WHEN:
Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 2:30 PM
WHERE:
Durham Science Center, Room 115
WHAT:
University of Nebraska at Omaha
will give a talk on
ABSTRACT:
Despite a 150 year span of the era of modern biology, there is no
universally accepted definition of life. The probable reason for this
is that there is no mathematical description or understanding of the
fundamental essence of life. Thus, the life sciences are in a similar
position as the physical sciences before the development of calculus,
and a deeper understanding of living systems will likely depend on
mathematicians to create the equivalent of calculus for life
sciences.
This talk will present some ideas on the type of new mathematics that
might be needed, and make the argument that the mathematical needs of
the life sciences are in the realm of pure, not applied, mathematics.
Back to the Mathematics Colloquium Page