The Abel Interview with Peter D. Lax

00:00:15 from Hungary to Los Alamos
00:03:00 shock limits: the role of collaboration
00:04:22 interaction of solitons: discovered by numerical means
00:10:35 genesis of Fourier integral operators
00:12:00 Ralph Phillips, scattering theory
00:14:45 Riemann Hypothesis
00:15:40 beauty vs. ugliness in math.
00:16:15 doesn't get angry easily
00:17:32 G.H. Hardy, his Apology, Aston's response
00:18:42 pure math. as a branch of applied math. (Joe Keller)
00:20:00 pure math. having applied uses inevitable?
00:22:13 math. has a mysterious unity
00:22:40 high-speed computing
00:25:12 emergence of new algorithms in linear algebra
00:26:08 high-speed due to computer hardware and to improved algorithms
00:26:30 takes mathematicians to create clever algorithms
00:27:20 use of theory of non-linear PDEs in oil exploration
00:27:43 inverse problems
00:28:44 mathematics education in Hungary
00:30:00 problem-solving as the Royal road to stimulate talent
00:30:27 need to branch out also
00:30:39 Pólya
00:31:20 tradition in Hungary to find the simplest proofs, Erdős' Book
00:32:00 Hahn-Banach theorem is out of The Book
00:32:52 culture of excellence in Hungarian math.
00:33:34 book by John Lukacs
00:34:46 Influence of Julius König
00:36:02 Fejér (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip%C3%B3t_Fej%C3%A9r)
00:37:18 Ulam
00:37:56 Atomic bombs, war in the Pacific
00:39:33 Innoculation effect of atomic bombs
00:39:59 Ulam on how blackboard scribbles changing world history
00:40:18 Ulam as an ideas man
00:41:15 The Courant Institute
00:41:45 Courant's personality, suspicion of specialisation
00:44:14 Collaborating, Vera John-Steiner book
00:45:20 Personal work style
00:45:45 Phillips thought Lax lazy
00:46:15 Sudden inspiration
00:46:50 Stories from Schottke, Hilbert ("my very bad memory")
00:48:05 Has good memory
00:48:15 Important decisions for large organisations
00:49:00 Director of The Courant Institute
00:49:35 Blocked formation of department of Informatics
00:50:30 Successful hirees
00:50:55 Failures: standard of hiring (in computer science)
00:51:52 National Science Board, policy-making as nodding yes
00:52:30 The Lax Panel, supercomputers
00:54:25 Paraphrasing Emerson: nothing can resist the force of an idea, 10 yrs overdue
00:54:50 Teaching calculus
00:55:20 Calculus book enormously unsuccessful despite good ideas
00:56:00 Dreams of rewriting book
00:56:10 The calculus reform movement, doubts
00:56:28 The books are too thick
00:57:00 Uniform continuity vs. continuity at a point
00:57:32 Math. community enormously conservative
00:57:45 Applications as subsidiary, should be featured
00:58:20 Looking for good collaborator
00:58:40 Work in the pipeline
00:59:20 What are the real numbers (not Dedekind's so much)
1:00:00 Other interests (Hungarian, English poetry; tennis; reading)
1:01:15 Writing obituaries, haikus

The Abel Prize Interview 2005 with Peter D. Lax.
Interviewed by mathematicians Martin Raussen og Christian Skau.
Produced by UniMedia.

Видео The Abel Interview with Peter D. Lax канала The Abel Prize