The Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee invites you to the fourteenth annual

Marden Lecture on Mathematics

Factorization and Cryptography: How Simple Arithmetic Led to Amazingly Secure Codes

presented by

Professor Harold M. Edwards

Professor of Mathematics

New York University

The talk will examine the way in which Rivest, Adelman, and Shamir in 1978 combined the idea of an open key crypto-system with an easily understood (but difficult to solve) problem in arithmetic to create a method of encoding messages that has been the world standard for a quarter of a century. No knowledge of codes will be assumed.

In addition to papers on the history of mathematics, Professor Edwards is the author of six books: Advanced Calculus: A Differential Forms Approach (1969), Riemann's Zeta Function (1974), Fermat's Last Theorem: A Genetic Introduction to Algebraic Number Theory (1977), Galois Theory (1984), Divisor Theory (1990), and Linear Algebra (1995). In 1980 he was awarded the Steele Prize for mathematical exposition for the Riemann and Fermat books.

The Marden Lectures were established by Morris and Miriam Marden. Dr. Marden was a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at UWM and was responsible for the inauguration of its graduate program, the first at the University. The Lectures are designed to bring distinguished mathematicians to UWM to speak to a general audience on a topic of mathematical interest. They have been given annually since 1989.

Thursday, March 27, 2003, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Bldg, Room EMS E180

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

3200 N Cramer St., Milwaukee, WI

This program is free and open to the public.

Reception to follow in EMS E495A.

The lecture is sponsored by the Miriam and Morris Marden Fund and co-sponsored by the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the College of Letters and Science.

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