UQ Nesbit Lecture on Knot Theory

Event: 2023 Annual Nesbit Lecture
Date/Time: Thursday 23 November at 6:30–8:30 pm AEST
Venue: Long Room, Customs House, 399 Queen St. Brisbane
Speaker: Prof. Jessica Purcell, Mathematics Department, UQ
Bookings via EventBrite.

What does a humble knot have to do with the chemistry & medicine impacting our lives?
Take a journey with us and learn about knot theory.

Just what’s in a knot? At the inaugural Nesbit Lecture, renowned expert Professor Jessica Purcell will examine the ins and outs of knot theory, a branch of mathematics described, at once, as aesthetically beautiful and perplexingly complex.  Go beyond the shoelace and phone charger knots you know to a world where knots have no end and where understanding them offers game-changing insights into everything from data encryption to DNA, quantum physics to molecular protein.

Plus, who doesn’t like a good puzzle?

About the presenter

Professor Jessica Purcell received a PhD in Mathematics from Stanford University and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Texas in Austin and the University of Oxford before moving to Brigham Young University from 2007 to 2015. She joined Monash University in 2015 and is currently Professor of Mathematics in the School of Mathematics. She has been an ARC Future Fellow (2017 to 2021), a Von Neumann Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (2015), a Sloan Research Fellow (2011), and held a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation of the USA (2013-2015). Her research is now supported by funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

About the presenter

The Nesbit Lecture was established to honour Dr John Nesbit and is supported through his generous contribution to the School of Mathematics and Physics. A University of Queensland Medicine alumnus, Dr Nesbit had a deep love of mathematics and was ever an aspiring mathematician.