The Festival della Matematica, Rome

presents

 

MATH FESTIVAL: Mathematical Creations and Recreations

 

New York, March 10-11, 2009

at the Italian Academy, Columbia University, and at the Italian Cultural Institute

 

Tuesday, March 10th

 

11 a.m. at the Italian Academy

The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics, Lecture by the Nobel Laureate in Physics Sheldon Glashow

 

2.00 p.m. at the Italian Academy

The (mis)behaviour of financial markets, Lecture by Benoît Mandelbrot

 

5.00 p.m. at the Italian Cultural Institute

Press conference

 

6.00 p.m. at the Italian Cultural Institute

Imaginary interview with Galileo Galilei, Reading by Claudio Bartocci and Piergiorgio Odifreddi

 

Wednesday, March 11th

 

9.00 a.m. at the Italian Academy

Statistical thinking is hard, causal thinking is easy, Lecture by the Nobel Laureate for Economics Daniel Kahneman

 

11.00 a.m. at the Italian Academy

The early days of game theory in Princeton, Lecture-interview with the

Nobel Laureate for Economics John Nash and Harold Kuhn

(coordinated by Piergiorgio Odifreddi)

 

2.00 p.m. at the Italian Academy

The elegant mathematical universe, Lecture-interview with Brian Greene

(coordinated by Piergiorgio Odifreddi)

 

6.00 p.m. at the Italian Cultural Institute

Movie projection

Flatland. A journey of many dimensions: The movie edition

Director Jeffrey Travis, animator Dano Johnson

Edwin A. Abbott with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of Flatland

With commentary by Thomas Banchoff and Achille Varzi

(RSVP for this event: 212 879-4242, ext. 364)

 

All events offer first-come, first-served seating (except for the film event listed above)

 

8 NOBEL LAUREATES and 3 FIELDS MEDAL HOLDERS

Rome caput mundi mathematicae, but since mathematics is transnational, this year the festival is also taking place across the Atlantic. The first session of the 2009 Festival is being held in New York, at Columbia University's Italian Academy for Advanced Studies and at the Italian Cultural Institute. They will host, among others, the Nobel Prize winners for economics Daniel Kahneman and John Nash, the Nobel Prize winner for physics Sheldon Glashow, the renowned string theorist Brian Greene, the esteemed professor of philosophy Achille Varzi, and the great mathematicians Benoît Mandelbrot, Harold Kuhn, Thomas Banchoff, and Claudio Bartocci, who will tell us how to save the world with numbers.

The following week, in Rome, will see the second session of the Festival (March 19-22), where the excellence of scientific and philosophical thought will lead us into the wonderful world of mathematical creations. Guests include: the Fields Medal holders for mathematics Edward Witten, Timothy Gowers and Vaughan Jones, the Nobel Prize winner for physics Arno Penzias, the great Italian physicist Nicola Cabibbo, president of the Specola Vaticana, the Nobel Prize winners for chemistry Roald Hoffmann and Richard Ernst, and the Nobel Prize winners for economics Robert Mundell, John Nash and Thomas Schelling.

 

2 locations in New York, March 10-11:

 

Italian Academy

Columbia University

1161 Amsterdam Avenue (just south of 118^th Street)

 

Italian Cultural Institute

686 Park Avenue, NYC (just south of 69^th Street)

 

Organized and presented by the Festival della Matematica, Rome
(Musica per Roma Fondazione)
emanuela.minnai@gmail.com