ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On Wednesday, September 17, the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series at Bard College presents Williams College mathematics professor Colin Adams, a leading lecturer and scholar on knot theory—the branch of topology that deals with closed, non-self-intersecting curves. Adams will deliver his lecture, “Blown Away: What ‘Knot’ to Do When Sailing,” in character as Sir Randolph Bacon III, and will show how an understanding of the mathematical theory of knots helped save Bacon in a risky high seas adventure. Adams is the author of The Knot Book: An Elementary Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Knots. No nautical or mathematical background is needed for the lecture, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Olin Hall. The talk is free and open to the public and is presented by Bard’s Distinguished Scientist Lecture series.

 

Colin Adams is the Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1983. He is particularly interested in the mathematical theory of knots, and their applications and connections with hyperbolic geometry. In addition to The Knot Book, he is the co-author, with Joel Hass and Abigail Thompson, of How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide and How to Ace the Rest of Calculus: The Streetwise Guide. Having authored a variety of research articles on knot theory and hyperbolic 3-manifolds, he is also known for giving mathematical lectures in the guise of Mel Slugbate, a sleazy real estate agent. A recipient of the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Distinguished Teaching Award from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in 1998, he was a Polya Lecturer for the MAA for 1998–2000 and is a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer for 2000–02. He is also the author of a mathematical humor column called “Mathematically Bent” which appears in Mathematical Intelligencer.