Sir Michael Atiyah’s Einstein Lecture: “The Nature of Space”

674 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 53, NUMBER 6 Sir Michael Atiyah, winner of both a Fields Medal and an Abel Prize, delivered the first annual Einstein Public Lecture at the University of NebraskaLincoln.1 The smashing success of Atiyah’s talk inspired the local student newspaper, The Daily Nebraskan, to quip “Usually Mick Jagger is the only petite Brit who can entertain a sold-out, adoring American audience. But on Friday afternoon, the renowned English mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah showcased both his uncanny sense of humor and genius while delivering a lecture on ‘The Nature of Space’ to a full-capacity crowd at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Kimball Recital Hall.” Sir Michael’s lecture was intended for the general public. Indeed, the general public came: Over 850 people filled the lecture hall and many others had to be turned away at the door. Probably well over 400 people in the audience were not part of the conference itself, but rather consisted of a mix of students, from high-school on up, faculty from physics, philosophy, and other disciplines, and other members of the community. Sir Michael offered something for everyone in this diverse crowd. He discussed the major themes of 20th century science while hinting at the technical details. His lecture touched on issues in mathematics, physics, philosophy, and even evolution and neurophysiology. One part of his lecture concerned recent research on the human brain and how it might affect our understanding of mathematics and physics as well as long-standing philosophical issues.