Conference booklet and talks

Abstract

The New York Group Theory seminar which now runs Friday afternoons at the City University Graduate Center is the world’s longest running Group Theory seminar. For over 60 years, the Group Theory Seminar has been crucial to the research efforts and accomplishments of the New York group Theory community. This will be a 2-day conference to honor the achievements of the seminar and in memory of the long time seminar leader, Gilbert Baumslag, who died 2 years ago. Through his students and his own work, Gilbert inspired a great deal of the research done by the seminar’s participants, many of whom have been attending the seminar throughout their professional lives. The conference will also celebrate the 70th birthday of two of the long time participants, Ben Fine and TonyGaglione, both ofwhomhaveworked closelywith Gilbert and with many other people associated with the seminar. Over the past 20 years, there has been tremendous progress in both infinite group theory and the interactions of group theory with logic and cryptography. Much of this material came together in the monumental work that resulted in a proof, by Kharlampovich and Myasnikov and, independently, by Sela, of the Tarski conjectures on free groups. To show an appreciation of these achievements that arose from the Group Theory seminar and to honor on their 70th birthdays two people, Benjamin Fine and Anthony Gaglione, who have made significant contributions to the area, there will be a 2-day conference on November 1–2, 2018. Thursday, November 1, it will be at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, while November 2, 2018, it will be at the Graduate Center of CUNY at 34th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. On Thursday evening there will be a dinner and birthday party, free of charge to conference participants, hosted by FairfieldUniversity. The speakers are predominantly people associatedwith the Group Theory Seminar.