Description
Popular talk in Mathematics.
Speaker: Debraj Chakrabarti.
Affiliation: Central Michigan University, USA.
Date and Time: Wednesday 21 August, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm.
Venue: Ramanujan Hall, Department of Mathematics.
Title: The flat-earth society: conformal mapping from Claudius Ptolemy to
Louis Nirenberg.
Abstract: The problem of constructing flat representations of spherical
surfaces arises naturally in geography and astronomy while making maps. We
look at a mathematical formulation of this problem using the notion of
conformal mapping, and discuss its relation with complex analysis. After
reviewing the contributions of Gauss, Riemann, and Poincaré to this
problem, we end with some glimpses of 20th century developments. This will
be an expository talk accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate
students.