I just saw that Robert Langlands has won this year’s Abel Prize in mathematics. A month back I had noted that two University of Chicago mathematicians –Sasha Beilinson and Vladimir Drinfeld — had received the Wolf prize for work that builds upon Langlands’ ideas.
What are those ideas? Langlands has spent his life looking for connections between number theory and real analysis. The featured image is a rendering of an automorphic form, one of the kinds of functions that Langlands has been interested in. As far as I could understand, Beilinson and Drinfeld found ways of connecting this work to modern physics. Maybe a deeper understanding is my goal for 2018. This Quartz article is a good quick read as is this short piece on the fundamental lemma.
Or, you can let the distinguished Dr Langlands explain it himself.
Whether or not you have a liking for numbers, seeing an 81 year old still in the thick of things is infectiously inspiring. Perhaps you’ll allow him to re-acquaint you with Pythagorus?
I feel such a blessing to have the optimistic spirit of my 80-something mother still present to bring uplift, laughter, and fresh greens from the garden to us — all served with divinely channeled love. I think of the many 70+ year olds who passionately hold the world accountable, try to make a difference with their material success, fathom prime numbers like Langlands, weave saxophone melodies, and make the world a beautiful place with their wisdom and selflessness. Spring persists in the garden of the ageless mind. I’ll leave you with some Sonny Rollins
Charles write here 