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Chelluri Lecture Series

Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 4:30pm to 5:30pm

Malott Hall, 251

The Chelluri Lecture series is offered in memory of Thyagaraju (Raju) Chelluri, who graduated magna cum laude from Cornell with a Bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1999. Raju was a brilliant student, a gifted scholar, and a wonderful human being who died on August 21, 2004 at the age of 26, shortly after completing all requirements for the Ph.D. in Mathematics at Rutgers University. He wrote a thesis called Equidistribution of the Roots of Quadratic Congruences under the supervision of H. Iwaniec and was awarded a Ph.D. posthumously.

The Chelluri Lecture Endowment was established in 2004 with support from family and friends of Thyagaraju (Raju) Chelluri. Each year, a distinguished mathematician will be invited to give the Chelluri Lecture.

UPCOMING LECTURES

The next lecture in the series is scheduled for April 18, 2019. 

Refreshments are provided following the talk at the A.D. White House.

Guest Speaker: Karen Smith, University of Michigan

Title:  Resolution of Singularities

Abstract:  Algebraic varieties are geometric objects defined by polynomials---you have known many examples since high school, where you learned that a circle can be defined by a polynomial equation such as x^2+y^2=1. Polynomials can define incredibly complicated shapes, such as a mechanical arm in medical software or Woody's arm in Toy Story, yet they can be easily manipulated by hand or computer. For this reason, algebraic geometry---the study of algebraic varieties and the equations that define them--- is a central research area within modern mathematics. It is also one of the oldest  and most beautiful. 

In general, a variety can have singular points—places where it is pinched or intersects itself. In this talk, we will discuss Hironaka’s famous theorem on resolution of singularities—a technique to “get rid” of the singular points. We introduce a class of singular varieties called rational singularities that are important because they are well-approximated by their resolutions, and explain how one can use “reduction modulo p” to characterize them.

If you need accommodations to participate in this event, please contact Heather Peterson.

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Event Type

Lecture

Departments

Mathematics

Contact E-Mail

hko1@cornell.edu

Contact Name

Heather Peterson

Contact Phone

607-255-4013

Speaker

Karen Smith

Speaker Affiliation

University of Michigan

Dept. Web Site

https://math.cornell.edu/

Disability Access Information

Please contact Heather Peterson, hko1@cornell.edu

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