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CurvedSpaces

Curved Spaces – Oct 25

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The geometry of the ancient Greeks took place on an ideal, infinite, flat plane. In the millenia since then, mathematicians have opened our minds to the more general and flexible geometries of curved spaces — from the fabric that makes up our clothing, to the spacetime around a black hole. Now, we can develop an ‘insider’s view’ of such geometries. This newfound intuition has intriguing applications, including to recent images from the James Webb Space Telescope! Such understanding allows us to better appreciate Einstein’s greatest insight: that gravity is not a force, but rather a consequence of living in a curvy world.

Our speaker, Dr. Steve Trettel, is Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. He is a geometric topologist who loves computer graphics and a good bike ride.

PLEASE REGISTER BELOW

 


Dr. Steve Trettel

WHAT: Curved Spaces — Geometry from the Inside
WHO: Dr. Steve Trettel, Asst. Professor of Mathematics, University of San Francisco [https://stevejtrettel.site]
WHERE: Castro Valley Library, 3600 Norbridge Ave, Castro Valley, CA 94546
WHEN: 2023-10-25 — 7pm, Wednesday, Oct 25 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
Collaborators:
Castro Valley Education Foundation [https://www.cvef.org]
Castro Valley Science [https://cvscience.us]
Poincaré

Poincaré Beauty – Sep 24

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At the turn of the new millennium, a renowned mathematics institute pledged $7 million for the solution of seven special math problems, $1 million each. Only one of these seven Millennium Prize Problems has been solved. That problem, originally posed over a century ago by Henri Poincaré, asked a deep question about the nature of 3-dimensional space. Its resolution opened our (mathematical) eyes to the beauty of 3-dimensional universes — filled with curved geometries, wormholes, and a whole lot of pretty math. This presentation, assuming only a high school math background, will explore the beauty of these spacey ideas in mathematical topology.

Our speaker, Dr. Steve Trettel, is Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. He is a geometric topologist who loves computer graphics and a good bike ride.

 


Dr. Steve Trettel

WHAT: Beauty of the Poincaré Conjecture
WHO: Dr. Steve Trettel, Asst. Professor of Mathematics, University of San Francisco [https://stevejtrettel.site]
WHERE: San Francisco Public Library (Latino/Hisp. Rooms), 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco [https://sfpl.org/locations/main-library]
WHEN: 2023-09-24 — 3pm, Sunday, Sep 24 (1.5 hour)
HOW:

This free event is produced by Wonderfest and by the SF Public Library. In the Eventbrite space below, please consider a donation to help nonprofit Wonderfest in its mission of science outreach.


Collaborators:
San Francisco Public Library