Appears in collections : Interviews at CIRM, Advancing Bridges in Complex Dynamics / Avancer les connections dans la dynamique complexe

John Hamal Hubbard gave a recorded talk at CIRM in November 2021, during the meeting 'Advancing Bridges in Complex Dynamics' organized by Anna Miriam Benini, Kostiantyn Drach, Dzmitry Dudko, Mikhail; Hlushchanka and Dierk Schleicher. Dates: 20/09/2021 - 24/09/2021 The video is available here : Hubbard, John H. (2021). Introduction to Thurston's theorems. CIRM. Audiovisual resource. doi:10.24350/CIRM.V.19812603 URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24350/CIRM.V.19812603

Research: Differential equations are the primary means of constructing mathematical models of real systems, and understanding their behavior is the main contribution a mathematician can make to applications. John Hamal Hubbard is interested in understanding the behavior of differential equations and their close relatives: iterative systems. In particular, he is interested in seeing how these systems behave in the complex domain, in large part because complex analysis provides new and powerful techniques for solving these problems.

The availability of powerful computers and computer graphics has changed the way this type of research is done. In the course of studying iterative systems as simple as quadratic polynomials, amazing pictures emerge, more as artifacts to be studied than as man-made objects. He believes 'that this type of experimental mathematics will become a major trend'.