Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Generic Special Objects, Sławomir Solecki

Dalrymple Lecture Series

I will talk about mathematical objects that have two seemingly contradictory attributes. On the one hand, they are generic within a given class, in the sense that if most objects within the class have a property, then our object has it as well. So generic objects are common. On the other hand, they are very special if they exist, for example, there is always, in essence, at most one such object within a given class. Generic objects show up in various areas of mathematics, for example, in topology, geometry, and analysis. They tend to have astonishing mathematical features. Can you …