About

Dr. Michael Harris is a Professor of Mathematics at Columbia University and Emeritus Professor at Universite Paris-Denis Diderot. He has won the Clay Research Award and the Grand Prix Sophie Germain de l'Academie des Sciences. He is a member of Academia Europea, a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences

What is the Langlands Program About?

The Langlands program orginally referred to a collection of conjectures proposed by Robert Langlands over 50 years ago to connect a wide range of mathematical concepts and structures, which has been highly influentical ever since. The talk will describe some of the mathematical problems that can be solved with the help of the Langlands program, or that fit under its umbrella. Most of these problems arise in number theory, but the applications, as well as the methods involve geometry, representaion theory, and harmonic analysis; there will even be a glimpse of quantum physics. The talk will also give a scope of how the Langlands program is constantly expanding. If you leave the lecture with the impression that the Langlands program can be about anything at all, you won't be entirely mistaken!

 A light reception will follow the lecture in the Cloister Area.

The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.mathematics.pitt.edu.