The Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectures


The American Mathematical Society established the Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship in 1923.The Society chooses speakers with a known ability to deliver lectures which are understandable by non-mathematicians.The aim is to make people aware of the importance and the impact of mathematics on the world in which we live.The lectures are given annually, but there have been a few years since the series began when no lecture was given.Below is a complete list of the lecture.


Month and yearVenueLecturerTitle.

1February 1924New York City, NYMichael I PupinCoordination.

2December 1924Washington, DCRobert HendersonLife insurance as a social science and as a mathematical problem.

3December 1925Kansas City, MOJames PierpontSome modern views of space.

4December 1926Philadelphia, PAHoratio B WilliamsMathematics and the biological sciences.

5December 1927Nashville, TNErnest W BrownResonance in the solar system.

6December 1928New York City, NYG H HardyAn introduction to the theory of numbers.
     [G H Hardy was unable to give his lecture in person due to illness, so H W Brinkmann presented Hardy's lecture.]

7December 1929Des Moines, IAIrving FisherThe applications of mathematics to the social sciences.

8December 1930Cleveland, OHEdwin B WilsonReminiscences of Gibbs by a student and colleague.

9December 1931New Orleans, LAPercy W BridgmanStatistical mechanics and the second law of thermodynamics.

10December 1932Atlantic City, NJRichard C TolmanThermodynamics and relativity.

11December 1934Pittsburgh, PAAlbert EinsteinAn elementary proof of the theorem concerning the equivalence of mass and energy.

12January 1935St Louis, MOVannevar BushInstrumental analysis.

13October 1936New York City, NYHenry Norris RussellModel stars.

14December 1937Indianapolis, INCharles August KrausThe present status of the theory of electrolytes.

15December 1939Columbus, OHTheodore von KármánThe engineer grapples with nonlinear problems.

16September 1941Chicago, ILSewall WrightStatistical genetics and evolution.

17November 1943Chicago, ILHarry BatemanThe control of elastic fluids.

18November 1944Chicago, ILJohn von NeumannThe ergodic theorem and statistical mechanics.

19November 1945Chicago, ILJohn Clarke SlaterPhysics and the wave equation.

20November 1946Swarthmore, PASubrahmanyan ChandrasekharThe transfer of radiation in stellar atmosphere.

21December 1947Athens, GAPhilip McCord MorseMathematical problems in operations research.

22December 1948Columbus, OHHermann WeylRamifications, old and new, of the eigenvalue problem.

23December 1949New York City, NYNorbert Wiener Problems of sensory prosthesis.

24December 1950Gainesville, FLGeorge E UhlenbeckSome basic problems of statistical mechanics.

25December 1951Providence, RIKurt GödelSome basic theorems on the foundations of mathematics and their philosophical implications.

26December 1952St Louis, MOMarston MorseTopology and geometrical analysis.

27December 1953Baltimore, MDWassily LeontiefMathematics in economics.

28December 1954Pittsburgh, PAKurt O FriedrichsAsymptotic phenomena in mathematical physics.

29December 1955Houston, TXJoseph E MeyerThe structure of simple fields.

30December 1956Rochester, NYMarshall H StoneMathematics and the future of science.

31January 1958Cincinnati, OHHermann J MullerEvolution by mutation.

32January 1959Philadelphia, PAJohannes M BurgersOn the emergence of patterns of order.

33January 1960Chicago, ILJulian SchwingerQuantum field theory.

34January 1961Washington, DCJames J StokerSome nonlinear problems in elasticity.

35January 1962Cincinnati, OHChen Ning YangSymmetry principles in modern physics.

36January 1963Berkeley, CAClaude E ShannonInformation theory.

37January 1964Miami, FALars OnsagerMathematical problems of cooperative phenomena.

38January 1965Denver, CODerrick H LehmerMechanical mathematics.

39January 1966Chicago, ILMartin SchwarzschildStellar evolution.

40January 1967Houston, TXMark KacSome mathematical problems in the theory of phase transitions.

41January 1968San Francisco, CAEugene P WignerProblems of symmetry in old and new physics.

42January 1969New Orleans, LARaymond L WilderTrends and social implications of research.

43January 1970San Antonio, TXWalter H MunkTides and time.

44January 1971Atlantic City, NJEberhard F F HopfErgodic theory and the geodesic flow on surfaces of constant negative curvature.

45January 1972Las Vegas, NDFreeman J DysonMissed opportunities.

46January 1973Dallas, TXJürgen MoserThe stability concept in dynamical systems.

47January 1974San Francisco, CAPaul A SamuelsonEconomics and mathematical analysis.

48January 1975Washington, DCFritz JohnA priori estimates, geometric effects, and asymptotic behavior.

49January 1976San Antonio, TXArthur S WightmanNonlinear functional analysis and some of its applications in quantum field theory.

50January 1977St Louis, MOJoseph B KellerRays, waves, and asymptotics.

51January 1978Atlanta, GADonald E KnuthMathematical typography.

52January 1979Biloxi, MSMartin Kruskal"What are solitons and inverse scattering anyway, and why should I care?"

53January 1980San Antonio, TXKenneth WilsonThe statistical continuum limit.

54January 1981San Francisco, CACathleen S MorawetzThe mathematical approach to the sound barrier.

55January 1982Cincinnati, OHElliott W MontrollThe dynamics and evolution of some sociotechnical systems.

56January 1983Denver, COSamuel KarlinMathematical models and controversies of evolutionary theory.

57January 1984Louisville, KYHerbert A SimonComputer modeling of the processes of scientific and mathematical discovery.

58January 1985Anaheim, CAMichael O RabinRandomization in mathematics and computer science.

59January 1986New Orleans, LALaurence E ScrivenThe third leg: Mathematics and computation in applicable science and high technology.

60January 1987San Antonio, TXThomas C SpencerSchrödinger operators and dynamical systems.

61January 1988Atlanta, GADavid P RuelleHow natural is our mathematics? The example of equilibrium statistical mechanics.

62January 1989Phoenix, AZElliott H LiebThe stability of matter: from atoms to stars.

63January 1990Louisville, KYGeorge B DantzigThe wide wide world of pure mathematics that goes by other names.

64January 1991San Francisco, CAMichael AtiyahPhysics and the mysteries of space.

65January 1992Baltimore, MDMichael E FisherApproaching the limit: Mathematics and myth in statistical physics.

66January 1993San Antonio, TXCharles S PeskinFluid dynamics and fiber architecture of the heart and its valves.

67January 1994Cincinnati, OHRobert M MayNecessity and chance: Deterministic chaos in ecology and evolution.

68January 1995San Francisco, CAAndrew J MajdaTurbulence, turbulent diffusion, and modern applied mathematics.

69January 1996Orlando, FLSteven WeinbergIs field theory the answer? Is string theory the answer? What was the question?

70January 1997San Diego, CAPersi DiaconisPatterns in eigenvalues.

71January 1998Baltimore, MDEdward WittenM-Theory.

72January 1999San Antonio, TXNancy J KopellWe got rhythm: Dynamical systems of the nervous system.

73January 2000Washington, DCRoger PenrosePhysics, computability, and mentality.

74January 2001New Orleans, LARonald L GrahamThe Steiner problem.

75January 2002San Diego, CAMichael V BerryMaking light of mathematics.

76January 2003Baltimore, MDDavid B MumfordThe shape of objects in two and three dimensions: Mathematics meets computer vision.

77January 2004Phoenix, AZEric S LanderBiology as information.

78January 2005Atlanta, GAIngrid DaubechiesThe interplay between analysis and algorithms.

79January 2006San Antonio, TXMichael SavageauFunction, Design and Evolution of Gene Circuitry.

80January 2007New Orleans, LAPeter D LaxMathematics and Physics.

81January 2008San Diego, CAAvi WigdersonRandomness - A computational complexity view.

82January 2009Washington, DCPercy DeiftIntegrable systems: a modern view.

83January 2010San Francisco, CAPeter W ShorQuantum channels and their capacities.

84January 2011New Orleans, LAGeorge PapanicolaouMathematical Problems in Systematic Risk.

85January 2012Boston, MABradley EfronA 250-year argument: Belief, behavior, and the bootstrap.

86January 2013San Diego, CACédric VillaniOn Disorder, Mixing and Equilibration.

87January 2014Baltimore, MDAndrew BlakeMachines that see, powered by probability.

88January 2015San Antonio, TXRonald GrahamMathematics and computers: problems and prospects.

89January 2016Seattle, WADaniel A SpielmanGraphs, Vectors, and Matrices .

90January 2017Atlanta, GAJohn Preskill Quantum Computing and the Entanglement Frontier.

91January 2018San Diego, CACynthia DworkPrivacy in the Land of Plenty.

92January 2019Baltimore, MDAlan S PerelsonImmunology for Mathematicians.

93January 2020Denver, CONancy ReidIn praise of small data: statistical and data science .

94January 2021VirtualLenka ZdeborováWhat Physics Teaches us about Computation in High Dimensions.

95April 2022VirtualEitan TadmorEmergent Behavior in Collective Dynamics

96January 2023Boston, MARichard BaraniukThe Mathematics of Deep Learning.