Our speaker will be Karen Uhlenbeck who will speak on Emmy Noether’s contributions to the theory of relativity. This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the mathematical origins of our group’s name, Noetherian Ring.The seminar is intended to be accessible to upper-level undergraduates and graduate students. There will be time for discussion and socializing after the talk. The seminar is open to all eligible participants regardless of identity. 

Emmy Noether is known to most mathematicians for her work in algebra. However, her one 1918 paper in the calculus of variations, identifying conservation laws with group actions is recognized by most physicists and some geometers as a fundamental breakthrough in understanding symmetry. She was recruited by Hilbert and Klein to work on the lack of conservation of energy in relativity. She gave a definitive explanation, which I will try to explain.