Tuesday, March 19, 19:00 – 20:00
(Arena Cineplex)
Unusual billiards: geometry and mechanics
Vladimir Dragović Belgrade
Billiards are one of the most interesting and popular games worldwide. At the same time, they serve as a motivation and inspiration for deep mathematical and mechanical theories, and as an effective tool in popularization of these sciences. In the talk, we will address both the history of the subject, as well as current research topics related to unusual, but really existing billiard tables. A fruitful relationship between geometry, in particular of confocal quadrics, mechanics, and integrable dynamics will be presented.