CMSA/Tsinghua Math-Science Literature Lecture

Date: November 21, 2024

Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am ET

Location: CMSA G10, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA & via Zoom

Speaker: Bjorn Poonen, MIT

Title: Ranks of elliptic curves

Abstract: Elliptic curves are simplest varieties whose rational points are not fully understood, and they are the simplest projective varieties with a nontrivial group structure.  In 1922 Mordell proved that the group of rational points on an elliptic curve is finitely generated.  We will survey what is known and what is believed about this group.

Beginning in Spring 2020, the CMSA began hosting a lecture series on literature in the mathematical sciences, with a focus on significant developments in mathematics that have influenced the discipline, and the lifetime accomplishments of significant scholars.