The Algorithmic Lens: How the Computational Perspective is Transforming the Sciences

4^th March 2009, 15:00 Lecture Theatre C
Professor Christos Papadimitriou
U.C. Berkeley

Abstract

Computational research transforms the sciences (physical, mathematical, life or social) not just by empowering them analytically, but mainly by providing a novel and powerful perspective which often leads to unforeseen insights. Examples abound: quantum computation provides the right forum for questioning and testing some of the most basic tenets of quantum physics, while statistical mechanics has found in the efficiency of randomized algorithms a powerful metaphor for phase transitions. In mathematics, the P vs. NP problem has joined the list of the most profound and consequential problems, and in economics considerations of computational complexity revise predictions of economic behavior and affect the design of economic mechanisms such as auctions. Finally, in biology some of the most fundamental problems, such as understanding the brain and evolution, can be productively recast in computational terms. My talk is structured around eight vignettes exemplifying this pattern.

Biography

Christos H. Papadimitriou is C. Lester Hogan Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley. Before joining Berkeley in 1996 he taught at Harvard, MIT, Athens Polytechnic, Stanford, and UCSD. He has written five textbooks and many research articles on algorithms and complexity, and their applications to optimization, databases, AI, economics, and the Internet. He holds a PhD from Princeton, and honorary doctorates from ETH (Zurich), the University of Macedonia, and the University of Athens. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the ACM. His novel "Turing" was published by MIT Press in 2003, and his graphic novel "Logicomix" (with Apostolos Doxiadis) will be published in English by Bloomsbury in 2009.