A series of nine talks in which scientists of various disciplines talk about concepts crucial to their field of study
2: Topology by PROFESSOR E. C ZEEMAN University of Warwick
You cannot comb down the hair on a hairy ball so that it is perfectly smooth: there will always be whorls or tufts. This is one of the theorems of topology, a sort of super-Keumetry. But topology is not all as whimsical as this: it has become one of the most important branches of modern mathematics. And now its very powerful techniques are being applied to the study of the brain, and the processes of biological growth.