Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing

Description

This talk will introduce groups of self-diffeomorphisms on manifolds and the topological structures they admit. We will explore the example of diffeomorphisms of the 2-sphere which Stephen Smale proved was homotopy equivalent to the group of 3-D rotations SO(3). We will examine key ideas from his proof with the aid of diagrams to establish strong visual intuition. Finally, the talk will briefly state more recent developments on the topic of diffeomorphism groups.