BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:The Geometry of Minimal Surfaces - Professor Blaine Lawson\, Stony
  Brook University\, USA
DTSTART:20100521T110000Z
DTEND:20100521T120000Z
UID:TALK24128@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:A minimal surface in euclidean space is a surface which is loc
 ally of least area (that is\, any perturbation on a small region will incr
 ease the area). These surfaces have captured the imagination of geometers 
 and analysts from Riemann and Weierstrauss to the present day\, where they
  have evolved to become an important tool in modern geometric analysis.\n\
 nThis lecture will give an introduction to the basic geometry of minimal s
 urfaces in R<sup>3</sup>. Several of the classical theorems will be presen
 ted\, and a large number of interesting examples (such as triply-periodic 
 minimal surfaces) will be examined.\n\nIn the second part of the lecture I
  will discuss minimal surfaces in a more general context. Examples will in
 clude compact minimal surfaces of arbitrary genus in the euclidean 3-spher
 e S<sup>3</sup>\, complex algebraic curves in complex projective space\, a
 nd certain "calibrated" subvarieties. The problem of finding area-minimizi
 ng cycles in a given homology class will be discussed. I will then try to 
 indicate the role played by minimal surfaces in modern geometry\, topology
  and physics.
LOCATION:Cockcroft Lecture Theatre\, New Museums Site
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR