The title of this blog is my homage to a writer and a journalist, a man considered by many to be the conscience of his generation, Eric Blair aka George Orwell - his crystal clear prose, his felicity of language, his incisive grasp of contemporary issues. It strives as language as a clear pane of glass and this blog is an attempt, perhaps deeply inadequate, in that direction.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Abel Prize 2009
The Abel Prize for this year 2009 has been awarded to Mikhail Gromov. Courtesy my mathematics colleague Kapil Paranjape, there is a short (and long) description of the work that got the prize on my 'Science' blog The Far Side.
In one of the areas I know'Geometric Group Theory', Gromov's influence seems huge. His conceptualization showed that it is possible to work in this area without knowing traditional group theory and brought hundreds of mathematicians with different backgrounds to work in geometric group theory. Many universities in France have four or five mathematicians working in this area. I understand that he has similar influence in many other topics. I wonder whether there are some articles estimating his influence on modern mathematics.
Kapil, It is true that I fooled around a bit in Geometric Group Theory but there was a chance element in it. Earlier I browsed through Gromov's article and thought that it was sloppy. I could not grasp the idea of delta-thin. Then Walter Neumann gave a wonderful talk around 1992 and I realized that the delta in delta-thin can be quite large and things started falling into place. It is nice to have expository articles; they may help somebody like me somewhere.
In one of the areas I know'Geometric Group Theory', Gromov's influence seems huge. His conceptualization showed that it is possible to work in this area without knowing traditional group theory and brought hundreds of mathematicians with different backgrounds to work in geometric group theory. Many universities in France have four or five mathematicians working in this area. I understand that he has similar influence in many other topics. I wonder whether there are some articles estimating his influence on modern mathematics.
ReplyDeleteG. A. Swarup wrote:
ReplyDeleteIn one of the areas I know 'Geometric Group Theory'
The article referred to in the post is about GGT but is far to
elementary for you!
Kapil,
ReplyDeleteIt is true that I fooled around a bit in Geometric Group Theory but there was a chance element in it. Earlier I browsed through Gromov's article and thought that it was sloppy. I could not grasp the idea of delta-thin. Then Walter Neumann gave a wonderful talk around 1992 and I realized that the delta in delta-thin can be quite large and things started falling into place. It is nice to have expository articles; they may help somebody like me somewhere.