Abel-gjesteforelesning og middag

Se rektors tale og bilder fra middagen nederst i artikkelen.

50-60 for det meste UiA-ansatte - og selvsagt var mange fra Fakultet for teknologi og realfag møtt fram - overvar John T. Tates gjesteforelesning.

Abelprisvinneren foreleste om matematikk, på et elevert nivå - noe som nok hadde den konsekvens at ikke alle fikk med seg alle poengene, om en kan si det på den måten. I hvert fall ikke de som ventet en gjesteforelesning med matematikk satt inn i et samfunnsperspektiv eller noe i den retning.

Men de som kunne følge foreleseren hadde en gylden stund.

Etter forelesningen gikk Tate ut på campusplenen og moret seg over matematiske problemstillinger sammen med femteklassingene som hygget seg der.

Etterpå var det lunsj i UiAs styrerom på Campus Kristiansand - før det var høytidelig middag på Myren gård om kvelden. En middag som for øvrig var svært vellykket ifølge flere deltakere. Både stedet i seg selv, maten og serveringen som ble utført av personale fra Klubben, var meget bra.

Bildene tyder i alle fall på at stemningen var god.

University of Texas at Austin omtaler John Tate og Abelprisen:

At han får prisen (24. mars):

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2010/03/24/john_tate_abel_prize/

Universitets-presidenten vil lyssette UT-bygningen i orange:

http://blogs.utexas.edu/towertalk/2010/03/24/ut-professor-john-tate-receives-highest-distinction-in-math/

og 1. april lyste det:

http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/04/01/tower_orange_john_tate/

Texas Science – news from the College of Natural Sciences:

http://web5.cns.utexas.edu/news/2010/03/john-tate-abel-prize/

Tate hedres 12. mai:

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/regents-honor-math-professor

UiOs nettsted Uniforum var til stede da Tate mottok Abelprisen 25. mai:

Besøket av årets Abelpris-vinner John Torrence Tate.

Tale ved middagen på Myhren gård 27.mai 2010

Rektor Torunn Lauvdal, Universitetet i Agder

I want to say something about beauty and challenges. Not the beauty of the park, the rhododendrons, this building etc, but beauty and challenge related to our universities.

As a young university, we have been forced to think, what is a university, and what is a modern university? What contribution should a new generation of universities give to our society?

At the opening ceremony in 2007 we used the symbols rock and brocade. Rock symbolizing the young and may be rebellious. And brocade representing the good, almost thousand years old tradition of the european university.

We have many ideas of what the new content should be, but we of course put heavy weight on the good sides of the university tradition, namely the beauty of scientific inquiry and of educating young people.

There are different legacies here. There is the beauty of the liberal Cambridge-Oxford tradition, educating ”gentlemen at home in any society”, as well as in the Berlin-tradition, the humboldtian research university. Both live on in our institution, side by side with new ideas of interaction with our surrounding society, innovation, use of new technology and media, to mentione some.

In the university tradition, both from Berlin and Oxford, there is a celebration of excellence, a celebration of the beauty of excellence and talent. Talents like Niels Henrik Abel. Like John Torrence Tate. Excellence that brings science to a new level, and has great impact on the society. This celebration of excellence is of course some kind of elitism. Of course. But it’s real and we need it.

On the other side we as a university have a social responsibility for educating many groups in our society. And all students have talents. It is only a question of how it is developed and nourished, and not the least, how it is used.

Professor Tate, on the lawn today you met children fro Gjerstad, the place where Nils Henrik Abel grew up. We know that, even today few of the young people from that area go into higher education. Some weeks ago, the mayor of Gjerstad asked us to join them in an long time effort to change that. We took the challenge.

We have another challenge in our society today. We are extremely worried about the poor recruitment of students to science; mathematics, chemistry, physics. We have to meet that challenge.

What we also saw on the lawn today, was the beauty of curiosity. As parents, teachers, grandparents, we all have observed children’s curiosity, their endless questions, what, where, and not the least why.

This curiosity gives hope, if we we only can treat it right.

This university has an important legacy from one of the institutions that merged and became University of Agder. Kristiansand teachers college, founded in 1839, was regarded as one of the best teacher colleges in Norway. Educating teachers, giving them science based knowledge about the profession’s what, the disciplines, and how, the didactics, is a very important task for the university of Agder. And: a very important side of this is to train teachers to foster talent, not to kill children’s curiosity, but to nourish it and hopefully develop it into a scientific curiosity. As mathematics is concerned, I am proud and happy that we have an excellent staff in didactics of mathematics. One of Europes’s best, I must say. Their research, tutoring and teaching is important in making Norwegian schools give good ecucation not only for the few, but for all.

With these words, I once again thank you, professor Tate, for showing us the beauty of excellence and the beauty of mathematics in your lecture today. We on our side, will pursue what is our task, teaching better mathematics. Finally I ask you all to join us in a toast for ; yes, the beauty of science and the beauty of mathematics.

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