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    • John Milnor: A conversation with a mathematical legend

      18 August, 2014

      John Milnor

      At the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) 2014 we had the great privilege to meet a true legend of mathematics: John Milnor. Milnor is famous not only for his work in mathematics, but also for his writing which has inspired generations of mathematicians. He has won three major mathematical prizes: the Fields Medal in 1962, Wolf prize in mathematics in 1989 and the Abel Prize in 2011. We've recorded a press conference Milnor gave at the ICM, telling journalists why doing maths is like being Lewis Carroll's Red Queen and what it's like doing maths at the formidable age of 84.

      If you prefer reading to listening, see the transcript of this podcast. To find out more about Milnor's work in knot theory and on exotic spheres, which is mentioned in this podcast, see this article.

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      Anonymous

      31 August 2014

      Permalink

      Listning his conversation I decern that he must be a good human being also.

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      torusknot01

      1 November 2018

      Permalink

      Thanks for the podcast.
      Correction: Milnor was awarded the Fields Medal in 1962 (Stockholm) and not 1969.

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      Marianne

      5 November 2018

      In reply to Correction to Fields Medal info by torusknot01

      Permalink

      Thanks for pointing that out, we have corrected it.

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      You can listen to the podcast using the player above, and you can listen and subscribe to our podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and through most other podcast providers via podbean.

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