Hamilton Lecture 2023 ‘How surprisingly intricate are random structures?’

Objects chosen at random (among uncountably many possibilities) can turn out to have properties that can appear very unusual at first sight. We will discuss this idea in the light of concrete mathematical examples, some from contemporary probability theory.

About Professor Wendelin Werner

Wendelin Werner is Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. Professor Werner’s research focuses on random processes and related theories in probability theory and mathematical physics. He completed his PhD in Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie and has held academic positions in CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, and ETH Zürich.

In 2006 Professor Werner received the Fields Medal "for his contributions to the development of stochastic Loewner evolution, the geometry of two-dimensional Brownian motion, and conformal field theory". He has been awarded numerous other honours and prizes including the Fermat Prize in 2001 and the Heinz-Gumin Prize in 2016 and was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2008.

Read Professor Werner's interview with Claire O'Connell in the Irish Times on Saturday, 14 October 2023 here.

The Royal Irish Academy Hamilton Lecture is kindly sponsored by Ibec.