Randomness in Complex Geometry (Code: SS 1A), Tur-
March 10–12, 2017 gay Bayraktar, Syracuse University, and Norman Leven-
Friday – Sunday berg, Indiana University.

Meeting #1126
Southeastern Section
Associate secretary: Brian D. Boe
Pullman, Washington
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced Washington State University
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced April 22–23, 2017
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced Saturday – Sunday

Deadlines Meeting #1128

For organizers: November 10, 2016 Western Section
For abstracts: To be announced Associate secretary: Michel L. Lapidus
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
The scientific information listed below may be dated. Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/ Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
sectional.html. Issue of Abstracts: To be announced

Special Sessions Deadlines

If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you For organizers: To be announced
should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab- For abstracts: To be announced
stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/
cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl. The scientific information listed below may be dated.
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/
Commutative Algebra (Code: SS 1A), Bethany Kubik, sectional.html.
University of Minnesota Duluth, Saeed Nasseh, Georgia
Southern University, and Sean Sather-Wagstaff, Clemson Special Sessions
University. If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you
should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab-

Bloomington, Indiana stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/

cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl.

Indiana University Fixed Point Methods in Differential and Integral Equa-

tions (Code: SS 1A), Theodore A. Burton, Southern Illinois
April 1–2, 2017 University in Carbondale.
Saturday – Sunday

Meeting #1127
Central Section
New York, New York
Associate secretary: Georgia Benkart Hunter College, City University of
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced New York
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced May 6–7, 2017
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced Saturday – Sunday
Deadlines Meeting #1129
For organizers: To be announced Eastern Section
For abstracts: To be announced Associate secretary: Steven H. Weintraub
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
The scientific information listed below may be dated. Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/ Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
sectional.html.

596 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Meetings & Conferences

Issue of Abstracts: To be announced Atlantic Association for Research in the Mathematical Sci-
ences (AARMS).
Deadlines Associate secretary: Brian D. Boe
For organizers: September 14, 2016 Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
For abstracts: March 21, 2017 Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
The scientific information listed below may be dated. Issue of Abstracts: To be announced
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/
sectional.html. Deadlines
For organizers: July 31, 2016
Invited Addresses For abstracts: To be announced
Jeremy Kahn, City University of New York, Title to be

Denton, Texas
announced.
Fernando Coda Marques, Princeton University, Title to
be announced.
James Maynard, Magdalen College, University of Ox- University of North Texas
ford, Title to be announced (Erdős Memorial Lecture).
Kavita Ramanan, Brown University, Title to be an- September 9–10, 2017
nounced. Saturday – Sunday
Central Section
Special Sessions Associate secretary: Georgia Benkart
If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab- Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/ Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl. Issue of Abstracts: To be announced

Commutative Algebra (Code: SS 1A), Laura Ghezzi, Deadlines

New York City College of Technology-CUNY, and Jooyoun For organizers: To be announced
Hong, Southern Connecticut State University. For abstracts: To be announced
Cryptography (Code: SS 3A), Xiaowen Zhang, College

Buffalo, New York

of Staten Island and Graduate Center-CUNY.
Infinite Permutation Groups, Totally Disconnected Lo-
cally Compact Groups, and Geometric Group Theory (Code:
SS 4A), Delaram Kahrobaei, New York City College of State University of New York at Buffalo
Technology and Graduate Center-CUNY, and Simon Smith,
New York City College of Technology-CUNY. September 16–17, 2017
Recent Advances in Function Spaces, Operators and Saturday – Sunday
Nonlinear Differential Operators (Code: SS 2A), David Eastern Section
Cruz-Uribe, University of Alabama, Jan Lang, The Ohio Associate secretary: Steven H. Weintraub
State University, and Osvaldo Mendez, University of Texas Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
at El Paso. Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced

Montréal, Quebec
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced

Deadlines
Canada For organizers: February 14, 2017
For abstracts: To be announced
McGill University
July 24–28, 2017 Orlando, Florida
Monday – Friday
University of Central Florida, Orlando
Meeting #1130
September 23–24, 2017
The second Mathematical Congress of the Americas (MCA
2017) is being hosted by the Canadian Mathematical Soci- Saturday – Sunday
ety (CMS) in collaboration with the Pacific Institute for the
Mathematical Sciences (PIMS), the Fields Institute (FIELDS),
Meeting #1209
Le Centre de Recherches Mathématiques (CRM), and the Southeastern Section
Associate secretary: Brian D. Boe
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 597

Meetings & Conferences

Program first available on AMS website: To be announced Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced Issue of Abstracts: To be announced

Deadlines Deadlines
For organizers: February 23, 2017 For organizers: April 1, 2017
For abstracts: July 25, 2017 For abstracts: To be announced

Portland, Oregon
The scientific information listed below may be dated.
For the latest information, see www.ams.org/amsmtgs/
sectional.html.
Portland State University
Special Sessions
If you are volunteering to speak in a Special Session, you April 14–15, 2018
should send your abstract as early as possible via the ab- Saturday – Sunday
stract submission form found at http://www.ams.org/ Western Section
cgi-bin/abstracts/abstract.pl. Associate secretary: Michel L. Lapidus
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
Commutative Algebra: Interactions with Algebraic Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Geometry and Algebraic Topology (Code: SS 1A), Joseph Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
Brennan, University of Central Florida, and Alina Iacob Issue of Abstracts: To be announced
and Saeed Nasseh, Georgia Southern University.
Deadlines

Riverside, California
For organizers: To be announced
For abstracts: To be announced

University of California, Riverside

November 4–5, 2017
Baltimore, Maryland
Saturday – Sunday Baltimore Convention Center, Hilton
Western Section Baltimore, and Baltimore Marriott Inner
Associate secretary: Michel L. Lapidus
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
Harbor Hotel
Program first available on AMS website: To be announced January 16–19, 2019
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
Wednesday – Saturday
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced
Joint Mathematics Meetings, including the 125th Annual
Deadlines Meeting of the AMS, 102nd Annual Meeting of the Math-
ematical Association of America (MAA), annual meetings
For organizers: To be announced
of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and
For abstracts: To be announced
the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), and the
winter meeting of the Association of Symbolic Logic (ASL),

San Diego, California with sessions contributed by the Society for Industrial and
Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Associate secretary: Steven H. Weintraub
San Diego Convention Center and Announcement issue of Notices: October 2018
San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina Program first available on AMS website: To be announced
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
January 10–13, 2018 Issue of Abstracts: To be announced
Wednesday – Saturday
Joint Mathematics Meetings, including the 124th Annual Deadlines
Meeting of the AMS, 101st Annual Meeting of the Math- For organizers: April 2, 2018
ematical Association of America (MAA), annual meetings For abstracts: To be announced
of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and
the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), and the
winter meeting of the Association of Symbolic Logic (ASL),
with sessions contributed by the Society for Industrial and
Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Associate secretary: Georgia Benkart
Announcement issue of Notices: October 2017

598 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 Meetings & Conferences

Denver, Colorado
Colorado Convention Center
January 15–18, 2020
Wednesday – Saturday
Joint Mathematics Meetings, including the 126th Annual
Meeting of the AMS, 103rd Annual Meeting of the Math-
ematical Association of America (MAA), annual meetings
of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and
the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), and the
winter meeting of the Association of Symbolic Logic (ASL),
with sessions contributed by the Society for Industrial and

Moving?
Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
Associate secretary: Michel L. Lapidus
Announcement issue of Notices: To be announced
Program first available on AMS website: November 1, 2019
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced Please make sure that the AMS Notices
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced and Bulletin find their new home.

Deadlines
For organizers: April 1, 2019
For abstracts: To be announced

Washington, District
of Columbia • Email your new address to us:
amsmem@ ams.org
Walter E. Washington Convention Center • or make the change yourself online at:
www.ams.org/cml-update
January 6–9, 2021
• or send the information to:
Wednesday – Saturday
Joint Mathematics Meetings, including the 127th Annual Member and Customer Services
Meeting of the AMS, 104th Annual Meeting of the Math- American Mathematical Society
ematical Association of America (MAA), annual meetings 201 Charles Street
of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and Providence, RI 02904-2294 USA
the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), and the Phone: (800) 321-4267 (US & Canada)
(401) 455-4000 (Worldwide)
winter meeting of the Association of Symbolic Logic (ASL),
with sessions contributed by the Society for Industrial and
Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Associate secretary: Brian D. Boe
Announcement issue of Notices: October 2020
Program first available on AMS website: November 1, 2020
Program issue of electronic Notices: To be announced
Issue of Abstracts: To be announced

Deadlines
For organizers: April 1, 2020
For abstracts: To be announced

May 2016 Notices of the AMS 599

 THE BACK PAGE

"I am a little cautious … when I try to attack some problem because the problem can attack back."
—John Forbes Nash Jr.

John Forbes Nash Jr.:

Number of publications: 26
Number of citations: 1650
Most cited paper: "Non-cooperative games,"
Ann. of Math., 1951.
2nd most cited paper: “Continuity of
solutions of parabolic and elliptic
equations,” Amer. J. Math., 1958.

Artwork by Michael Berg.

My TA

Artwork by Sam White.

QUESTIONABLE MATHEMATICS
Brett Weiner on nytimes.com (29 Dec ’15) reports on an expert witness who couldn’t rescale 3/16 inch by
a factor of 20 feet per inch, even with a calculator.

What crazy things happen to you? Readers are invited to submit original short amusing stories, math jokes,
cartoons, and other material to: [email protected].

600 Notices of the AMS Volume 63, Number 5

 A merican M athematical S ociety

Award for Impact on the

Teaching and Learning of
Mathematics

Call for Nominations

The Award for Impact on the Teaching and Learning of Math-
ematics is given annually to a mathematician or group of math-
ematicians who have made significant contributions of lasting
value to mathematics education. Priorities of the award include
recognition of (a) accomplished mathematicians who have
worked directly with precollege teachers to enhance teachers’
impact on mathematics achievement for all students or (b)
sustainable and replicable contributions by mathematicians to
improving the mathematics education of students in the first
two years of college.

The $1,000 award is provided through an endowment fund

established by a contribution from Kenneth I. and Mary Lou
Gross in honor of their daughters Laura and Karen. The AMS
Committee on Education selects the recipient.

Nominations with supporting information should be submit-

ted online to www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/
ams-awards/impact. Letters of nomination may be submitted
by one or more individuals. The letter of nomination should
describe the significant contributions made by the nominee(s)
and provide evidence of the impact these contributions have
made on the teaching and learning of mathematics. The letter
of nomination should not exceed two pages and may include
supporting documentation not to exceed three additional
pages. A brief curriculum vitae for each nominee should also be
included.

Deadline for nominations is September 15, 2016.

 A M E R I C A N M AT H E M AT I C A L S O C I E T Y

New Series Distributed by the AMS: Camp Logic

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Young People
This series is a community for families, math circles, and other learning
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Bringing together the stories of over thirty authors, this book shares their Illustrations by Ever Salazar
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