Karen Uhlenbeck: ‘The Universe Speaks in Numbers’ Podcast

Karen Uhlenbeck, one of the most accomplished mathematicians of the past fifty years, belatedly won the Abel Prize in 2019. Many of her finest contributions have arisen from studies of gauge theories, which came to the fore in the 1960s and 70s. In this candid interview, Uhlenbeck talks about her early career at a time when pure mathematics and theoretical physics were getting back together after what Freeman Dyson has described as ‘the long divorce’.

This and the other interviews in the series – given to Graham by world-class mathematicians and physicists, and by other distinguished thinkers – are available on the podcast The Universe Speaks in Numbers. The podcast complements Graham’s book with the same title.