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WAKE FOREST
UNIVERSITY
Department of
Mathematics
Presents the 2009
-2010
GENTRY LECTURES
Efim Zelmanov
University of
California, San Diego

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What is Abstract Algebra?

*General Audience*
Monday, March 22, 2010, at 5:00pm
Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102

An overview will be given of the subject of Abstract

Algebra from its emergence to our time, when it
suddenly became applied.

Asymptotic Properties of Finite Groups

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at 11:00am
Carswell Hall, Annenberg Forum, Room 111

The talk will focus on algebraic properties of

profinite groups. We will discuss connections with
Number Theory, Topology and Theoretical
Computer Science.

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Efim Zelmanov attended Novosibirsk State

University, obtaining his Master's degree in 1977.
On being awarded this degree he was appointed to
the staff at Novosibirsk State University and taught
there while continuing with his own research. He
received his Ph.D. from Novosibirsk State
University in 1980 having had his research
supervised by Shirshov and Bokut.

The thesis he presented for his Ph.D. was on

nonassociative algebra. In particular his work
completely changed the whole of the subject of
Jordan algebras by extending results from the
classical theory of finite dimensional Jordan
algebras to infinite dimensional Jordan algebras.
Zelmanov described this work on Jordan algebras
in his invited lecture to the International Congress of
Mathematicians at Warsaw in 1983.

In 1980 Zelmanov was appointed as a Junior

Researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the
USSR Academy of Sciences at Novosibirsk. On the
award of his doctorate (habilitation) in 1985, he was
promoted to Senior Researcher. He was promoted
again at the Institute of Mathematics of the USSR
Academy of Sciences in 1986, this time becoming
a Leading Researcher.

In 1987 Zelmanov solved one of the big open

questions in the theory of Lie algebras. He proved
that the Engel identity

ad(y)n = 0

implies that the algebra is necessarily nilpotent.

This was a classical result for finite dimensional Lie
algebras but Zelmanov solved a big open problem
when he proved that the result also held for infinite
dimensional Lie algebras.

In 1990 Zelmanov was appointed a professor at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United
States. He held this appointment until 1994 when he
was appointed to the University of Chicago. In 1995
he spent the year at Yale University.

The results mentioned above on Jordan algebras

and Lie algebras would have guaranteed Zelmanov
a place as one of the great algebraists of the 20th
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century. However, in 1991, Zelmanov went on to

settle one of the most fundamental results in the
theory of groups which had occupied group
theorists throughout the 20th century. He solved the
restricted Burnside problem.

In 1994 Zelmanov was awarded a Fields Medal for

this work at the International Congress of
Mathematicians in Zurich in 1994. Let me explain
the background to the restricted Burnside problem,
the solution of which was the main reason for the
award of the Medal, and also explain how
Zelmanov, not a group theorist by training, came to
solve one of the most fundamental questions in
group theory.

In 1902 Burnside first asked whether a finitely

generated group in which every element has finite
order, is finite. This problem is known as the
General Burnside problem. The Burnside problem
asks whether, for fixed d and n, the group B(d, n)
having d generators and in which every element
satisfies xn = 1, is finite. It is really easy to show the
B(d, 2) is finite. Burnside himself showed that B(d,
3) is finite, Sanov showed B(d, 4) is finite and
Marshall Hall showed B(d, 6) is finite.

By the 1930s no real progress had been made on

either of these problems and the Restricted
Burnside problem was formulated (and so named
by Magnus). It asks whether, for fixed d and n, there
is a largest finite d generator group in which every
element satisfies xn = 1. This is equivalent to saying
that a positive solution to the Restricted Burnside
problem would show that there are only finitely many
finite factor groups of B(d, n).

The General Burnside problem was shown to have

a negative solution by Golod in 1964. In 1968
Novikov and Adian showed that the Burnside
problem was false for large n. The greatest early
contribution to the Restricted Burnside problem was
by Hall and Higman in 1956 where they showed
that, if the Schreier conjecture holds, then the
Restricted Burnside problem has a positive solution
if it could be proved for all prime powers n. The
Schreier conjecture, that the outer automorphism
groups of finite simple groups are soluble, was
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shown to be true as a consequence of the

classification of finite simple groups.

Magnus had reduced the case of the Restricted

Burnside problem for n prime to a question about
whether Lie algebras satisfying an Engel condition
are locally nilpotent. Kostrikin, in 1959, proved that
such Lie algebras were indeed locally nilpotent.
However Kostrikin's proof is not entirely satisfactory
and a corrected version only appeared much later.

When Zelmanov began to work on the Restricted

Burnside problem there were two major difficulties
in pushing what had been achieved for n = p to n =
pk. Firstly it there was no reduction of the problem
to Lie algebras with the Engel condition, This
Zelmanov achieved in 1989.

Zelmanov next set about proving that a Lie algebra

with an Engel condition was locally nilpotent. This he
achieved in two papers, the first dealing with odd
prime characteristic and the second dealing with n
= pk which corresponds to Lie algebras of
characteristic 2. Shalev writes in [3]:-

His stunning proof ... combines an

amazing technical capability with
highly original ideas from various
disciplines. The proof uses a deep
structure theory for (quadratic) Jordan
algebras, previously developed by
McCrimmon and Zelmanov, as well as
divided powers and other tools; it also
relies on the joint work of Kostrikin and
Zelmanov, which establishes the local
nilpotency of the so-called sandwich
algebras. While Lie algebras have long
been considered a natural playground
in the context of the Restricted
Burnside problem, the appearance of
Jordan algebras is unprecedented and
quite surprising.

At the Groups-St Andrews conference at Galway,

Ireland in 1993, of which I [EFR] was a joint
organiser, Zelmanov was one of the main speakers
and he gave a series of five lectures on Nil rings

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methods in the theory of nilpotent groups. His

lectures were beautifully constructed, models of
clarity, showing what had been achieved and
presenting many glimpses of possible directions for
future research. Filled with humour, they were all
delivered with Zelmanov's infectious twinkle in his
eyes.

In addition to the Fields Medal, Zelmanov has

received other honours for his outstanding work. He
received the Collge de France Medal in January
1992 and the Andre Aizenstadt Prize in May 1996.

Zelmanov held a professorship at Yale University

from 1995 to 2002. During his last year at Yale he
was elected to the National Academy of Sciences,
becoming the youngest member in the Academy's
mathematics division. In 2002 he left Yale and went
to the University of California, San Diego, where he
was appointed to the Rita L Atkinson Endowed
Chair in Mathematics. At the time of his
appointment, James Bunch, chair of mathematics at
the University of California, San Diego, said:-

Professor Zelmanov is one of the top

mathematicians in the world and he will
play an important role in furthering the
international reputation and tradition of
excellence of UCSD's mathematics
department. He is also an outstanding
teacher and I expect him to be an
exceptional role model for our
students.

Jeffrey Remmel, associate dean of the UCSD's

Division of Physical Sciences and the former chair
of mathematics who recruited Zelmanov to UCSD
said:-

Professor Zelmanov's presence at

UCSD ensures that we have one of the
leading research groups in algebra
and representation theory in the
country. In addition, he is a superb
lecturer and thesis advisor. He will help
the mathematics department attract the
best young researchers and graduate
students in the field of algebra and will
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have a profound effect on the next

generation of mathematics students at
UCSD.

Interestingly, Zelmanov occupied the same office at

the University of California, San Diego, as had
earlier been occupied by Fields Medal winners
Shing-Tung Yau and Michael Freedman.

Zelmanov's contribution to mathematics goes far

beyond his remarkable research and teaching
achievements, however, being an editor or on the
editorial board of more than ten major mathematics
journals, including The Annals of Mathematics, The
Journal of Algebra and The Journal of the
American Mathematical Society.

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson,

September 2009

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The Ivey and Nell Gentry Lectureship was

established in 1986 by the generous gifts of
relatives and friends of Ivey and Nell Gentry. The
purpose of this lectureship is to bring to campus
annually an outstanding scholar in mathematics.

Ivey Gentry (1919-1998) graduated from Wake

Forest College in 1940. Service in the Army Air
Corps during World War II was followed by
enrollment at Duke University from which he
received the Ph.D. in mathematics in 1949. After
Duke, he joined the faculty at Wake Forest College
where he remained until retirement in 1989. From
1956-81, he was chairman of the Department of
Mathematics.

Professor Gentrys tenure as chairman spanned the

most formative years of the college, later university.
His most important responsibility was to build a
departmental faculty and curriculum for a growing
institution on a new campus. When the college
became a university in 1967, Professor Gentry
recognized the importance of research and
publication.

Until her death in 1983, Professor Gentrys wife,

Nell, was constantly at his side as helpmate and
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advisor. Her interests were his interests, and her

tireless efforts on behalf of the department were
legion and great. Nell Gentrys attention to detail
and propensity for candid verbal expression were
the perfect complement to Professor Gentrys
gentle and informal approach. Ivey and Nell were
devoted not only to each other, but also to Wake
Forest and all this fine institution represents. Even
to this day, we are the beneficiaries of their lives
and service.

PREVIOUS GENTRY LECTURERS

Dr. Ken Ono 2008-09

Dr. Jeffrey R. Weeks 2007-08
Jeffrey Rosenthal 2006-07
Art Benjamin 2005-06
Gene Golub 2004-05
John Conway 2003-04
Jerrold Marsden 2002-03
Michael Artin 2001-02
Andrew Granville 2000-01
Ingrid Daubechies 1999-00
Frank Morgan 1998-99
Margaret Wright 1997-98
Richard Brualdi 1996-97
Doris Schattschneider 1995-96
Georgia Benkart 1994-95
Jack Hale 1993-94
Bradley Efron 1992-93
Robert Bryant 1991-92
Ron Graham 1990-91
Paul Waltman 1989-90
Lance Small 1988-89
Phillip Griffiths 1987-88
Carl Pomerance 1986-87
Walter Rudin 1985-86

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