Andrea Tosin
Online seminar - 07 May 2020 - 5:30 p.m. (duration 30-40 min)
Taking inspiration from recent blog posts, such as those by Gevorg Yeghikyan (urban data scientist at the KDD Lab in Pisa) and Bruno Gonçalves (data scientist), we will discuss how aspects of urban mobility, such as commuting, can be integrated into mathematical models of epidemic propagation, especially the famous SIR model. The aim is to understand, through equations and related numerical simulations, the effectiveness of "lockdown" measures in containing the spread of an epidemic.
Luca Lussardi
Online seminar - 19 May 2020 - 5:30 p.m. (duration 15 min)
Starting from Einstein's brilliant ideas on space-time, we see that physics becomes geometry (non-Euclidean): Einstein versus Newton, the force of gravity exits the scene and the geometry of curved spaces answers questions that have been open for hundreds of years. This formidable scientific discovery has raised awareness even among the general public, is supported by all experiments carried out to date (most recently the famous detection of gravitational waves), and has had important applications in everyday life.
Sandra Pieraccini
Online seminar - 26 May 2020 - 6:30 p.m. (duration 30 min)
We all know that maths is everywhere in our lives, especially since we're so influenced by tech. There are loads of times when maths comes in handy. For example, you've probably noticed that pictures you get on WhatsApp are blurry until you actually download them. During the meeting, we will briefly explain how image compression works from a mathematical point of view and carry out some simple experiments on personal photos, without using photo-editing software but only mathematical tools with scientific calculation software.