The Department of Mathematics initiated the Mathematics in Science and Society (MSS) lecture series in 1995 to improve connections between mathematics other disciplines. MSS colloquia range over a broad spectrum of topics in connections and interactions of mathematics with other scholarly disciplines and other aspects of the society in general.
Spring 2021
April 27, 2021, 4-5 p.m.
Via Zoom
Speaker: Prof. Gualtiero Piccinini (University of Missouri, St. Louis)
Title: Compositions as Trans-Scalar Identity
Host: Kay Kirkpatrick
Abstract: We define mereologically invariant composition as the relation between a whole object and its parts when the object retains the same parts during a time interval. We argue that mereologically invariant composition is identity between a whole and its parts taken collectively. Our reason is that parts and wholes are equivalent measurements of a portion of reality at different scales in the precise sense employed by measurement theory. The purpose of these scales is the numerical representation of primitive relations between quantities of objects. To show this, we prove representation and uniqueness theorems for composition. Thus, mereologically invariant composition is trans-scalar identity.
Spring 2020
Feb. 18, 2020, 4-5 p.m.
314 Altgeld Hall
Speaker: Dr. Kirsi Peltonen (Aalto University)
Title: In Transition: Mathematics and Art
Host: Jeremy Tyson
Abstract | Poster
March 24, 2020, 4-5 p.m.
Location: 245 Altgeld Hall
Speaker: Felix Leditzky (Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo; and Perimeter Institute)
Host: Marius Junge
March 31, 2020, 4-5 p.m.
Speaker: Jamie Sikora (Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, ON, Canada)
Host: Marius Junge
April 16, 2020, 4-5 p.m.
Speaker: Laura Mancinska (University of Copenhagen)
Title: TBA
Host: Marius Junge