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Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013

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Latest Posts

The Social Cost of Carbon

June 18, 2013

What exactly is the definition of the "social cost of carbon" (SCC)? Who is interested in determining this quantity? Who is interested in its value? Can this even be done and, if so, how accurately? [...]

Königsberg's bridges, Holland's dikes, and Wall Street's downfall

June 17, 2013

As a large crowd gathered at CRM on Friday evening, May 10, to hear Paul Embrechts, Professor of Mathematics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETHZ), everyone was wondering how he would connect "Königsberg's bridges, Holland's dikes, and Wall Street's downfall." [...]

Sixth Simons Public Lecture

Prof. Dr. Rupert Klein (Free University of Berlin) delivered the sixth in the international series of MPE2013 Simons Public Lectures on May 23, 2013, at the Free University of Berlin. The title was CliMathematics: Models, data, structures.

Read more (English) →
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MPE2013 Newsletter

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What is MPE 2013?

More than 100 scientific societies, universities, research institutes, and organizations all over the world have banded together to dedicate 2013 as a special year for the Mathematics of Planet Earth.
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The Next Simons MPE Public Lecture



On Growth and Form: Mathematics, Physics and Biology will be the title of the seventh public lecture in the series to be given by L. Mahadevan (Harvard). The date is September 24, 2013, and the location is Brown University.

 Tickets and information available here

Cartography

Cartography

The shape of the Earth can be approximated by a sphere. Hence, it is impossible to draw maps of the Earth or of regions of the Earth that preserve ratios of distances, and each process of cartography is a compromise. The mathematician John Milnor, Fields medalist in 1962, got interested in determining which projection minimizes the distortion of distances in a neighborhood of a given point.

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The equation of time

The equation of time

Have you already remarked that the time when the Sun is at its highest position varies during the year? The earliest sunset is around December 10, before the winter solstice in Northern hemisphere. Why?

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CALL FOR MPE BLOGGERS

CALL FOR MPE BLOGGERS

A message from Hans Kaper: "We anticipate a daily blog during the entire year 2013. You may choose your date(s) and topic(s) to blog about your favorite event(s). We understand that last-minute changes are part of the action. To register, send a message to blog@mpe2013.org, with an indication of preferred dates and topics."

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Chaos in the Solar System

Chaos in the Solar System

The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars) have chaotic motions. This means that the motions of the planets could become unstable, and the orbit of one planet could cross that of another. Fortunately, this will not occur for billions of years.

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Using mathematical models to eradicate disease

Using mathematical models to eradicate disease

The Guinea Worm Disease, which already affected 50 million people, is almost eradicated with fewer than 2000 cases. What happened? Mathematical modeling helps identifying the most relevant parameter and design a strategy of action.

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How old is the Earth?

How old is the Earth?

The fascinating history of the attempts of calculating the age of the Earth from the gradient of temperature inside the crust and mantle goes back to the 19th century, in parallel with the development of geology, the theory of evolution, and the discovery of radioactivity.

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How does the GPS work?

How does the GPS work?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a triumph of engineering, physics, and mathematics. The 24 satellites orbiting the Earth carry high precision atomic clocks. Using those clocks to determine position requires a sophisticated combination of mathematics and Einstein's theory of relativity – and it all has to be done quickly on devices that do not have a large amount of computational power.

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MPE 2013 National Launches

 
Canadian launch, December 7, Montreal
UK Launch, December 17, Cambridge
US launch, January 9, San Diego
Australian launch, January 29, Melbourne
Portuguese launch, March 5, Lisbon
European launch, March 5, UNESCO in Paris

Exhibition        Graphic

The MPE Exhibition is now on line. It was launched at UNESCO on MPE Day, March 5, 2013. Part of it comes from the modules of the MPE competition.

Winners
Notes on the exhibition


Lecture Series

 

The MPE2013-Simons Public Lecture Series will take place at nine locations around the world. Each lecturer is a leading expert who will explain how the mathematical sciences play a significant role in understanding and solving some of Planet Earth’s important problems. Our community’s best expositors and champions will cover a diverse range of topics in lectures aimed for a public audience.

CMS MPE Lecture Series

 
The Canadian Mathematical Society, in collaboration with the Canadian institutes AARMS, CRM, the Fields Institute and PIMS, is sponsoring a cross-Canada series of lectures for MPE 2013. Eleven of the lectures will be for the general public and the rest for a scientific audience.

MPE2013 thanks the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation for their support of MPE2013 activities.

 

MPE2013 enjoys the patronage of UNESCO and is endorsed by the International Council of Science (ICSU), the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the International Council of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) .
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