Maintained by pioweb@ucsc.edu
© 2008 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

October 21, 2009

Coevolution of math and art is topic of Emeriti Lecture on Wednesday, November 4

By Tim Stephens (831) 459-2495; stephens@ucsc.edu

Ralph Abraham, professor emeritus of mathematics, will deliver an Emeriti Faculty Lecture on Wednesday, November 4, titled "Bolts from the Blue: Startling Episodes from the Coevolution of Mathematics and Art." The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Music Center Recital Hall on the UCSC campus.

The history of mathematics is punctuated by important contributions from artists, while the history of art includes significant innovations by mathematicians. In this illustrated talk, Abraham will present exemplary cases from each of the main periods of cultural history and prehistory, including ice-age music, megalithic geometry, Islamic patterns, Kepler's music, and fractal paintings before computers.

Abraham joined the UCSC faculty in 1968 and retired in 1994. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Michigan and taught at UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Princeton before moving to Santa Cruz. In 1975, he founded the Visual Mathematics Project at UCSC, and he has performed works of visual and aural mathematics and music. He remains active in dynamical systems theory and its applications in numerous fields and is an editor for the technical journals World Futures and the International Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos.

For more information or special accommodations, contact the UCSC Special Events Office at (831) 459-5003 or specialevents@ucsc.edu.

#####