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SUMMARY:[TMS] Sums of squares and sums of cubes - Prof. Don Zagier (MPIM\,
  Bonn)
DTSTART:20160202T193000Z
DTEND:20160202T203000Z
UID:TALK64253@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jason Kwong
DESCRIPTION:Abstract to follow\, but here is a biography to whet your math
 ematical appetite:\n\nProf. Zagier finished high school aged 13 and subseq
 uently studied at MIT for three years\, completing his bachelor's and mast
 er's degrees at the age of 16. He then received his Phd under Friedrich Hi
 rzebruch aged 20 and was named professor when he was 24. He has been a sci
 entific member of the MPIM in Bonn since its founding and has been one of 
 its directors since 1995.\n\nProf. Zagier's main area of work is in number
  theory\, but he has also done extensive work in seemingly unrelated areas
 . In collaboration with Benedict Gross he proved the Gross-Zagier formula 
 which played an instrumental role in the solution of the Class Number Prob
 lem. He has also done work relating modular forms to string theory and bla
 ck holes. Together with his former doctoral student Maxim Kontsevich he in
 troduced the notion of 'periods' in a paper which features\, among other t
 hings\, L-functions and motives. He is perhaps best known for his "one-sen
 tence proof of Fermat's two squares theorem". He is the winner of both the
  Cole Prize and the Von Staudt Prize.\n\n\n
LOCATION:Winstanley Lecture Theatre\, Trinity College
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