Lisa Piccirillo | How You Too Can Solve 50+ Year Old Problems | Talks at Google

Mathematician Lisa Piccirillo discusses her career in mathematics, including the 50-year old Conway knot problem and how she solved it. She will also discuss her mission and priority to get more people from underrepresented groups in tech to succeed in mathematics.

Lisa Piccirillo is a mathematician specializing in the study of three- and four-dimensional spaces. Her work in four-manifold topology has surprising applications to the study of mathematical knots. Perhaps most notably, Piccirillo proved that the Conway knot is not “slice.” For all other small knots, “sliceness” is readily determined, but this particular knot had remained a mystery since John Conway presented it in the mid-1900s. After hearing about the problem at a conference, Piccirillo took only a week to formulate a proof. She is broadly interested in low-dimensional topology and knot theory, and employs constructive techniques in four-manifolds.

Moderated by Jing Wang.

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