***UPDATE***cancelled until further notice***UPDATE*** SMRI Public Lecture ’Light, sound and the magic of the Fourier transform’ Geordie Williamson (University of Sydney) With The University of Sydney’s Maths and Science Ambassador Adam Spencer as MC Where: General Lecture Theatre K2.05, The Quadrangle (A14), The University of Sydney Register: Please email smri.admin@sydney.edu.au before 20th April Abstract How do our eyes perceive colour? How do our ears tell the difference between the sound of a friend talking and the sound of a passing car? The more one thinks about these phenomena, the more miraculous they become. Professor Geordie Williamson FRS FAA will discuss these questions from various points of view, emphasising the fundamental role played by the Fourier transform. This simple idea has become one of the most powerful tools in modern mathematics. Biography Geordie Williamson became the youngest living Fellow of the Royal Society when he was elected in 2018 at the age of 36. After his undergraduate degree at the University of Sydney, he completed his PhD in 2008 at the University of Freiburg, and went on to spend five years as an Advanced Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn. He returned to The University of Sydney as a Professor of Mathematics in 2017, the same year he received the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize. He is the Director of the Sydney Mathematical Research Institute.