The 1997 Marden Lecture

Mathematical Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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This year's Marden Lecture will be held on Friday, April 25, 1997, at 2:30 pm in room N140 of the Business Building on the campus of the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee.

CIRCLES AND TRIANGLES MODELING SHAPE AND DEFORMATION

Professor H. Edelsbrunner
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana--Champaign

Professor Edelsbrunner won the NSF Waterman award in 1991. This award is given annually to a young (no older than 35) researcher for outstanding work in any field of science, mathematics, or engineering. Professor Edelsbrunner's area of research is Computational Geometry with applications to biology, chemistry, and physics. His book, ``Algorithms in Combinatorial Geometry'' (1987), is one of the most influential and significant books in the field.

Abstract

Galileo Galilei proclaimed more than 350 years ago that the grand book of the universe is written in the language of mathematics, and that its characters are circles, triangles, and other geometric figures. Without these characters it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of the book. Let us take Galilei's recommendation literally and study circles and triangles, and also their close 3-dimensional cousins, the spheres and tetrahedra. These are the elements of a proposed theory of geometric shape. We have in mind a theory that allows us to describe and analyze complicated shapes with the help of the computer. Questions about shape are relevant in everyday life as well as in many areas of science and engineering: the exact shape of an object determines how and how well it functions. This is true in the world of mechanical man--made objects as well as in the world of biomolecules which form the basis of life.

This program is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in EMS Building E495A. The lecture is supported by the Morris and Miriam Marden Fund, and is co--sponsored by the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Physics.

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