Public lecture by Étienne Ghys: Dancing Vortices
Date: 1 October 2015
Location: Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
Event type: Public Engagement
Vortices do amazing things. They dance, they tie themselves in knots, they challenge mathematicians to explain them.
Nineteenth century observations of the behaviour of smoke rings and fluid vortices inspired an ingenious but misconceived model of the atom, a flawed proposal that nonetheless gave birth to the modern theory of knots. The chain of ideas has now come full circle with recent theoretical and experimental results on the existence of knotted vortices.
After the lecture, Étienne Ghys will be presented with the first Clay Award for the Dissemination of Mathematical Knowledge.
