“Fizmatclub” or “Phys-Math Club” (Physics and Mathematics Club of
Steklov Institute of Mathematics at Saint-Petersburg)
Fizmatclub is a formally nonexistent educational organization. The
mission is to present a choice of courses in modern mathematics and
mathematical physics to those students of St. Petersburg universities
who really need it and ready to spend an extra time tonight and at
weekends. The attendance on our courses is free for everyone. The
students are encouraged to pass exams at the end of the courses, but
it is not a necessary requirement. Successful and active students who
demonstrate high skills in theory and especially in solving nontrivial
problems can expect a carrier support from the top mathematicians of
Saint-Petersburg and a material support in attendance of Russian and
International mathematical schools for students.
Fizmatclub was started at fall 2004. Weekly the courses and seminars
are attended by the audience starting from 40 (at 2004) and up to 300
(in 2010) students. Our students are of very different age and
background. This reflects in a big diversity in the program. We have
a Sundays program for senior high school students and primary undergraduates.
There the aim is to fill gaps in school education, for example so called “Feynman program” is devoted to reading “Lectures on Physics” by Richard Feynman with detailed
discussing of the background mathematics. The same audience are
addressed various courses with the aim to show how elementary problems
can easily turn to be very deep. To level gaps in university
education we are specially supporting students-for-students courses
and seminars, where strong graduate students are teaching and
directing younger or less educated students. Also we are supporting
students self-education reading seminars especially for modern
subjects where qualified lectures are not available is St. Petersburg
(sadly, there is a lot of such subjects now). On such
student-to-student courses and seminars the circles of scientific
friends are formed and this is very important from our point of view.
The main core of the program is various advanced courses and seminars
addressed to postgraduate and PhD students. Here the stress is made
on broadening the scientific horizon, one of the slogans is
“Mathematicians should learn physics, physicists should learn modern
mathematics”. For Saint-Petersburg we have recovered after the long
break the systematic courses in Algebraic Geometry, modern Quantum
Field Theory (understandable for mathematicians), Geometric Measure
Theory and many others. We have a unique course in now proved to be
very important A.D. Aleksandov Metric Geometry. Due to lack of
lecturers on many important subjects we are developing live Internet
lectures and seminars where students are lectured by lecturers from
Moscow and from abroad.
The detailed information on Fizmatclub activity is available in Russian
at our site http://club.pdmi.ras.ru
List of Fizmatclub courses for the fall 2010
Fizmatclub is governed by informal Scietific Counsil and enjoys full
support of St. Petersburg mathematical community. It uses the
infrastructure of Steklov Institute of Mathematics at
Saint-Petersburg. Fizmatclub is currently sponsored half-to half by
Russian Academy of Sciences and D. Zymin's "Dynasty" foundation.
Admistarator of Fizmatclub is Nikolai Mnev (PDMI, SPbSU)
Steklov Institute of Mathematics at Saint-Petersburg)
Fizmatclub is a formally nonexistent educational organization. The
mission is to present a choice of courses in modern mathematics and
mathematical physics to those students of St. Petersburg universities
who really need it and ready to spend an extra time tonight and at
weekends. The attendance on our courses is free for everyone. The
students are encouraged to pass exams at the end of the courses, but
it is not a necessary requirement. Successful and active students who
demonstrate high skills in theory and especially in solving nontrivial
problems can expect a carrier support from the top mathematicians of
Saint-Petersburg and a material support in attendance of Russian and
International mathematical schools for students.
Fizmatclub was started at fall 2004. Weekly the courses and seminars
are attended by the audience starting from 40 (at 2004) and up to 300
(in 2010) students. Our students are of very different age and
background. This reflects in a big diversity in the program. We have
a Sundays program for senior high school students and primary undergraduates.
There the aim is to fill gaps in school education, for example so called “Feynman program” is devoted to reading “Lectures on Physics” by Richard Feynman with detailed
discussing of the background mathematics. The same audience are
addressed various courses with the aim to show how elementary problems
can easily turn to be very deep. To level gaps in university
education we are specially supporting students-for-students courses
and seminars, where strong graduate students are teaching and
directing younger or less educated students. Also we are supporting
students self-education reading seminars especially for modern
subjects where qualified lectures are not available is St. Petersburg
(sadly, there is a lot of such subjects now). On such
student-to-student courses and seminars the circles of scientific
friends are formed and this is very important from our point of view.
The main core of the program is various advanced courses and seminars
addressed to postgraduate and PhD students. Here the stress is made
on broadening the scientific horizon, one of the slogans is
“Mathematicians should learn physics, physicists should learn modern
mathematics”. For Saint-Petersburg we have recovered after the long
break the systematic courses in Algebraic Geometry, modern Quantum
Field Theory (understandable for mathematicians), Geometric Measure
Theory and many others. We have a unique course in now proved to be
very important A.D. Aleksandov Metric Geometry. Due to lack of
lecturers on many important subjects we are developing live Internet
lectures and seminars where students are lectured by lecturers from
Moscow and from abroad.
The detailed information on Fizmatclub activity is available in Russian
at our site http://club.pdmi.ras.ru
List of Fizmatclub courses for the fall 2010
- I. Frenkel (Yale , USA) "Representation theory and Physics" (recordings are available http://club.pdmi.ras.ru/moodle/course/view.php?id=61)
- A. Vershik (PDMI) "Combinatorial mesure theory"
- S. Ivanov (PDMI) "Metric geometry and Aleksandrov spaces" (lectures)
- N. Kosovskij (SPbSU) "Metric geometry and Aleksandrov spaces" (seminar)
- P. Mnev (PDMI, Uni Zurich) "Introduction to Feinman's continual integral for mathematicians" (lectures + seminar, recordings are available http://club.pdmi.ras.ru/moodle/course/view.php?id=57 )
- I. Panin (PDMI) "Algebraic geometry of projective varieties"
- Y. Porosov (Uni Pisa) "Introduction to bioinformatics"
- T. Suslina (SPbSU) "Periodic differential operators"
- D. Maximov (SPbSU) "Absolutely summing operators"
- M. Bondarko (SPbSU) "Weight and t-structures in triangulated categories. Applications to motives"
- I. Zhukov (SPbSU) "Elements of singularity theory"
- I. Zhukov (SPbSU) "Algebraic geometry and a bit of Arithmetics"
- N. Kalinin (PDMI, PhD student) "Differential topology"
- G. Panina (SPIIRAS) "Polygonal joint mechanisms" (seminar for senior high school students and primary undergraduates)
- G. Panina (SPIIRAS) "Combinatorics of convex polytopes"
- K. Pimenov (SPbSU) "Galois cohomology"
- A. Shuvaev(PNPI), E.Antonov (PNPI) "Seminar on Quantum Field Theory"
- K. Vijatkina (SPbSU) "Basics of computer geometry"
- E. Antonov (PNPI), A. Monakhov (PTI) "From classical to quantum mechanics" (seminar for undergraduates)
- M. Sorokina (SPbSU, postgraduate student), V Kasatkin (SPbSU postgraduate student) "Generalizations of Hamiltonian mechanics"
- P. Bibikov (SPbSU) "Quantum theory of one-dimensional Bose-gas"
- F. Petrov (PDMI) "Measure concentration"
- K. Pimenov (SPbSU) "Elements of classic algebraic geometry" (seminar for undergraduates )
Fizmatclub is governed by informal Scietific Counsil and enjoys full
support of St. Petersburg mathematical community. It uses the
infrastructure of Steklov Institute of Mathematics at
Saint-Petersburg. Fizmatclub is currently sponsored half-to half by
Russian Academy of Sciences and D. Zymin's "Dynasty" foundation.
Admistarator of Fizmatclub is Nikolai Mnev (PDMI, SPbSU)