Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
MSRI serves to bring together the world's best mathematicians, academic institutions, post doctoral students, and corporations to further research and application of mathematics. MSRI also reaches out into the community to promote and encourage understanding of the mathematical sciences.
The first Museion was convened in Berkeley on the evening of October 25, 2001 by Archimedes Society chairman and MSRI trustee William R. Hearst, III. Nobel Laureate Donald A. Glaser gave a talk on "Mathematical Attempts to Understand the Brain," and Professor Robert Osserman gave a talk on "A Million Dollar Problem: Riemann and His Hypothesis." A duo violin concerto was performed by Bill Barbini and Kineko Okumura.
Click here for 17 Photographs of the Evening's Festivities.
The second Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee James H. & Marilyn Simons in their Manhattan flat overlooking Central Park on February 6, 2002. Professor Andrew Granville, the David C. Barrow Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia gave a talk on "Primes' Possibilities and Einstein's Error", and Professor Charles S. Peskin, Professor of Mathematics and Neural Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University gave a talk on "Computer Simulation of the Beating Human Heart."
The third Museion was convened in Berkeley on the evening of April 11, 2002 by Archimedes Society chairman and MSRI trustee William R. Hearst, III. Professor Donald E. Knuth, Professor of The Art of Computer Programming, Emeritus at Stanford University and MSRI Trustee, gave a talk on "Mathematical Typography,' and Nobel Laureate Professor Charles Townes, Professor in the Graduate School of Physics at University of California, Berkeley and the inventor of the laser, gave a talk on "How Technology is Born of Science". A lively vocal Performance was offered by Tim Krol and Julia Hunt Nielsen with piano accompaniment by Jonathan Alford.
Click here for 59 Photographs of the Evening's Festivities.
The fourth Museion celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Institute and was convened on October 24, 2002. Special Champagne & Sparkling Water Receptions preceded and followed the dinner and lecture. Former MSRI trustee Sir Michael Atiyah, OM, FRS, FRSE gave a talk on "The Mystery of Spin". Sir Michael won the Fields Medal, Mathematics highest prize, in 1966. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge; President of the Royal Society; Director of the Newton Institute; and Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. The West Coast public announcement of MSRI $7.3 million capital campaign was made at the reception following dinner. A quartet (Jeff Fields, Bass; Antoine Garth, Second Tenor; Daniel Hutchings, First Tenor; and Tim Krol, Baritone performed a program of English and Italian Madrigals, Romantic Partsongs, and English Folksongs.
Click here for 42 Photographs of the Evening's Festivities.
The fifth Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee James H. & Marilyn Simons in Manhattan on November 5, 2002. MSRI trustee Professor Myron S. Scholes, Frank E. Buck Professor of Finance Emeritus at Stanford University Graduate School gave a talk on "Liquidity and Risk Management." The evening included a special celebration of the Institute's 20th Anniversary, and the East Coast public announcement of MSRI's $7.3 million capital campaign.
The sixth Museion was held at the home of trustee Ed and Rosemary Baker on
April 24, 2003.
Professor Persi Diaconis, the Mary V. Sunseri Professor of Statistics and
Mathematics at Stanford University gave a talk on "The Search for
Randomness." The musical program was performed by William Barbini on Violin
and Viola, Kineko Okumura on Violin, and Dmitriy Cogan on Piano. The
evening included the announcement of the naming of the MSRI library for
Austine McDonnell Hearst, mother of trustee William Hearst.
Click here for 26 Photographs of the Evening's Festivities.
The seventh Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee James H. & Marilyn Simons in
Manhattan on October 20, 2003. Author and Professional Poker Player Andy
Bellin gave a talk on "Poker and Math as They Apply to Life." The evening
included an elegant dinner, a question and answer session about poker and
mathematics, and a briefing for the group on the Institute by David
Eisenbud.
The eighth Museion was held at MSRI on October 23, 2003, and began with a
particularly breathtaking sunset during the cocktail hour. Professor Yvan
Saint-Aubin, Professor of the Departement de mathematiques et de statistique
of University de Montreal gave a talk on "The Sounds of Music." The musical
program, the first movement of Brahms First Sonata for Cello and Piano, was
performed by Heath Marlow on cello, and Allison Lovejoy on piano. The
evening included an Institute briefing for donors by David Eisenbud.
The ninth Museion was held at MSRI on June 10, 2004, and followed the
groundbreaking ceremony for MSRI's new building. Richard C. Atkinson,
seventeenth president of the University of California, gave a talk on
"College Admissions and the SAT." The musical program preceded dinner and
was performed by Pete Muller at the piano. The evening included comments by
David Eisenbud and Institute Trustee and Archimedes Chairman Will Hearst.
The tenth Museion was held at the home of Museion members Lani and Richard Grinold on October 28, 2004. Professor Reviel Netz, Professor of Classics and Philosophy at Stanford University gave a talk on "The News from Archimedes." Professor Netz talk described his research restoring the once-lost Archimedes Palimpsest. The musical program also involved a great work once lost, "Bach's Suite V for Violoncello solo, BWV 1011 in C minor" was performed by cellist Victoria Ehrlich. Martha Wasley later joined her on Piano. The evening included an elegant dinner, a dessert buffet, a question and answer session about the Palimpsest, and a briefing for the group on the Institute by David Eisenbud.
The eleventh Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee James H. & Marilyn Simons
in Manhattan on December 8, 2004. Noted Author, Physicist and Mathematician
Brian Greene gave a talk on "The Fabric of the Cosmos." The evening included
an elegant dinner, a lively question and answer session about String Theory
and Einstein's theories, and an Institute briefing for the group by Director
David Eisenbud. A special toast was made by host Jim Simons in memory of
his friend and colleague Shiing-Shen Chern, who was MSRI's co-founder and
first director.
The twelfth Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee William R. Hearst on March 17, 2005. The reception was at his residence in the downtown San Francisco Four Seasons, and dinner was served in the hotel. The talk was "How to Beat Children at Their Own Games" given by John Horton Conway. Professor Conway's delightful talk included the games of Hackenbush, Dots and Boxes, Sprouts and (its variant) Brussels Sprouts, and Museion members got some special tips on 3x3 Tic Tac Toe with three players. By the end of the evening we were all thoroughly convinced that children's games are not trivial! A Mozart piano trio, also brilliant, proved an apt counterpart. Martha Wasley on piano, Kineko Okumura on violin, William Barbini on viola, and Victoria Ehrlich on cello performed "Klavier Quartette K.493". A briefing for members was provided by Institute Director David Eisenbud, and Deputy Director Hugo Rossi, Special Projects Director Robert Osserman, and by Paul Zeitz who is organizing the San Francisco Math Circle.
The fourteenth Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee James H. & Marilyn Simons in Manhattan on Wednesday, February 1, 2006. Darrell Duffie, The James Irvin Miller Professor of Finance at The Graduate School of Business, at Stanford University gave a talk on The Puzzling Price of Corporate Default Risk (and the New Markets for Credit Derivatives). The evening included an elegant dinner, a lively question and answer session about Professor Duffie's findings, and an Institute briefing for the group by Director David Eisenbud.
The fifteenth Museion was held at MSRI on Thursday, November 2, 2007, and followed the dedication of MSRI's newly expanded, renovated Austine McDonnell Hearst Library. Ken Ribet, Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkley, gave a talk on "Modularity: Why is it a Hot Topic." The dedication preceded dinner and included a welcome and thanks to Will Hearst by Institute Director David Eisnebud, and musical program of classical guitar.
The sixteenth Museion was hosted by MSRI trustee James H. & Marilyn Simons in Manhattan on Wednesday, January 31, 2007. Isadore M. Singer, Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-founder of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute gave a talk on "Changing Patterns in the Support of Science. The evening included an elegant dinner, a lively question and answer session about Professor Singer's fifty years in service to the White House and other federal councils, committees, and boards, and an Institute briefing for the group by Director David Eisenbud. Paul Chern and May Chu, the children of MSRI's co-founder Shiing-Shen Chern were also present, as was Alan Alda, whose efforts in support of science education were praised.
The seventeenth Museion was held at the home of MSRI trustee Ed and Rosemary
Baker in Piedmont on Thursday, May 10, 2007. A pre-Museion talk was given
by Julian Brooks, Curator of the Drawings Department of the J. Paul Getty
Museum, which animated the Baker's collection of illustrations. Jonathan
Berger, Associate Professor of Music at Stanford University, and Co-Director
of the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SICA) and the
University's Arts Initiative, gave a talk on "The Ghost of Johannes Brahms".
He demonstrated how the mathematical technique wavelets has been used to
denoise a recording thought to be of Brahams playing the First Hungarian
Dance.
The evening included an elegant outdoor dinner, greeting by Ed Baker,
welcoming comments by Will Hearst, and an announcement by Ed Baker of a $10
million gift from their fellow MSRI trustee Jim Simons. $5 million of the
gift will endow the Eisenbud Professorship, in honor of David Eisenbud.
David Eisenbud announced the appointment of his successor, the Institute's
fifth director, Robert Bryant of Duke University. David led a champagne
toast to Robert's appointment and success.
David Eisenbud's ten years of service as director were praised by Archimedes
Society Chairman Will Hearst, and he received a standing ovation from the
guests.
The eighteenth Museion was held at MSRI in Shiing-Shen Chern Hall on Thursday, November 8, 2007. Robert D. MacPherson, Professor, Institute for Advanced Study and member of the MSRI Scientific Advisory Committee, gave a talk on "How Crystals Grow Inside Solids".
Guests enjoyed a musical interlude performed by Shawnette Sulker, Soprano, and Ron Valentino, on Piano in the Simons Auditorium. They performed: "The Infinite Shining Heavens by R. Vaughan Williams: Aprés un Rêve (After a Dream) by Gabriel Fauré; Säusle, liebe Myrthe (Murmur Sweet Myrtle) by Richard Strauss, and The Silver Aria (from the Ballad of Baby Doe) by Douglas Moore.
The evening includedan elegant dinner, greeting by Will Hearst, and comments by Robert Bryant.
The nineteenth Museion was held at the home of MSRI trustee Jim and Marilyn Simons on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. The lecture, "On a book by Three of the Deepest Russian mathematicians of the Last Century: "Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning" featured Dennis Sullivan, who holds a joint appointment as Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and as Einstein Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY). Professor Sullivan's talk focused on the recent resolution of the Poincaré Conjecture, one of mathematics long-standing "million dollar" problems. It was resolved in the positive by Grigory Perelman of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Museion host Jim Simons, who is collaborating with Sullivan in a mathematics research project, added an interesting series of remarks following the lecture. These served to put the conjecture and its resolution into a wider historical context and thereby to explain its importance for mathematics. In particular, he explained how, seemingly paradoxically, the corresponding conjecture about spaces of dimensions higher than three had turned out to be much easier to prove and he impressed upon the audience the complexity and power of Perelman's solution.
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