Abstracts speakers

Speaker: Mark Roberts

Title: Between Mathematics and Science

Abstract:
Much, perhaps most, mathematics research is driven by a desire to improve our intrinsic understanding of mathematical ideas and structures. However mathematical techniques also provide essential tools across the sciences. Occasionally these two perspectives come together: new mathematical understanding impacts on science, and scientific problems stimulate the generation of new mathematics. I will illustrate this with three examples of collaborative research at interfaces between mathematics and physics (molecular spectroscopy), mathematics and engineering (spacecraft control) and mathematics and biology (population genetics). In addition to giving brief outlines of both the science and the mathematics I will describe how the collaborations developed and some of the outcomes of the research. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of two-way flows of ideas across interfaces and on the need for strong interdisciplinary engagement.

Biography:
Mark obtained his PhD from the University of Liverpool in 1984. Postdoctoral positions in France, the USA and UK led to permanent positions at the University of Warwick and then the University of Surrey, where he is now an Emeritus Professor. Leave from these institutions enabled him to spend two years at the University of Zimbabwe and three years as the founding Rector of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) centre in Tanzania. Mark’s research interests have included topics in geometry, dynamical systems and astrodynamics. He is currently re-inventing himself as a population geneticist.