Celebrating George Andrews' Election to the National Academy of Sciences

(and his 65th Birthday)

Talk Abstract

Andrews, Ramanujan, and Partitions

 Krishnaswami Alladi, University of Florida

The theory of partitions is an exciting area interacting with number theory, combinatorics, analysis, modular forms, computer algebra, and physics. Although the subject was founded by Euler in the mid-eighteenth century, it was the spectacular contributions of Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in the early twentieth century that propelled the subject to a glorious position.  George Andrews is the world's greatest authority on the work of Ramanujan and the theory of partitions combined. We owe to Andrews much of our understanding of Ramanujan's fascinating identities in the context of partitions. Also, it was Andrews who spearheaded the development of the theory of partitions since the sixties. In this talk we will provide a glimpse of the fundamental work of Andrews on partitions and Ramanujan's  identities, and descibe the far reaching influence this has had.