The P vs. NP Problem
Dr. Avi Wigderson spoke about “The P vs. NP Problem” at the first Math Lovers Forum event in October 2013. Slides from the lecture on efficient computation, Internet security, and the limits of human knowledge are available as a PDF download, and a video of another lecture on the same theme presented at ETH Zürich in 2012 can be viewed on YouTube.
Speaker Profile
Dr. Avi Wigderson is Professor of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. After studying Computer Science at Technion in Haifa, he obtained his PhD in 1983 from Princeton University. He then held various visiting positions including at IBM Research in San Jose, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, and the Institute for Advanced Study. From 1986 to 2003 he was associate professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Wigderson is a leading figure in the mathematics of computer science, with fundamental contributions, in particular in complexity theory, randomness, and cryptography. He has been invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Tokyo (1990), and Zurich (1994), and plenary speaker in Madrid (2006). He is a recipient of the Nevanlinna Prize (1994), and the Gödel Prize (2009), amongst other awards.