LANGLANDS PROGRAM

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Meet the Langlands program, the world’s biggest maths project. The Langlands program provides a beautifully intricate set of connections between various areas of mathematics, pointing the way toward novel solutions for old problems.

What is Langlands Program?

• The program is named after Robert Langlands, a mathematician at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
• In 2018, he was awarded the Abel Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics, for his program, which was described as “visionary”.
• This program was set in motion in 1967.
• Program is an attempt to find connections between two far-flung areas of mathematics: number theory and harmonic analysis.
• Number theory: It is the arithmetic study of numbers and the relationships between them.
• Harmonic analysis: It is interested in the study of periodic phenomena. Unlike number theorists, who deal with discrete arithmetics (like integers), harmonic analysts deal with mathematical objects more continuous in nature (like waves)