Kyoto Prize Winner Speaks to Students about Graph Theory

April 11, 2011

 On April 5, 2011, László Lovász, winner of year's Kyoto Prize in basic sciences, shared his mathematical knowledge with an attentive young audience at the University of California, San Diego. High school students from San Diego County and Tijuana, Mexico, were also in attendance.

 Taking part in a three-day Kyoto Prize Symposium, Lovász, in a 54-minute speech, touched on the history of graph theory and addressed how large graphs and networks are pertinent to today’s world.

“I’ve found that many parts of mathematics are connected to graph theory,” Lovász told his audience. “Mathematics is much more unified today than it was 50 years ago.”

Glenn Smith, an 18-year-old senior at Coronado High School, said, “I thought it was interesting." “Some of what he said passed over my head," Smith indicated, "but I liked the fact that he incorporated real-world examples into his speech.”

Andy Wilson, a 23-year-old UCSD math graduate student, said, “I like general talks in math because it reminds me what it’s about on a larger scale."

Source: Sign On San Diego (April 6, 2011)