UCPH Department of Mathematical Sciences
The UCPH Department of Mathematical Sciences (Danish: Institut for Matematiske Fag) is a department under the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). The department is based at the university's North Campus in Copenhagen.
Location
The department is located in the E building of the Hans Christian Ørsted Institute, on Universitetsparken 5 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
From the founding of the University of Copenhagen in 1479, mathematics had been part of the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1850 it was moved to the new faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The Institute for Mathematical Sciences was first created in 1934 next to the Niels Bohr Institute building, when Carlsberg Foundation donated money for a building in celebration of the 450th anniversary of the University of Copenhagen in 1929. In 1963 the institute moved to its current location.
Mathematical research
Many different branches of mathematics are being covered by the fields of interest of different researchers at the institute.
Harald Bohr – the brother of physicist Niels Bohr – is one famous alumni of the department; his research in harmonic analysis and almost periodic functions in the 1930s laid the foundation for a huge drive in analysis. Most notably in the 1980, the department has been a frontrunner in the research of the more abstract parts of analysis, such as operator algebra and C*-algebra. From that period, researchers related to the department include
- Bent Fuglede
- George Elliott
- Gert Kjærgaard Pedersen
- Ryszard Nest
- Richard V. Kadison
In continuation of this, the department today houses a center for non-commutative geometry.
Of other major research frontiers are homological algebra, and more recently - grounds have been laid for a boost in the research of algebraic topology.