The Hakubi Project

   Along with the Fields and Gauss prizes, the Nevanlinna prize is one of three prizes awarded at the International Congress of Mathematicians, which is held every 4 years. This Congress was held in late August this year). It is one of the most prestigious prizes in the area of theoretical computer science. While there have been winners of the Fields and Gauss prizes from Kyoto University , nobody from Japan has ever won the Nevanlinna prize since its establishment in 1982.

   When we analyze the achievements of the Nevanlinna prize winners in the past, they can be classified in the following two ways. One is significant technical innovations for core problems in computer science. Razborov and Wigderson achieved significant contributions for Boolean circuit complexity. My Hakubi research plan is aiming at this direction. The other one is creation of new research areas from inter-disciplinary approaches. Shor made an algorithmic innovation for quantum computation, which has implications for the areas of physics and computer science. Kleinberg gave prominent mathematical models and analyses for small network networks, which originate from social science. These structures appear in various areas such as human relations, the internet, ecology, and all brains.

   In this seminar, we will focus on the latter contribution, and consider strategies to foster Nevanlinna prize winners from Kyoto University in the future.