Confronting The Infinite - Proceedings Of A Conference In Celebration Of The Years Of H S Green And C A Hurst

Book excerpt: In 1992, students of Bert Green and Angas Hurst conceived the idea of a meeting to commemorate their contributions to Mathematical Physics and to celebrate their passing the milestone of three score years and ten.In designing the scientific program there were two objectives. The first was to cover the full breadth of research in Mathematical Physics at Adelaide University since the founding of the Department of Mathematical Physics with the appointment of Professor Green in 1952. The second was to seek original contributions in areas of current interest and rapid development. The underlying theme was the interaction of mathematics and physics in the key areas of relativity, quantum field theory and statistical physics.The contributions to this volume consist of papers describing the historical development of ideas in which Adelaide mathematical physicists have played a role, surveys, research announcements and of course original research. The influence of Bert and Angas on the research results and themes developed in this volume is easily seen through the historical or survey material or because some papers describe work in which one or other is a past or indeed present collaborator.