DISCUSSION GROUP DELAYED UNTIL 8PM

Mathematics is a very diverse subject, but also very unified. One of the unifying principles is the concept of a category: for example, the category of groups, the category of topological spaces, the category of sets. They all provide a useful framework and philosophy for the study of different part of mathematics.

Categories were first introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders MacLane around 1945, their need of categories was motivated by their work on algebraic topology, which allowed them to formalise the idea of a homology theory. Since then, they have found applications in many different areas of maths, either as a solid foundational theory or as a source of powerful applications such as Brown's representability theorem in algebraic topology or topos theory in algebraic geometry, and more generally with Grothendieck's approach. It also has very deep implications in logic, leading to the ideas of categorical logic.

If you want to know more about the beautiful subject of category theory, some of its applications and its philosophical influence on modern mathematics, join us in MS.04 at 7.30pm.