FOM: event at NYU - PROOF: a symposium

[Stephen G Simpson]

Regarding the broader cultural significance of f.o.m., this
announcement just came over the transom ....

-- Steve

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                    PROOF: A SYMPOSIUM

PROOF: A SYMPOSIUM is a 3-part discussion of issues and ideas raised by
the new Broadway play PROOF. Presented by the Courant Institute of
Mathematical Sciences of New York University, Manhattan Theatre Club, and
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, PROOF: A SYMPOSIUM will take place on
Monday, October 16 at the Tishman Auditorium in Vanderbilt Hall at NYU's
School of Law.

The day's discussions are broken into three separate panels. Each panel
will feature an address by each of the panelists, followed by a moderated
discussion and audience Q&A period. Refreshments will be served between
the panels.

Panel I: What's a Proof and What's It Worth?: 2:00 - 4:00 P.M.

  Topics to be addressed include: the nature, varieties and roles of
  proofs; comparison between various notions and roles of proofs (in math,
  computer science, physics, philosophy and law); the question of the
  continued relevance of mathematical proofs and formal reasoning in an age
  of computers and simulations; the historic and current roles of
  mathematical proofs as general intellectual paradigms for
  rationality; and the rationales for awarding prizes for mathematical 
 proofs.

The Panel I participants include:

Peter Sarnak, Moderator
Institute for Advanced Study & Princeton (Math)
Kit Fine
NYU (Philosophy)
Arthur Jaffe
Clay Mathematics Institute & Harvard (Math, Physics)
Dusa McDuff
SUNY Stony Brook (Math)
Thomas Nagel
NYU (Law, Philosophy)
Michael Rabin
Harvard (Engineering and Applied Sciences)
Jacob T. Schwartz
NYU (Courant)

Panel II: Women and Proof: 4:30 - 6:00 P.M.

  Topics to be addressed include: To what extent are the processes of
  recognition for achievement in the mathematical sciences sufficiently
  open to contributions from women; do women's traditional societal 
 obligations
  (caretaking of parents/children) curtail their careers in
  mathematics; what can be done to enlarge the processes of
  recognition; should the needs of young women be addressed in new ways?

Panel II participants include:

Margaret H. Wright, Moderator
Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
Dusa McDuff
SUNY Stony Brook (Math)
Cathleen Morawetz
NYU (Courant)
Mary Pugh
UPenn (Math)
Jean Taylor
Rutgers (Math)
Karen Uhlenbeck
UTexas Austin (Math)

Panel III: Proof in Performance and Prose : 7:30 - 9:00 P.M.

  Topics to be addressed include: How and why creative artists represent
  mathematicians and scientists in their works; how the notion of
  mathematical proof is used as a metaphor in theater, literature and film.

The Panel III participants include:

Michael Janeway, Moderator
  Director, National Arts Journalism School, Columbia University
David Auburn
  Author of PROOF
Rebecca Goldstein
  Author of "The Mind-Body Problem" and "Properties of Light: A Novel of
  Love, Betrayal and Quantum Physics"
Sylvia Nasar
  Author of "A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr."
Ben Shenkman
  Cast Member of PROOF

All panels are open to the public