The Stanford University Mathematical Organization Presents
ELLIPTIC CURVES

A Talk by Professor Karl Rubin

Which integers are the areas of right triangles with three rational sides? This question was written down in Arab manuscripts more than 1000 years ago and the answer turns out to be related to the existence of rational points on certain elliptic curves. Elliptic curves are curves defined by equations y^2 = f(x) where f(x) is a cubic polynomial, and they are a powerful tool for attacking many old and new number theoretic problems. They have also found applications in cryptography. This lecture will They have also found applications in cryptography. This lecture will introduce elliptic curves and discuss some deep open questions in this field.

Professor Rubin came to Stanford in 1997 and has spent most of his research career studying elliptic curves. He graduated with a AB from Princeton in 1976 (where he was a Putnam Fellow) and went on to Harvard to get a Ph. D in mathematics in 1981. He was the first Ph.D. student of Andrew Wiles, who used elliptic curves to prove Fermat's Last Theorem. He has won various awards for his work, including the AMS Cole prize in number theory in 1992 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1994.

Tuesday, May 11 | 5:30 PM | Room 380-380C
Free Pizza and Drinks