It’s the 5th HLF. What will the next 5 years bring? This year marks the fifth Heidelberg Laureate Forum. It’s an early but meaningful milestone; five is a special number. Just look at all these five-fold things: Platonic solids Twilight movies Exceptional Lie Groups Pillars of … 29. Sep 2017 | By Ben Orlin | 0 comments
Nobel Prize I noticed the blog about the lack of a Noble Prize in mathematics, and so I here post a translation of what I wrote about this question in my weekly column “Professor Pi’, in the … 29. Sep 2017 | By Guest blogger | 0 comments
Interview with Vint Cerf: Plan to Not Plan Your Career- Part 2 In this second part of our scintillating conversation, Dr. Vint Cerf, Father of the Internet, discusses how to plan to not to plan a career, and how to identify opportunity. Q: When you got started, … 29. Sep 2017 | By Alaina G. Levine | 1 comment
Fractals for dinner The HLF, like all good conference events, has involved a large number of extravagant dinners, serving a variety of delicious food and drink to sustain the high levels of serious mathematical and research conversation. At … 28. Sep 2017 | By Katie Steckles | 2 comments
The deep learning revolution with John Hopcroft I was first introduced to John Hopcroft at the opening dinner of HLF by Jennifer Chayes from Microsoft, who is an ardent supporter of young researchers and eager to help them make useful contacts. John … 28. Sep 2017 | By Nana Liu | 4 comments
The Professor vs. the NSA Today, Martin Hellman stands before a crowd of hundreds, narrating the history of his research in public key encryption. It’s foundational: internet security is built on mathematics, and Hellman (along with collaborator Whitfield Diffie) helped … 28. Sep 2017 | By Ben Orlin | 0 comments
Michael Atiyah’s Favourite Manifold As part of the HLF, the Laureates are participating in press conferences throughout the week, and being bombarded with questions by well-meaning journalists and bloggers. Unlike most press conferences, where participants often have a specific … 28. Sep 2017 | By Katie Steckles | 1 comment
Leslie Lamport thinks your proofs are bad Bad news: The Turing award winner and father of LaTeX thinks the proofs you (and everyone else) are writing are sloppy, non-rigorous and quite likely flat-out wrong. But there’s good news too: Sir Michael Atiyah … 28. Sep 2017 | By Paul Taylor | 2 comments
If Your Research Were a One-Page Cartoon The scene: 200 bright young researchers in mathematics and computer science have gathered in Heidelberg, Germany. They are here to share ideas, to discuss problems, to learn from honored laureates of their fields. A bumbling … 27. Sep 2017 | By Ben Orlin | 0 comments
HLF 2017: This Week in Heidelberg, Aldo Spizzichino’s Math Art Beckons by Dirk Huylebrouck The late Italian physicist Aldo Spizzichino pioneered mathematical art with his gorgeous, algorithmically-based vector graphic creations. They’re on display at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF 2017). By DIRK HUYLEBROUCK and GINA SMITH … 27. Sep 2017 | By Wylder Green | 0 comments