Geometry and Physics: a Long History of Mutual Inspiration and Missed Opportunities

  • 11 September 2025
    5:00 PM
  • Mendel Museum´s Augustinian Abbey Refectory at Mendel Square
No description

Before the lecture, there will be small refreshments outside the room at 4.30 pm. During this time, you can discuss with each other and meet the speaker. 

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon holds an engineering degree from École Polytechnique (year group 1966) and a « doctorat d'État » in mathematical sciences from University Paris 7 (1974). His field of predilection is differential geometry, particularly in its relations with partial differential equations and mathematical physics. He has focused his work on the Ricci curvature, both for its mathematical aspects and the role it plays in general relativity.

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was President of the Société mathématique de France (1990-1992) and of the European Mathematical Society (1995-1998). He joined the CNRS Science Ethics Committee in 1999 and was its Chairman from 2007 to 2011. He was President of the European Research Council (ERC) (2014-2019, then by interim from July 2020 to August 2021. In October 2021, he was elected Chairman of the University Council of Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich.

Abstract

Geometry and Physics have been interacting in a very positive way for centuries but probably this never happened with the intensity it enjoyed in the 20th century and continues to enjoy it in the 21st.

Several major parts of Theoretical Physics cannot be really separated from major developments in Mathematics: this is the case for General Relativity, for the Dirac Operator in Quantum Physics, for the development of String Theory and Calabi-Yau metrics, giving important spaces for stimulating very significant new frontiers for Differential Geometry.

The purpose of the lecture is to highlight some exceptional moments in these interactions, stressing the variety of situations and of processes by which this could happen with their ups and downs, as some opportunities were first missed. This will also allow to show that it takes time for some concepts to be recognised as fundamental, as well as the role played by some leading mathematicians and physicists in these developments.

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info