Fields Medallist to talk at Lincoln’s inaugural maths conference

An eminent mathematician who has won the Fields Medal – often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize of mathematics’ – will speak at the University of Lincoln, UK, as part of its inaugural maths conference.

Professor Efim Zelmanov, who is currently based at the University of California in San Diego, will also become an Honorary Doctor of the University of Lincoln at a graduation ceremony on Monday 5th September.

Professor Zelmanov’s appearance in Lincoln comes as part of a UK visit in collaboration with the London Mathematical Society. Speaking ahead of the visit, he said: “I feel delighted and honoured to receive an honorary degree from the University of Lincoln. I am particularly excited about the recent establishment of the new School of Mathematics and Physics at Lincoln, which has attracted both internationally-renowned researchers and young talents. Some of these researchers in the University of Lincoln’s Algebra Group are my old friends and collaborators.”

Professor Efim Zelmanov is a key figure in the world of mathematics and has made major strides in the understanding of non-associative algebra and group theory.

Most notably, he was awarded the prestigious Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Zürich in 1994, for his work in abstract algebra and group theory; in particular for his solution of the restricted Burnside problem.

Previously a Professor of Mathematics at Yale University, Professor Zelomanov currently holds the esteemed position of the university’s Rita L. Atkinson Endowed Chair in Mathematics at the University of California. In 2001, at the age of 47, Professor Zelmanov was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in the USA, becoming the youngest member in the academy’s mathematics division.

He will speak at the University of Lincoln’s inaugural mathematics conference, Groups, Rings and their Automorphisms, which is jointly organised by the University of Lincoln’s School of Mathematics and Physics and the Sobolev Institute of Mathematics in Novosibirsk, Russia.

The conference will welcome celebrated mathematicians from around the world, and will take place from Wednesday 31st August to Friday 2nd September 2016. As part of Professor Zelmanov’s visit to the UK, he will also give a colloquium talk at the University of Nottingham on Tuesday 6th September.