This conference aims to bring together experts on classical isoperimetric inequalities, sharp functional inequalities, and spectral inequalities for a week-long conference in Carthage, Tunisia, where the mathematical problem named after Queen Dido, the founder of Carthage, originated. The week-long gathering at the end of May 2010 will serve as a training ground for young researchers and graduate students, incorporating an intensive program on techniques of rearrangement, spectral analysis, and geometric inequalities. Through a review of major breakthroughs over the last 30 years, and the confluence of recent results by both senior professors and junior researchers, the conference will serve as a means to bring together the many trends within isoperimetry. The conference will also serve as a forum to bring experts on isoperimetry in Analysis and Mathematical Physics into direct contact with those working near the roots of the problem in Geometry. Through 24 plenary talks (expository, intermediate, and advanced), open problems sessions, and a poster session for graduate students, the conference will serve as a venue for a wide-ranging evaluation of trends within the discipline of isoperimetry. Attendees will be exposed to classical mathematical traditions in the context of isoperimetry (probabilistic, analytic, geometric) and more recent trends (nonlinear flow techniques).
The award provides funding of travel expenses of researchers and students working in the U.S. to participate in the Queen Dido conference. The conference is envisioned as a fully international gathering, and it is essential that the activities of mathematicians in the U.S. be adequately represented. The award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ISOPERIMETRIC PROBLEM OF QUEEN DIDO AND ITS MATHEMATICAL RAMIFICATIONS Carthage, Tunisia, May 21-29, 2010 The Queen Dido conference was held in Carthage, Tunisia, at the precise site where the "isoperimetric problem" originated, an inspirational setting for the many mathematicians who attended from the US and other countries. A total of 64 universities and research centers from 20 countries were represented. Of the 133 attendees, about a third were students from North and South America, Africa, and Europe. The focus of this meeting was the classical isoperimetric inequality and its modern counterparts. According to Virgil's Aeneid, the founding of Carthage involved maximizing the area enclosed by a closed curve of fixed length, hence the name "isoperimetric problem" (equal perimeter), also commonly refered to as the "Problem of Queen Dido-Elyssa". The conference (May 24-29, 2010) brought together many experts working on various classical and modern aspects of the isoperimetric problem (probabilistic, analytic, and geometric). It also included a preliminary series of introductory lectures to maximize its benefit to beginning researchers and students, held at the Tunis Science City (May 21-22, 2010). In addition to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE), the conference received funding from the Tunisian Secretariat of State for Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Centre International de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées (CIMPA), the CNRS-backed laboratoire international associé franco-maghrebin de mathématiques, l'Association pour la Promotion Scientifique de l'Afrique (APSA, Next Einstein Initiative), twelve Tunisian universities, and various ministries (Higher Education and Scientific Research, Tourism, and Culture), and the Tunis Science City. The Tunisian scientific community wholeheartedly embraced this international project, with a conference program including a lecture by prominent Tunisian historian of Carthage M. H. Fantar, who explored the legend of the oxhide at the foundation of Carthage, from its roots in the works of Roman authors to its influence on the development of the western Mediterranean region. This event was co-sponsored by various mathematical bodies, including: The American Mathematical Society (AMS), the European Mathematical Society (EMS), and the Tunisian Mathematical Society (SMT). Beyond the mathematical community, several Tunisian artists, historians, and literary figures embraced the conference since it struck a core chord relating the foundational story of their city, and helped to enlarge the discussion about Queen Dido. This found expression with the live streaming of the opening ceremony by the Tunis Virtual University, and pre- and post-conference media coverage (Eight O'Clock News Hour, National Radio, and leading papers). Exploring the Queen Dido legend beyond the realm of pure mathematical research, two interviews, one on Tunisian TV "On Intuition and the Equation", and one on Chilean TV--Una Belleza Nueva, "On Mathematics and Passion" (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile was a main partner in making this event take place) were conducted, in Summer 2010. Follow-ups to the conference in Tunisia included visits by leading experts to the campus of the University of Arizona, by American and Tunisian professors, with a variety of technical, historical, and general interest lectures including titles as varied as "The Double Soap Bubble Theorem", "Tunisia: History, Tragedy and Hope for the Future", "Next Einstein Initiative, a model for university collaboration in scientific capacity building in Africa", and "Soap Bubble Math Fun and Family Fun Time" (held at the UA Flandrau Science Center). It turns out that soap bubbles have much to do with isoperimetry, with the classical isoperimetric inequality—as the intuition of Queen Dido suggests--being the simplest to state. Like Tunisia, the history of isoperimetry is rooted in tragedy, but has much promise for the future as well. A permanent conference website, with background, lectures, and proceedings, is maintained at http://math.arizona.edu/~dido/.
