2016-2017 Baylor Undergraduate Lecture Series in Mathematics
Tom Banchoff
Tom Banchoff, a world-renowned geometer, was the ninth speaker in the annual Baylor Undergraduate Lecture Series in Mathematics. Professor Banchoff gave two lectures when he visits Baylor University from November 8-10, 2016.
Dr. Banchoff earned his B. A. degree from Notre Dame and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964, where he was a student of S.S. Chern. He was on the faculty at Brown University for 47 years before retiring in 2014. He has also taught at Harvard University and the University of Amsterdam and has held visiting professorships at Yale, Notre Dame, UCLA, Stanford, University of Georgia, TU-Berlin, Carnegie Mellon, University of the South, University of San Francisco and, most recently, Baylor University.
Professor Banchoff has won several professional and national teaching awards throughout his distinguished academic career. These awards include the Lester R. Ford Award for excellence in expository writing in 1978, the MAA National Award for Distinguished University Teaching of Mathematics in 1996, and the NSF Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholar in 2004. He has been recognized as both a Pew Scholar and a Carnegie Fellow from the Carnegie Foundation. Dr. Banchoff was President of the Mathematical Association of America from 1999-2000.
The titles, and abstracts, for his two lectures are:
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 4:00 pm - Bennett Auditorium (Draper 130)
PUBLIC LECTURE: The Fourth Dimension and the People You Meet There
Abstract: Four-dimensional space has challenged geometers, writers, artists, philosophers and theologians, and now modern graphics makes it possible for us to see and interact with such spaces in dramatic ways. Guides to this fourth dimension include Edwin Abbott Abbott’s "Flatland" (slicing), Madeleine L’Engle’s "A Wrinkle in Time" (projections), and Salvador Dali’s "Corpus Hypercubus" (fold-outs). What lies ahead?
Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 4:00 pm - Marrs McLean Science Building MMSCI 301
Folds, Intersections, and Inflections: Seven Ways to Distinguish a Cylinder from a Möbius Band
Abstract: This talk develops seven different visual ways to distinguish whether a strip neighborhood of a curve on a surface is an oriented cylinder or a non-orientable Möbius band. Computer graphics illustrations will explore fold curves of projections of surfaces into planes, self-intersection curves of surfaces in three space, and a new criterion in terms of surface inflections.