Fields Medal winner to speak at Phillips Lecture Series
Akshay Venkatesh, an Australian mathematician and Robert & Luisa Fernholz Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, will be the featured speaker for the 2025 edition of the Richard E. Phillips Lecture Series. The annual series, hosted by the MSU Department of Mathematics, will take place from Wednesday-Friday, Oct. 29-31.
Venkatesh will present three lectures, including a public talk at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct.29, in the auditorium of the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. His lecture, titled “Infinitesimally similar – Conformal mapping as art and science,” will cover the following, according to his abstract:
“When drawing a map of the globe, we face the problem of flattening a curved surface without distortion. Conformal mappings offer a solution, by preserving shape locally – they look right once you zoom in. It is a remarkable fact that the mathematics we need to understand conformal mapping and the mathematics we need to understand electricity are really rather similar; this tells us that it is actually very easy to make conformal mappings. I will talk about some of the history of these ideas in the 19th century, and why they remain interesting artistically and scientifically.”
Venkatesh is a mathematician who has worked on many topics at the interface between number theory and other fields, including representation theory, dynamics and algebraic topology. His recent work examines new algebraic structures related to the topology of locally symmetric spaces. He is the 2018 winner of the Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics. Venkatesh received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2002.
“We are delighted to welcome Akshay Venkatesh as this year’s Phillips Lecture Series speaker,” MSU Department of Mathematics chair Jeff Schenker said. “His groundbreaking work at the intersection of number theory and geometry has inspired mathematicians worldwide. We are honored to have him share his insights with our community.”
In addition to his public talk, Venkatesh will deliver two other lectures as a part of the Phillips Lecture Series. On Thursday, Oct.30, he will present “Theta functions: Old and new” at 4:10 p.m. in room C304 of Wells Hall. Venkatesh will conclude the series with a talk titled “Gyroscopic number fields” on Friday, Oct.31, at 3 p.m. in Wells C304.
For more information on the Phillips Lecture Series, please visit the Department of Mathematics website.
About the Phillips Lecture Series
The Richard E. Phillips Distinguished Lecture Series was established in 1997 with generous endowment from the family of Richard E. Phillips. The purpose of the Phillips Lectures is to advertise the utility and power of mathematics within the university, and to stimulate the interest of graduate students, postdocs and faculty. Interaction with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows is an integral part of the visit. Each series consists of three lectures delivered over a period of 4-5 days. The first lecture is targeted to a broad audience with diverse mathematical background and displays the utility of the subfield of mathematics. The second lecture is at the level of a mathematical colloquium, while the third is more focused and highlights technical aspects of the domain.