Williams College mathematics Professor Edward Burger, a national award-winning lecturer and a former stand-up comedian, will give a talk at the University of Colorado at Boulder April 1 titled "Is There a Fourth Dimension? Can We See It?"
Burger will address issues including the possibility of a fourth dimension, how people can comprehend it, the concept of living in a "thin slice" of space and whether students can use the fourth dimension to find their lost iPods or homework. The talk will be held at 6 p.m. in the Math 100 Auditorium at Folsom Street and Colorado Avenue on campus and is free and open to the public. Pizza and soft drinks will be served after the talk.
Burger, a CU-Boulder visiting professor in 1998-99, is the author of more than 30 research articles and 12 books and has won many awards, including the 2001 Mathematical Association's Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo National Award for Distinguished Teaching in Mathematics. In 2006, Reader's Digest listed him in their annual "100 Best of America" as America's best math teacher.
Burger has appeared on a number of radio and television stations, including National Public Radio and NBC. He regularly worked as a stand-up comedian as he finished his doctoral degree at the University of Texas at Austin and has written jokes for the Jay Leno show.
Burger, whose research is in number theory, said his deep passion for math is founded on the premise it should be made lively, fun and educational. "The idea is to entertain and enlighten," he said. "My goal is to get people to have fun thinking, have a better feeling about math and to look at things in a slightly different way."