Topology – The Conversation

There’s no Nobel Prize in mathematics, but math undergirds much high-level science. The 2016 Nobel in Physics rewards work in topology, a branch of math with multiple real world applications.

Techniques from topology can help us understand DNA and improve drug development.

When planning major infrastructure investments, it’s important to know which road, freight and information networks are most important – and which proposals might make things worse, not better.

Don’t worry, understanding the work is a piece of cake. But it may make you hungry.

Mathematicians are like anatomists learning how a body works, or navigators charting new waters.

Collect all the data you want, but if you can’t figure out what you’re looking at, it’s useless. Topologists look for spatial relationships to figure out what the data can tell us.

As President Biden signs the bipartisan infrastructure bill, it’s important to determine which road, freight and information networks are the most vital to protect.

Art can help us explore and understand some of the more abstract ideas in maths - such a topology.

Forget solid, liquid, gas. This research used advanced math to theorize about topological phases of matter. And over the years experiments with matter and cold atoms have been validating the ideas.

The inventor of the brain-teasing Möbius strip died 150 years ago, but his creation continues to spawn new ideas in mathematics.