Turn on a light in the middle of a room: Is every spot illuminated? If the room is a complicated labyrinth, then probably not, but what if the walls of the room are mirrors? Amie Wilkinson of the University of Chicago will deliver the Department of Mathematics Kwangil Koh Lecture on Mathematics in Our Time through an exploration of the hidden corners of a mirrored room using the mathematical tools developed by Fields Medalist Maryam Mirzakhani and her collaborators. The journey will take the audience through billiard tables and special kinds of surfaces resembling faceted donuts with many holes.

This lecture is free and open to the public, and registration is not required.

About the Speaker

Amie Wilkinson is a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on smooth dynamical systems and the interplay between dynamics and other structures in pure mathematics — geometric, statistical, topological and algebraic.