UTM Research Excellence Award recipient discusses mathematical musings

The next time you are admiring the spiral pattern of pinecone scales or the seeds of a sunflower, you can reflect on a branch of mathematics that considers the relationships of the symmetry within the plant’s natural design.

With that concept, Professor Konstantin Khanin from U of T Mississauga’s Department of Mathematics and Computational Sciences (MCS) began the 2014 Research Excellence lecture.

“It does not matter which plant you are looking at,” said Khanin. “All of them have a defined number of spirals and the numbers of spirals are consecutive Fibonacci numbers.” Fibonacci, Khanin explained, are a sequence of numbers that are based on the sum of the two previous numbers in the order. For example with Fibonacci the sequence is 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89.

Over the course of the hour, Khanin also covered brief introductions to other concepts such as the biology mechanisms for morphology, the central limit theorem that comes into play with an activity such as coin tossing, critical phenomena in physics, renormalization theory, and Feigenbaum universality.

Khanin’s research covers a broad range of topics, and his academic career is similarly extensive, having held positions around the globe. He completed his PhD in mathematical physics from the L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Moscow, where he served as a research associate until 1994. He held visiting appointments at a range of institutes in various countries including Italy, Switzerland, the US, Israel, France and Japan. After serving in academic positions at Princeton University, the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Khanin joined U of T Mississauga in 2005. He was the chair of MCS from 2008-13. His research interests currently include dynamical systems, turbulence theory and mathematical physics.

Over the course of the hour, Khanin also covered brief introductions to other concepts such as the biology mechanisms for morphology, the central limit theorem that comes into play with an activity such as coin tossing, critical phenomena in physics, renormalization theory and the universal Feigenbaum constant.

Nominations for this year’s Research Excellence Award are now open. Please consider putting forward a candidate from U of T Mississauga for this year’s competition. The deadline for submissions is May 29, 2015.