(20.08.14) The DFG Office Latin America and the São Paulo Liaison Office of the Freie Universität Berlin have invited Professor Günter M. Ziegler, mathematician and winner of the DFG Leibniz Prize in 2001, to visit Brazil to present the Leibniz Lecture “Stars, Polyhedra, Ellipses and Soap Bubbles: Some Stellar Images between Geometry and Physics” (see abstract below). The keynote address will open the 3rd German-Brazilian Dialogue on Science, Research and Innovation, promoted by the German House of Science and Innovation São Paulo (DWIH-SP). This year’s theme is “Mathematics and Complex Networks”. The purpose of the lecture series is to stimulate dialogue between Leibniz prize recipients and the scientific and academic research communities. By hosting the lectures in different regions throughout the world, the DFG hopes to promote the prize, the outstanding research performed by the prize holders as well as the exceptional quality of German science in general. Brazil will host the lecture series for the second time this year.

Professor Ziegler will also take part in seminars in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro during his stay in the country. As part of the calendar of seminars organized by the Mathematics and Statistics Institute of the University of São Paulo (IME-USP), the professor will hold the presentation “Coloring Tverberg's Theorem”. He was also invited by the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro to talk about "The Story of 3N points in a Plane".

Dates

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

• 2 p.m.: Seminar at the University of São Paulo (USP)
• 7:30 p.m.: Leibniz Lecture at the Biblioteca Mario de Andrade
  
  "Stars, Polyhedra, Ellipses and Soap Bubbles: Some Stellar Images between Geometry and Physics”
  
  The conference will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Portuguese. Please confirm your participation on the website of the DWIH-SP.

Thursday, 2 October 2014

• 3:30 p.m.: Seminar at the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA)

Lecture Abstract

“Let us take a close look at some amazing images by Leonardo, Dürer, Kepler and Escher. The closer look, of course, will lead us to ask questions, to discover mistakes, but it also connects to important research problems at the interfaces between mathematics and physics: How many (and how few) degrees of freedom could there be in a polyhedron? How can we describe the spherical shapes on soap bubbles?”

About Günter M. Ziegler

Günter M. Ziegler is a mathematician, professor of mathematics at the Freie Universität Berlin and winner of the DFG Leibniz Prize in 2001. His internationally acknowledged research in the field of discrete and computational geometry mostly features mediation, arising and explaining research problems recurring to the visual arts. Due to his ability to successfully communicate his research results to a broader public, he received the Communicator Award, Science Award of the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany presented by the DFG.