Open lecture and seminar with Prof. Maciej Dunajski | May 21, 2025
On May 21st, 2025, the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics will be visited by an outstanding scientist - Professor Maciej Dunajski.
During his visit to the FMPI, the Professor will deliver two lectures:
the first - entitled Gravitational instantons, old and new - as part of a seminar of the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics and the Department of Geometry of the Institute of Mathematics.
the second - popular science - entitled Four Faces of Geometry: from Euclid's Postulates to the Cosmic Censor Hypothesis.
Prof. Maciej Dunajski studied physics at the Łódź University of Technology and is currently a professor of mathematical physics and a member of Clare College at the University of Cambridge. His research area includes mathematical physics, in particular the mathematical theory of black holes and differential geometry. He is the author of two books, over 70 scientific publications and co-author of a solution to the 19th-century metrizability problem and a laureate of the Foundation for Research on the Theory of Gravitation award.
For 20 years, on behalf of the London Mathematical Society, he has been involved in helping sub-Saharan African countries develop mathematical and natural sciences.
Gravitational instantons are solutions of Einstein's equations with a Riemannian signature that describe complete metrics and asymptotically resemble flat space. Research into gravitational instantons was initiated by Stephen Hawking in his search for quantum Euclidean gravity. Since then, researchers have put a lot of effort into giving the term resembles a precise mathematical meaning. Although today quantum Euclidean gravity is no longer seen as a fundamental theory, research into gravitational instantons has had a significant impact on theoretical physics and mathematics.
Professor Dunajski will review earlier results and present new ones that refute the hypothesis of the uniqueness of the Euclidean black hole.
The Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics & Geometry Department seminar will be held at 1215 PM in auditorium D005 in the FMPI building.
Geometry research is at least 2500 years old, and it was in this field that the concept of mathematical proof was first born - deductive reasoning based on a set of axioms. The lecture will present four areas of geometry: Euclidean, non-Euclidean, projective geometry in Renaissance art, and space-time geometry inside a black hole.
The lecture is open to the public and will take place at 500 PM in auditorium D005 in the FMPI building.
The lecture will be given in Polish.