Distinguished Lecture

On 18 March, Professor Peter Sarnak FRS gave a Distinguished Lecture on Number Theory and the Circle Packings of Apollonius to an appreciative audience including many undergraduates. He explained the construction of mutually tangent circles with integral curvatures, and how this generates an example in the theory of 'thin groups', an active field that he has done much to develop. Peter Sarnak is currently the Eugene Higgins Professor in Mathematics at Princeton University and a permanent member of the Institute for Advanced Study. Amongst his recent honours is the 2014 Wolf Prize in Mathematics. 

The lecture was accompanied by a mixture of music and art. Lifei Fiore (violin) and Ting Ting Li (piano) performed works by Mozart, Beethoven and Smetana in the St. David's Room beforehand and in the Great Hall, Evgenia Emets projected her art work inspired by Apollonian circles. Professor Sarnak also gave two seminar talks (one on analysis at King's, another on number theory at UCL) during his five day stay. The visit was organised by Dr Igor Wigman and supported by the School of Natural & Mathematical Sciences and the European Research Council.