Monday, November 02, 2009

Prof. M. S. Raghunathan gives the 18th Meera Memorial Lecture

The 18th Meera Memorial Lecture will be given on
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 6 pm at the Indian Institute of World Culture, Basavanagudi, Bangalore, by Prof. M. S. Raghunathan of TIFR Mumbai entitled "The queen of sciences: her realm, her influence and her health". The trust web-site is here.


Update: Here is the abstract


What is mathematics? That is evidently a difficult question to answer. Nevertheless mathematics has had an independent identity as an intellectual discipline since antiquity. In this talk, I will first discuss the main characterestics that contribute to giving mathematics its identity challenging in the process some common negative perceptions about mathematics, viz., that mathematics is a dry unimaginative subject, that its rigorous discipline is forbidding and that its cold logic destroys all sensitivity in its practitioners. I will then briefly dwell on the importance of mathematics to our society and finally say something about the state of mathematics research and teaching in our country

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