7 Adventures

The seven mathematical problems, also called Millennium Prize Problems, have been considered the central questions of mathematics. With only one exception, the Poincaré conjecture, they remain unsolved to this day.

Bunte Rechtecke und rechteckige Ausschnitte von Gebäuden in schwarz-weiß sind ohne erkennbares Muster angeordet.

In the year 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute published a list of seven major mathematical problems. These mathematical problems, also called Millennium Prize Problems, have been considered the central questions of mathematics ever since. With only one exception, the Poincaré conjecture, they remain unsolved to this day. The nationwide event series on the Millennium Prize Problems "The 7 Greatest Adventures in Mathematics" lasted from June to November 2022. The event series was under the patronage of the Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger. The initiators of the event series were Timo de Wolff (member of Die Junge Akademie and a mathematician at TU Braunschweig), Anna Wienhard (Alumna of Die Junge Akademie and mathematician at Heidelberg University), Sebastian Stiller (also a mathematician at TU Braunschweig), as well as the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung (DMV) (DMV). Various mathematical research locations in Germany organised events on one of the mathematical problems each: In the presentations, renowned mathematicians explained how current mathematical research works and explained to laypeople why mathematics is exciting. The aim of the series of events, which was also supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (DFG), was to awaken enthusiasm for the adventure of mathematics. At some locations there were also special events for schoolchildren.

Die Junge Akademie was a co-initiator of the event series and was also involved as the organiser of the final event on the Millennium Prize Problem on November 18, 2022: "Yang-Mills theories: existence and mass gap".

Information on the Millennium Prize Problems, the events and the participating locations can be found on the website 7abenteuer.diejungeakademie.de (mainly in German) or under the hashtag #7Abenteuer. All recordings of the lectures can be found on the Youtube channel of the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung.

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