At the
moment a Noncommutative
Geometry Programme is being organized at the Newton Institute. This half year
programme started with a workshop on Noncommutative
Geometry and Cyclic Cohomology at the beginning of august. This
week they’ll be running their second workshop Noncommutative
Geometry and Physics: Fundamental Structure of Space and Time
including a speculative evening session The Nature
of Space and Time: An Evening of Speculation where
A
distinguished panel of mathematicians, physicists, theologians and
philosophers will explore the nature of space and time from a personal
perspective. What do science and philosophical theology have to say to
each other about space and time? Is time a continuum? Can the nature of
time be separated from the nature of existence and from the human
condition? There will be short presentations from each panel member
followed by a wide-ranging discussion led by questions from the
audience. This is expected to be a lively event fully accessible to the
wider public.
Perhaps the most interesting workshop,
from a ringtheorist’s point of view, is the closing workshop Trends in
Noncommutative Geometry to be organized in December. Oh, I see that
the closing date for applications has already passed… Still, for
the rest of us, we can follow this programme from the luxury (?!) of our
home using the Newton
Web-Seminar page which includes the slides and a full audio of the
lectures. Last night I sat through Iain Gordon’s talk and there are more talks I intend to upload to
my iPod.