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SUMMARY:Rothschild Public Lecture: The Shape of Data and Social Justice - 
 Michael Hill (University of Minnesota)
DTSTART:20250527T150000Z
DTEND:20250527T160000Z
UID:TALK221335@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:An old joke is that a topologist cannot tell the difference be
 tween a coffee cup and a doughnut\, since both of these are objects with j
 ust one hole. The goal of topology in mathematics is to describe ways to t
 ell shapes and more general spaces apart\, and algebraic topology works to
  do so using quantities like the number of pieces or the number of holes. 
 Underlying this is a fundamental question: what features depend only on th
 e space\, and what features depend on how we happen to be looking at the s
 pace?\nWe have an intuitive understanding of what the number of pieces mea
 ns\, and for things we run into in nature\, we have a sense of what "numbe
 r of holes" means. Over the last 120 years\, mathematicians have worked to
  make this intuition precise and figure out ways to assign quantities like
  the number of holes to more complicated situations. I will describe some 
 of this history\, then I will focus on how these tools are being used to h
 elp understand data and to address questions of social justice.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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