Abstract:

Have you ever been at a party and found yourself at a loss when the conversation came around to operator algebras? Come to this talk and you'll learn plenty of gems that will impress your friends, including the answers to questions such as

- What ARE operator algebras?

- Why do some people (like the speaker) consider them a philosophically satisfying subject? Why should everyone consider them important?

- What are some of the amazingly beautiful results? What are some of the recent developments?

- How does a UCLA graduate student pursue his or her interest in operator algebras?

Prerequisites for the talk are a subset of whatever familiarity you have with analysis and algebra. If you know what a Hilbert space is, you're home-free.