John Milnor: A conversation with a mathematical legend

Submitted by Marianne on August 18, 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.

Podcast download link: 
Audio icon milnor_edit.mp3

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous on August 31, 2014

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

Submitted by torusknot01 on November 1, 2018

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

Submitted by Marianne on November 5, 2018

Thanks for pointing that out, we have corrected it.