CMSA/Tsinghua Math-Science Literature Lecture: Robert Gompf: On classifying smoothings of R^4–from the beginning to the present
2026-09-16 09:00 - 10:30 (America/New_York) | CMSA Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
CMSA/Tsinghua Math-Science Literature Lecture
Date: September 16, 2026
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am ET
Location: CMSA G10, 20 Garden Street & via Zoom Webinar

Please register to attend
In-person registration

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Speaker: Robert E. Gompf, University of Texas, Austin
Title: On classifying smoothings of R^4–from the beginning to the present
Abstract: The field of 4-manifold topology was born around 1981 with two independent revolutionary breakthroughs, by Fields medalists Michael Freedman and Simon Donaldson. Freedman showed that topological 4-manifolds obeyed the well-developed theory of higher-dimensional manifolds, while Donaldson used nonlinear analysis (gauge theory) to show that smooth 4-manifolds are quite different from their high-dimensional counterparts. The clash between the two theories makes 4-manifold topology uniquely intricate within manifold theory. One of the most startling consequences is that unlike in other dimensions, Euclidean 4-space R^4 admits exotic smoothings. Equivalently, there are smooth 4-manifolds that are homeomorphic, but not diffeomorphic, to R^4. We will trace the classification theory of these manifolds from their discovery to the most recent development (joint with Aristotelis Panagiotopoulos) that they cannot be classified by any countable family of numerical invariants.

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.

Workshop on Lagrangian Floer theory and applications
2026-09-28 08:00 - 2026-10-02 17:00 | CMSA 20 Garden Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 United States
Workshop on Lagrangian Floer Theory and Applications
Dates: September 28 – October 2, 2026
Location: CMSA G10, 20 Garden St., Cambridge MA 02138
This workshop is part of the Lagrangian Floer Theory and Applications Program
Registration Form
Speakers will include:

Mohammed Abouzaid, Stanford University
Octav Cornea, University of Montréal
Tobias Ekholm, Uppsala University
Sheel Ganatra, USC
Andrew Hanlon, University of Oregon
Yanki Lekili, Imperial College London
Georgios Dimitroglou Rizell, Uppsala University
Paul Seidel, MIT
Egor Shelukhin, University of Montréal
Vivek Shende, Berkeley/Syddansk

Organizers: Denis Auroux (Harvard), Jonny Evans (Lancaster), and Chris Woodward (Rutgers)

Schedule outline
Monday 9/28/26

9:00 – 9:30
Breakfast

9:30 – 10:30
Talk 1

10:30 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 12:00
Talk 2

12:00 – 1:30
Lunch

1:30 – 2:30
Talk 3

2:30 – 3:00
Break

3:00 – 4:00
Talk 4

Tuesday 9/29/26

9:00 – 9:30
Breakfast

9:30 – 10:30
Talk 5

10:30 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 12:00
Talk 6

12:00 – 1:30
Lunch

1:30 – 2:30
Talk 7

2:30 – 3:00
Break

3:00 – 4:00
Talk 8

Wednesday 9/30/26

9:00 – 9:30
Breakfast

9:30 – 10:30
Talk 9

10:30 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 12:00
Talk 10

12:00 – 1:30
Lunch

1:30 – 2:30
Talk 11

2:30 – 3:00
Break

3:00 – 4:00
Talk 12

Thursday 10/1/26

9:00 – 9:30
Breakfast

9:30 – 10:30
Talk 13

10:30 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 12:00
Talk 14

12:00 – 1:30
Lunch

1:30 – 2:30
Talk 15

2:30 – 3:00
Break

3:00 – 4:00
Talk 16

6:30
Dinner

Friday 10/2/26

9:00 – 9:30
Breakfast

9:30 – 10:30
Talk 17

10:30 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 12:00
Talk 18

12:00 – 1:30
Lunch

1:30 – 2:30
Talk 19

2:30 – 3:00
Break

3:00 – 4:00
Talk 20

Math Science Lectures in Honor of Raoul Bott | Daniel Litt, U Toronto
2026-10-19 16:00 - 17:00 | MA
Dates: October 19 & 21, 2026
Time: 4:00–5:00 pm ET
Location: Science Center Lecture Hall A and via Webinar
In-person registration
Webinar Registration
Speaker: Daniel Litt, University of Toronto & Benedict H. Gross Distinguished Visitor, Harvard Mathematics Department
Lecture 1: The arithmetic of differential equations
Monday, October 19, 2026, followed by a reception in the Math Dept Austine & Chilton McDonnell Common Room, 4th floor

Lecture 2: Non-abelian motives
Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Harvard Mathematics Professor Raoul Bott (1923 – 2005), was a Hungarian-American mathematician known for numerous foundational contributions to geometry in its broad sense. He is best known for his Bott periodicity theorem, the Morse–Bott functions which he used in this context, and the Borel–Bott–Weil theorem.

Math Science Lectures in Honor of Raoul Bott | Daniel Litt, Benedict H. Gross Distinguished Visitor, Harvard Mathematics Department
2026-10-21 16:00 - 17:00 | MA

CMSA/Tsinghua Math-Science Literature Lecture: Peng Shan, Tsinghua University
2026-10-29 09:00 - 10:30 | CMSA Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
CMSA/Tsinghua Math-Science Literature Lecture
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am ET
Location: online via Zoom Webinar

Please register to attend
Zoom Webinar registration

Speaker: Peng Shan, Tsinghua University
Title TBA

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.

Northeast Conference on Categorical Methods
2026-11-06 09:00 - 2026-11-07 17:00 | CMSA Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Northeast Conference on Categorical Methods
Dates: November 6–​7, 2026
Location: CMSA G10, 20 Garden St., Cambridge MA 02138

This conference is intended to bring together researchers in all areas of mathematics and mathematical physics whose work involves the use of methods from categorical algebra, abstract homotopy theory, and higher category theory. Our goal is to showcase new, exciting research and offer an avenue for researchers from the Northeast US to discuss their work and collaborate with people in this ever-growing community.

There will be time for 4 short talks by early-career mathematicians.

REGISTRATION FORM (link) Deadline: September 20, 2026
Zoom Webinar Registration

Invited Speakers

Andrew Blumberg, Columbia University
Soren Galatius, Columbia University
Tony Pantev, University of Pennsylvania
Nick Rozenblyum, University of Toronto
Tomer Schlank, University of Chicago/Harvard University
Brian Williams, Boston University
Inna Zakharevich, Cornell University

Organized by Dan Freed, Harvard Math & CMSA; Owen Gwilliam, UMass Amherst; and Lorenzo Riva, Harvard CMSA

Stable Homotopy Theory and Arithmetic Geometry Boot Camp
2027-02-22 09:00 - 2027-02-26 17:00 | CMSA Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Stable Homotopy Theory and Arithmetic Geometry Boot Camp
Dates: February 22-26, 2027

Stable Homotopy Theory and Arithmetic Geometry Workshop I
2027-03-01 09:00 - 2027-03-05 17:00 | CMSA Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Stable Homotopy Theory and Arithmetic Geometry Workshop I
Dates: March 1–5, 2027

Seventh Annual Yip Lecture | L. Mahadevan, Harvard
2027-03-03 16:00 - 17:00 | MA
Sixth Annual Yip Lecture
Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2027
Time: 4:00–5:00 pm
Location: Harvard Science Center Hall D & via Zoom Webinar
Speaker: L. Mahadevan, Harvard

The Yip Lecture takes place thanks to the support of Dr. Shing-Yiu Yip.

2027 Ding Shum Lecture: Avi Wigderson, IAS
2027-03-31 16:00 - 17:00 | Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138
2027 Ding Shum Lecture
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2027
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Harvard Science Center Hall D & via Zoom Webinar

Speaker: Avi Wigderson, IAS

A reception will follow the talk in the Mathematics Department Austine & Chilton McDonnell Common Room, 4th floor, Science Center.

This event is made possible by the generous funding of Ding Lei and Harry Shum.

The Conformal Bootstrap and Mathematics
2027-04-05 - 2027-04-09 | CMSA 20 Garden Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 United States
The Conformal Bootstrap and Mathematics
The conformal bootstrap is a method originating in physics that seeks to define and study conformal quantum field theories in two and higher dimensions. In recent years, surprising connections have emerged between the conformal bootstrap and several areas of mathematics, including the spectral theory of automorphic forms, the sphere packing problem, and related questions in geometry, analysis, and number theory. These developments suggest both that the conformal bootstrap “knows” a remarkable amount of mathematics, and that these mathematical structures can offer new ways of understanding quantum field theory.
This workshop will bring together experts from conformal field theory, number theory, spectral geometry, discrete geometry, and related fields to explore these emerging connections. One goal is to investigate how ideas and techniques from the conformal bootstrap can lead to new advances in mathematics. A complementary goal is to use insights from these mathematical disciplines to sharpen our understanding of conformal field theory and quantum field theory more broadly.
Organizers: James Bonifacio, University of Mississippi; Henry Cohn, MIT; Dalimil Mazáč, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Saclay; and Peter Sarnak, IAS

Stable Homotopy Theory and Arithmetic Geometry Workshop II
2027-05-03 09:00 - 2027-05-07 17:00 | CMSA Room G10, CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Stable Homotopy Theory and Arithmetic Geometry Workshop II
Dates: May 3–7, 2027
