911±¬ÁÏÍø

The free lectures will commence at 5pm with Professor Alan Baker (University of Cambridge) discussing 'Diophantine Problems'. He said: "Some key problems in the study of transcendental numbers have led to a beautiful and fertile theory with numerous applications.Ìý Among the topics discussed will be the 'squaring of the circle', the seventh problem of Hilbert, Gauss's conjecture on the class number of imaginary quadratic fields, Mahler's problem in metrical theory and the remarkable abc-conjecture."

The following lecture, entitled 'The Kubota Symbol on SLn', will be delivered by Dr Richard Hill (UCL Mathematics), who will explain some of the background and describe a new way of defining the Kubota symbol, which makes its properties more transparent.

Established in March 2005, the institute acts as an umbrella for the many research groups at 911±¬ÁÏÍø that work within the broad term of mathematical sciences. It gathers a critical mass of mathematicians, statisticians and mathematical scientists to collaborate through a series of seminars, workshops and joint research programmes.

The institute was founded in honour of the highly distinguished mathematician Sir James Lighthill, a former Provost of UCL and member of UCL Mathematics. Sir James left a huge imprint on the applications of mathematics with his seminal contributions to physiological engineering and environmental mathematics, notably his work on aeronautical fluid mechanics, which led through research to the shape of the Concorde wing.

The lectures are free and open to all. The event will be held in the Hardy Room, De Morgan House, 57 Russell Square.

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