Prof.Arthur Jaffe, gave a lecture titled “Story Behind the Millennium Prize Problems in Mathematics” at AMSS on 27, July 2018.

In May 2000, seven mathematical questions were announced as Millennium Prize Problems. He recount the history of how this came about.

Jaffe is the Landon T. Clay Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Science at Harvard University, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at AMSS, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He served as Chair of the Harvard University Mathematics Department, and for 21 years as chief editor of Communications in Mathematical Physics. He was president of the American Mathematical Society and the Founding President of the Clay Mathematics Institute.

In joint work with Glimm and Spencer, Jaffe gave the first mathematical proof that special relativity and quantum theory are compatible with interaction (in a two and three dimensional world). Jaffe established the first mathematical proof of a “phase transition” in quantum field theory, established properties of classical gauge fields, discovered an important cocycle in non-commutative geomerty, constructed examples of supersymmetry, and was involved in the discovery and study of reflection positivity. Presently, with Zhengwei Liu, Jaffe has begun the "Mathematical Picture Language Project" at Harvard, to reinvestigate understanding mathematics through pictures. He is especially interested in stimulating and assisting the careers of students and young scientists in mathematics and in physics.