Date & Time: Monday, November 23, 2009, 17:15-18:30.
Venue: F. C. Kohli Auditorium
Title: Leonhard Euler - His Life, Personality, Discoveries and their Impact Today
Speaker: Rolf Jeltsch, ETH Zurich
Abstract: In this lecture we attempt to give a glimpse of the genius of Leonhard Euler and provide some insight into his personality.
We start with a brief review of those places where he spent extended periods of his life, namely Basel, St. Petersburg and Berlin. Euler's output was huge, contributing in many diverse fields; his major discoveries and clever inventions will be presented. Some of his results are so fundamental that they are taught at high school. This talk will end with a few examples where Euler's work still has a significant impact on modern-day life.
The topics span from graph theory to modern Operations Research, from fluid dynamics to todays applications, modeling of fluid in arteries, tsunamis, car aerodynamics, rentry vehicles. Sudoku can be associated with Euler's work. Hence, many parts of the talk will be accessible not only for mathematicians but also for engineers,and all young bachelor students of subjects where mathematics is taught.