A quick chat with Stephen Smale

We're currently at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum 2017, where we had the honour to meet Fields medallist Stephen Smale. He received the Field Medal in 1966 for his proof of the generalised Poincaré conjecture for dimensions greater than 4. Smale is also famous for his work on dynamical systems, and has worked in a range of other areas too.

In this short interview, recorded at a press conference, he tells us about his bad marks at school, what it's like changing areas so many times, and about the links between dynamical systems theory and the Poincaré conjecture.

Image above © Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation / Mueck – 2017.

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Poincare Conjecture

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