Talks

Highlighted Talks:     (see all)

• Fields-0911: Dessert: Hilbert's 13th Problem, in Full Colour, The Fields Institute, November 2009.

• Bonn-0908: Convolutions on Lie Groups and Lie Algebras and Ribbon 2-Knots, Bonn, August 2009.

• Mathcamp-0907: The Hardest Math I've Ever Really Used -- and -- Solving the Rubik Cube Using Group Theory, Mathcamp, July 2009.

• Trieste-0905: (u, v, and w knots) x (topology, combinatorics, low algebra, and high algebra) Trieste, May 2009.

• Sandbjerg-0810: The Penultimate Alexander Invariant, Sandbjerg, Denmark, October 2008.

• MSRI-0808: Projectivization, W-Knots, Kashiwara-Vergne and Alekseev-Torossian, MSRI, August 2008.

• Zurich-080513: Local Khovanov Homology, Zurich, May 2008.

• Fields-0709: A Very Non-Planar Very Planar Algebra, The Fields Institute, September 2007.

• Hanoi-0708: Following Lin: Expansions for Groups, Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, August 2007.

• Aarhus-0706: Algebraic Knot Theory, Århus University, June 2007.

• Kyoto-0705: The Virtues of Being an Isomorphism, RIMS, Kyoto May 2007.

• UofT-GS-070308: A Homological Construction of the Exponential Function, Graduate Student Seminar, University of Toronto, January 2005.

• Uppsala-0609: Algebraic Knot Theory, Uppsala, September 2006

• Utah-0506: Local Khovanov Homology - Computations and Mutations, Snowbird, Utah, June 2005

• UIUC-050311: I don't understand Khovanov-Rozansky homology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, March 2005.

• GWU-050213: I've Computed Kh(T(9,5)) and I'm Happy, George Washington University, February 2005.

• MASSU-050119: On Maps, Machines and Roaches, MASSU, January 2005.

• UofT-GS-050113: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, Graduate Student Seminar, University of Toronto, January 2005.

• York-041108: Categorification, Trace Groups, Matrix Factorizations and a Question Nantel Quickly Solved, York University, November 2004.

• Harvard-0410: Khovanov Homology for Tangles and Cobordisms and Trace Groups, Skein Modules and My Problems with Khovanov-Rozansky, Harvard University, October 2004.

• Oporto-0407: New and Newer Knot Invariants, three talks in Oporto, Portugal, July 2004.

• UWO-040213: Probability: Fact, Fiction and Quantum and Khovanov Homology for Knots and Links, University of Western Ontario, February 2004.

• UofT-040205: "Not Knot" and "Outside In", University of Toronto, February 2004.

• BIRS-0311: Introduction to Perturbative Chern-Simons Theory and Introduction to Khovanov Homology, BIRS, Banff, November 2003.

• Wayne-031103: The Unreasonable Affinity of Knot Theory and the Algebraic Sciences, Wayne State University, November 2003.

• Cornell-030501: The Unreasonable Affinity of Knot Theory and the Algebraic Sciences, Cornell Topology Festival, May 2003.

• Harvard-030418: Khovanov's homology for tangles and cobordisms, Harvard University, April 18, 2003.

• UNC-0302: On Khovanov's Categorification of the Jones Polynomial and Khovanov's homology for tangles and cobordisms, University of North Carolina, February 2003.

• Toronto-0202: The 17 Worlds of Planar Ants, University of Toronto, February 2002.

• Davis-010813: Algebraic Structures on Spaces of Knots, University of California at Davis, August 2001.

• HUJI-010118: , The Hebrew University, January 2001.

• Fields-010111: Knot Invariants, Associators and a Strange Breed of Planar Algebras, The Fields Institute, January 2001.

• MSRI-001206: Finite type invariants and a strange breed of planar algebras, MSRI December 2000.

• HUJI-001116: Knotted Trivalent Graphs, Tetrahedra and Associators, The Hebrew University, Novenber 2000.

• Lehigh-0006: From Stonehenge to Drinfel'd Skipping All the Details, Lehigh University, June 2000.

• UCB-000215: Embedded Trivalent Graphs and an Infant Conjecture, Berkeley, February 2000.

• UMD-991029: On Links, Functions, Integrals and 3-Manifold Invariants, University of Maryland, October 1999.

• JHU-991027: The Harish-Chandra-Duflo Isomorphism is as Easy as 1+1=2, Johns Hopkins University, October 1999.

• Srni-9901: From Astrology to Topology via Feynman Diagrams and Lie Algebras, Srni, January 1999.

Talks Since November 1998:     (108 listed, 39 highlighted).

Fields-0911, UofT-GS-090930, Bonn-0908, HUJI-090727, Mathcamp-0907, Paris-0906, Trieste-0905, KSU-090407, Bogota-0902, PSU-090205, Northeastern-081028, Copenhagen-081009, Sandbjerg-0810, MSRI-0808, CUMC-0807, Geneva-0805, Zurich-080513, Oberwolfach-0805, Brown-071114, UofT-GS-071023, Fields-0709, Hanoi-0708, Tianjin-0707, Aarhus-0706, Kyoto-0705, TiTech-070508, Buffalo-070323, UofT-GS-070308, Columbia-070209, HUJI-061228, Uppsala-0609, UofT-0608, Istanbul-0606, Iowa-060120, HUJI-060101, GaTech-051021, UofT-051014, UQAM-051001, Oberwolfach-0506, Utah-0506, Amsterdam-050418, LSU-0504, UIUC-050311, GiftedConference-050215, GWU-050213, MASSU-050119, UofT-GS-050113, UofT-041208, York-041108, Harvard-0410, Buffalo-0410, Oporto-0407, GWU-0405, Microsoft-040413, Rochester-040402, MSU-0402, UWO-040213, UofT-040205, Queens-040123, UofT-031208, BIRS-0311, Wayne-031103, UofT-031002, UIC-030905, Warsaw-030711, Potsdam-030604, Cornell-030501, Harvard-030418, UofT-030331, Columbia-030328, JHU-0303, UNC-0302, HUJI-021230, BU-021101, UofT-021010, McMaster-021005, UQAM-020927, HUJI-020613, BIU-020320, Toronto-0202, Toronto-020211, HUJI-011104, Kyoto-0109, Calgary-010824, Davis-010813, HUJI-010118, Fields-010111, MSRI-001206, CUNY-001205, HUJI-001116, Compugen-001101, Lehigh-0006, Riverside-000429, UCB-0004, UCB-000420, CalTech-000221, UCB-000215, UCSD-000113, GaTech-991203, UMD-991029, JHU-991027, UCB-9910, UCB-990915, Srni-9901, HUJI-981203, Aarhus-9811-2, Aarhus-9811-1, BGU-981103

On first inspection, in their jars, or aquariums, or ouroboriums, they appear to be simply domesticated serpents, writhing as they do suspended in the ether. But of course, there's more to mythological creatures, even domesticated varieties, than meets the eye. Know this about the ouroborus: when one chooses to bite its own tail - a choice which sooner or later every one of its kind is destined to make - it cannot release it. It will spend the rest of its existence as a never-ending loop. It might twist and writhe and flatten and flex, but it is forever hooped.

An ouroborus in a jar on the shelf, from the Planetarium.