We cordially invite you to join the Joint Distinguished Lecture held by Hong Kong Mathematical Society and CAS AMSS-PolyU Joint Laboratory in Applied Mathematics. The lecture will be presented by Prof. Sir John Ball, Heriot-Watt University and Institute for Advanced Study (City University of Hong Kong).

Details are as follows:

Date:   5 December 2018 (Wednesday)
Time:   4:00pm– 5:00pm 
Venue: Room Y302, Core Y, PolyU
Title:    Some mathematical problems for liquid crystals
Please refer to the attached poster for further information. Should you have any queries, please contact 
Miss Natalie Cheung (email: natalie.cheung@polyu.edu.hk).

Abstract: The lecture will give an introduction to classical theories of liquid crystals and discuss some related problems, such as the stability of universal solutions, exterior problems and thin films.

Biography:  Sir John Ball is currently Professor of Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford, where he was formerly Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy. He has made fundamental contributions to nonlinear partial differential equations, the calculus of variations and their applications to materials science and liquid crystals. He was a member of the first Abel Prize Committee in 2002, and of the Fields Medal Committee in 1998 and 2006. 
From 1996-1998 he was president of the London Mathematical Society, and from 2003-2006 president of the International Mathematical Union (IMU). From 2011-2018 he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Council for Science. He has received many distinguished awards and honours, including the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2006), the Sylvester Medal (2009),  the John von Neumann Prize (2012), the King Faisal Prize for Science (2018) and the Leonardo da Vinci award (2018). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Foreign Member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Istituto Lombardo.