Seminar Information

Topic: Manifolds of Positive Curvature with Logarithmic Symmetry

Time & Date: 3:00-5:30 PM, September 20

Venue: Room 106, Teaching C Building

Speaker: Prof. Burkhard Wilking, Muenster University

Host: Prof. Kayue Daniel WONG, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Abstract: 

It has been a longtime problem in geometry to understand the manifolds admitting metrics of positive curvature. In this talk, I will discuss recent works on the topology of manifolds with positive sectional curvature. Sharp results are also proved for low dimensions. After the talk, there will be an informal discussion session between Professor Wilking and Professor Lei Ni from UC San Diego along with our students.

Biography

Prof. Burkhard Wilking was born in Vechta in 1970. He studied in Münster, where he obtained his PhD in 1998. From 1999 to 2001 he worked at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) before being appointed Professor of Differential Geometry at the University of Münster. He is heavily involved in several major research projects such as the Cluster of Excellence Mathematics Münster, the Collaborative Research Centre Geometry Deformations and Rigidity, and the Priority Programme SPP Geometry at Infinity. He received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and the Karl Georg Christian von Staudt Prize in 2009 and 2022 respectively. He has been a member of the Leopoldina since 2016, of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2018, and of the Academia Europaea since 2019.