The many shapes of curvature
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- AWM
- Location
- 150 English Building
- Date
- Nov 7, 2023 4:00 pm
- Speaker
- Wilmer Smilde
- Contact
- Wonwoo Kang
- wonwook2@illinois.edu
- Views
- 13
- Originating Calendar
- Association of Women in Mathematics - Illinois Graduate Chapter
Notions of curvature are so ubiquitous in differential geometry that the whole field may as well be called “the study of curvature”. In essence, a curvature describes deviation from a notion of flatness. I will try to give a historical account of curvature, going from circles approximating curves in the plane to curvature of connections. I will also explore some relations with topology, physics, and PDEs. Finally, I will talk about intrinsic curvature of geometric structures, and how it relates to formal solvability of certain PDEs.