Giving a talk at Eli and Ricky’s geometry seminar. (October 19, 2021)

One of my favorite seminars in the world is the Courant Institute (NYU) Geometry seminar that Eli Goodman and Ricky Pollack started in the 1980s (I think). On Tuesday October 19, I will give a seminar, details follow.

Jacob Eli Goodman (1933-2021). Eli (as we knew him) was a dear friend and a great geometer. He  passed away a few days ago.  

Talking at Eli and Ricky’s seminar

This semester I am visiting NYU and was invited to give the NYU geometry seminar that for many years was run by Eli Goodman and Ricky Pollack. It was always one of my favorite seminars and since the mid eighties I have given there many lectures. At least twice, my lectures were on Halloween day and I came to them with a costume. My story about a taxi ride to give a seminar lecture appeared here and was even translated to Russian. Janos Pach, who joined the organizers sometime in the 90s, once gave the craziest introduction I ever received. Some lectures had large attendance, while in others there were only a few participants. Once I gave a lecture where some participants were slowly leaving, while others were sleeping. I noticed one participant in deep slumber. “At least he will stay,” I comforted myself, but then when I next wrote on the blackboard and turned back to the audience, he disappeared. 

In recent years the seminar was promoted and was also named the NYC geometry, seminar and is run by Boris Aronov, Adam Sheffer, and Joe Malkevich.  My talk will take place on Tuesday October 19, 2021. Initially the invitation was for a zoom lecture as many participants (and speakers) prefer zoom, and NYU has strict rules about visitors attending talks. But I preferred a face-to-face event and proposed to send a 15-minute introductory video and then give the lecture in an informal discussion manner in a park near NYU. At the end, we decided on a sort of mixed event: So here is the plan:

1. The lecture’s title is “Open problems about convex polytopes”
2. Here is a 15 minute introductory video. 
3. We will meet for an informal discussion in front of Warren Weaver Hall (231 Mercer Street) on the Mercer Street side, around noon. The plan is to discuss open problems about convex polytopes in the nearby garden.
4. We will then meet for a hybrid seminar lecture; the Zoom talk will start at 2pm as usual, I and others who attend in person will head to Baruch College; the talk will take place in room 6-215 (6th floor). All are welcome to join. You just need to be fully vaccinated and fill this out in advance: https://app.cleared4.org/self-registration;
5. Click here To join via zoom (at 14:00) Meeting ID: 997 2747 4288 Passcode: m^2/3n^2/3

(Please feel free to join any subset from 2) , 3) and 4).) 

Two of the problems that I will mention in the lecture (at least) are closely related to joint work by Eli and Ricky. 

Eli was also a gifted composer and here is a beautiful performance by Craig Ketter of his wonderful piece “variations on a theme of Beethoven”.