When : Thursday, October 21, 2010 - 13:00
Speaker : Prof. Piergiorgio Odifreddi
Affiliation : Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Matematica
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
Abstract: Fin dai tempi dei Greci, la riflessione sulla natura, sugli oggetti e
sui metodi della matematica ha attirato l'interesse dei filosofi,
Platone e Aristotele in particolare. Questo interesse e' continuato
anche in tempi piu' recenti, da Kant a Russell. Simmetricamente,
questo stesso tipo di riflessioni è stato condotto anche dai
matematici, primi fra tutti Hilbert e Brouwer.
Esiste però anche un altro modo di riflettere sulla matematica,
analizzandone non la natura generale, ma i suoi aspetti particolari:
le definizioni, le dimostrazioni e i teoremi. Alcuni esempi
elementari mostrano come questa riflessione possa essere utile e
istruttiva, e a volte sorprendente. Ad esempio, meditare su uno dei
primi risultati della matematica greca, la scoperta degli
irrazionali, può aprire le porte a uno dei grandi risultati della
logica del Novecento, il teorema di Godel.
When : Friday, September 24, 2010 - 17:00
Speaker : Dr. Pratap Pattnaik
Affiliation : IBM Research
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
BIO
Dr. Pratap Pattnaik is an IBM Fellow, and is currently the Senior Manager of the Scalable Systems group in the IBM Research Division. Over the past ten years, he and his team have developed a number of key technologies for IBM's high end Servers.
His current research work includes the development and design of computer systems, including system and processor hardware, operating systems and autonomic components for IBM's UNIX and mainframe Servers. In the past he has worked in the field of parallel algorithms for Molecular Dynamics, solutions of linear systems, Quantum Monte Carlo and theory of High Temperature Superconductivity, communication subsystems, fault management subsystems, etc. He also has over ten years of research experience in various aspects of integrated circuit design and fabrication, silicon processing, and condensed matter theory.
ABSTRACT
Over past few years the, information technology (IT) has played a key role in the world economy and in up lifting many peoples from a life of poverty. This talk will briefly discuss some of these recent developments in the IT and how it affects the entire stack (Hardware, software, algorithms, and operations). It will give an example of how the changes permeate in to details of the processor micro architecture. Also it will touch on the opportunities to create a Smarter Planet that will significantly improve the yield per unit of resource consumed (i.e. value to mankind). It is already happening, at a moderate scale, at various isolated areas around the globe. The driving force behind it is our ability to faithfully represent a large amount physical events & data in high fidelity digital form. It is ushering a new phase for mankind like the Industrial revolution did by improving the production per unit of labor, through the deployment of and advances in mechanical & electrical technology. The talk will identify some of areas of research needed in support of smarter planet path.
When : Friday, September 10, 2010 - 13:30
Speaker : Prof. Johann Kolar
Affiliation : ETH Zurigo, Department of Electrical Engineering
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
BIO The author of more than 250 technical papers and books, Chris Byrnes received an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm in 1998 and in 2002 was named a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and in 2005 was awarded the Reid Prize from SIAM for his contributions to Control Theory and Differential Equations. He will hold the Giovanni Prodi Chair in Nonlinear Analysis at the University of Wuerzburg in the summer of 2009 and spend the 2009-2010 academic year as Gast Professor at KTH, supported by the Swedish Strategic Research Foundation.
ABSTRACT
Power Electronics, i.e. electronic processing of electric energy (eenergy) is a key technology for improving the efficiency of electric energy utilization and the realization of renewable energy systems. This lecture first discusses the steadily growing demand for electric energy and reviews inspiring concepts of future solar power and wind power systems like Desertec and airborne high-altitude wind turbines. In this context also the ETH MEGA Cube research project aiming for an ultra compact bidirectional 1.2kV/12kV isolated 20kHz DC/DC converter is introduced. Furthermore, general applications of industrial power electronics converters are discussed and significant potentials for increasing the energy efficiency are highlighted for industrial drive systems. This naturally leads to a novel approach for Pareto-optimal design of power electronics converter considering simultaneously several performance indices as e.g. efficiency, power density and costs. The effectiveness of the new concept will be shown at the example of ultra efficient and ultra compact single-phase PFC rectifier systems for IT and supercomputer systems. Finally, potential future extensions of the application area of power electronics systems are identified and resulting challenges in research and education are summarized.
