Speaker: John Ball (Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University, Fellow of The Royal Society)

Time: 14:30—15:30, October11, 2013

Place: Lecture Hall, Second Floor, Jia Yi Bing Building, 82 Jing Chun Yuan, PKU

Abstract: Cracks, cavities, dislocations, phase boundaries and disclinations are all examples of material defects. In some mathematical models they may be described by singularities in solutions, whereas in others they may be represented differently. The lecture will describe some examples in which the understanding of such defects raises interesting mathematical, scientific and philosophical issues.