Symmetry and chirality in discrete structures
From MathsDept
Dedicated to the memory of Peter Lorimer FRSNZ
Room 1439, Engineering Building, Ground Floor, 20 Symonds Street
- 6:15 pm. Drinks in the Neon Foyer, 20 Symonds Street
- 7-8 pm Talk in Room Eng1439, 20 Symonds Street
Abstract
Symmetry is pervasive in both nature and human culture. The notion of chirality (or handedness) is similarly pervasive, but less well understood.
I will talk about a number of situations involving discrete objects that have maximum possible symmetry in their class, or maximum possible rotational symmetry while being chiral. Examples include combinatorial graphs (networks), geometric solids, maps on surfaces, and some other more abstract structures. These will be illustrated by lots of pictures.
Peter Lorimer FRSNZ was a Professor of Algebra at the University of Auckland and one of the founding members of the Department of Mathematics.
Parking
Parking is available at $5 per night at the Owen Glenn building in Grafton Rd very near the intersection with Symonds St (about a 3 minute walk from the Engineering building).
Marston Conder
All welcome. The talk is aimed at a general audience
Free entry.
Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland
About the speaker
Marston Conder received his MSocSc from the University of Waikato and his DPhil from Oxford. He joined the Department of Mathematics in 1983, and became a professor in 1993. The author of over 110 papers, he is a leading researcher in group theory and combinatorics. He is the recipient of many honours, including an Oxford DSc in 2000, and the New Zealand Mathematical Society Research Award in 1993, election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of NZ in 1998, and President of the Academy of the RSNZ in 2006. Among many other appointments, he served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Auckland.
