Alain Connes
Colloquium:
Thursday, May 17, 2001
4:00 pm
MS 6627

"Noncommutative Geometry and Hopf Algebras"

Talk Description: Professor Connes will describe his joint works with Kreimer on Renormalization and the Riemann-Hilbert problem, and with Moscovici on the transverse index theory for foliations.

Alain Connes is a professor at College de France and Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques near Paris. He received the Fields Medal in 1982 for his work on classifying the von Neumann algebras. In addition, his more recent work on non-commutative geometry has been of particular interest to theoretical physicists.

Professor Connes won this year's half-million-dollar Crafoord Prize. The prize recognizes his "penetrating work on the theory of operator algebra and his role as a founder of the new field of noncommutative geometry."

Connes has been described as "a veritable Chopin of math, hailed for the power, richness, depth, and innovativeness of his work."

More about Professor Connes:

• The Life and Work of Alain Connes
  from The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
• Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Press Release:
  Crafoord Prize to one of the world's foremost mathematicians
• French Mathematician Wins Crafoord Prize (from Science Now)