In this program, Professor Marcus du Sautoy addresses mathematical advances of 20th-century Europe and America. Topics include Georg Cantor's exploration of the concept of infinity; chaos theory, formulated by Henri Poincaré; Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems; the work of André Weil and his colleagues with algebraic geometry; and the influence of Alexander Grothendieck, whose ideas have influenced mathematical thinking about the hidden structures behind all mathematics. The program concludes by considering one of the great as-yet-unsolved problems of mathematics: the Riemann Hypothesis.

Title: The United States of Mathematics Presidential Debate

Abstract:  “A parody of the presidential debates, this film introduces the mathematical field of knot theory and the Euclidean algorithm, all in 45 minutes. Presented by Colin Adams and Thomas Garrity, who previously did The Great pi/e Debate, and moderated by Edward Burger, it is a memorable way to present fascinating mathematics.” – 45 min

Link:  http://www.ms.uky.edu/~movies/

“Written and directed by Matthew Brown, The Man Who Knew Infinity is the true story of friendship that forever changed mathematics. In 1913, Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel), a self-taught Indian mathematics genius, traveled to Trinity College, Cambridge, where over the course of five years, forged a bond with his mentor, the brilliant and eccentric professor, G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons), and fought against prejudice to reveal his mathematic genius to the world. The film also stars Devika Bhise, Stephen Fry and Toby Jones. This is Ramanujan’s story as seen through Hardy’s eyes.” – 108 min

Link:  http://www.ms.uky.edu/~movies/

Abstract:

``A  remarkable mathematician whose classical Chinese philosophical ideas helped him build bridges between China and the West. Shiing-shen Chern (1911-2004) is one of the fathers of modern differential geometry. Following a classical upbringing, Chern pursued his mathematical studies in Hamburg and Paris during the 1930s, building on the work of Elie Cartan. After World War II he traveled between the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and China. In 1960 he moved to Berkeley, where he created a center for geometry, and in 1981 became cofounder of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley. His reputation led to invitations from the leaders of China to help renew research mathematics in China following the destruction of academic life during the Cultural Revolution.'' -- 54 min

Please visit http://www.ms.uky.edu~movies/ for more information on Math Movie of the Month events.

The Colors of Math

A documentary by Ekaterina Eremenko

“Documentary filmmaker Ekaterina Eremenko is famous for unique, innovative documentaries. Her new film Colors of Math (The Russian title, – Sensual Mathematics – is better) is an intellectually stimulating and beautifully shot film invites us to look at mathematics from a new angle as the arena of the senses. To most people mathematics appears abstract, mysterious. Complicated. Inaccessible. But math is nothing but a language to express the world. Mathematics can be sensual. In this documentary, the beauty of mathematics, its sounds, colors, taste, and texture are revealed through the eyes of contemporary mathematical geniuses Cedric Villani, Aaditya V. Rangan, Jean-Michel Bismut, Gunter Ziegler, Maxim Kontsevich, and Anatoly Fomenko.”

60 minutes.  Free!

Please see http://www.ms.uky.edu/~movies/ for more information regarding Math Movie of the Month events.

Title:  Counting from Infinity:  Yitang Zhang and the Twin Prime Conjecture,  A film by George Csicsery

Summary:  "In April 2013, a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire submitted a paper to the Annals of Mathematics.  Within weeks word spread: a little-known mathematician, with no permanent job and working in complete isolation, had made an important breakthrough towards solving the Twin Prime Conjecture.  Yitang Zhang's techniques for bounding the gaps between primes soon led to rapid incremental progress by the Polymath Group, and then to a further major innovation by James Maynard.  The film is a study of Zhang's rise from obscurity and a disadvantaged youth to mathematical celebrity.  The story of quiet perseverance amidst adversity, and Zhang's preference for thinking and working in solitude, is interwoven with a history of the Twin Prime Conjecture as told by several mathematicians, many of whom have wrestled with this enormously challenging problem in Number Theory." 

55 minutes.

 

                                 Finally...

                      What has been missing...

                         Has now returned...

                        Next Friday evening

                        is the world premiere

                                     of

                    the 2015 -- 2016 season

        M A T H   M O V I E   O F   T H E   M O N T H

``In 1942 a secret U.S. military program was launched to recruit women to the war effort. But unlike the efforts to recruit Rosie the Riveter to the factory, this clandestine search targeted female mathematicians who would become human 'computers' for the U.S. Army. From the bombing of Axis Europe to the assaults on Japanese strongholds, women worked around-the-clock six days a week, creating ballistics tables that proved crucial to Allied success. Rosie made the weapons, but the female computers made them accurate. When the first electronic computer (ENIAC) was developed to aid the Army's calculation efforts, six of these women were tapped to become its first programmers.''

-- 60 min.

Porridge Pulleys and PI is a portrait of two very different mathematicians, featuring Fields medalist Vaughan Jones, one of the world's foremost knot theorists and an avid windsurfer, and Hendrik Lenstra, a number theorist with a passion for Homer and all things classical.                               

The Right Spin is an interview with Astronaut Michael Foale.  The story of a dramatic rescue in space and the mathematics behind it.  Narrated by Robert Osserman.

Both movies are directed by George Csicsery.

27 plus 35 = 62 minutes of fun.

If you wish to be added to the Math Movie of the Month e-mail list, please send an e-mail to movies@ms.uky.edu.