Mathematics Colloquium

Speaker: Joseph Palmer (Amherst College)

Date and time: Monday, April 14 at 5 pm

Venue: NYS 250 Main CAS Innovation Lab Instruction Space

 

Title: Planets and Pendulums, or How Geometry Keeps Your Home from Falling into the Sun

 

Abstract: Have you ever looked up toward the sun and wondered, "are we going to fall into that?" If so, you are not the first! For centuries, mathematicians and physicists have tackled the problem of trying to predict the motion of the planets, and in particular determine if the Earth will ever leave its orbit to crash into the sun or jettison off into space. In this talk, we will discuss how geometry, symmetries, and conservation laws appear in the study of dynamical systems, starting from the humble example of the pendulum and working our way up to the motion of the planets.