The Tarski Lectures

Tarski Lectures

The Alfred Tarski Lectures are supported by an endowment fund established in memory of a man widely regarded as one of the four greatest logicians of all time. A superb teacher and influential scientific leader as well as a profound thinker, Alfred Tarski arrived in Berkeley in 1942 at the age of 41. Here, he built up what is often cited as the outstanding center for research in logic and the foundations of mathematics in the world.

Alfred Tarski

Alfred Tarski

Photo credit: Professor George Bergman, UC Berkeley, Mathematics.

Biographical Information

Born in Warsaw in 1901, Tarski was educated in Polish schools and received his Ph.D. at the University of Warsaw in 1924. He served as a Docent and later as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Warsaw. He was visiting the U.S. when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Unable to return home, he remained in the U.S. and in 1942 accepted a position as Lecturer at UC Berkeley. He became a full professor in 1946 and in 1958 founded the pioneering interdisciplinary Group in Logic and the Methodology Science. He retired in 1971 and died in October 1983 at the age of 82.

Of his numerous investigations, outlined in seven books and more than 300 other publications, Tarski was most proud of two: his design in 1930 of an algorithm to decide the truth or falsity of any sentence in the elementary theory of the field of real numbers and his path-breaking mathematical treatment in the early 1930's of the semantics of formal languages and the concept of truth.

The Department of Mathematics will host the 2025 Tarski Lecture: Professor Jeremy Avigad, Carnegie Mellon University will be the speaker

How Mathematics Works

Abstract: Because logic offers a rigorous framework for studying mathematical language and inference, it provides a powerful means of understanding how mathematics works. So does the history of mathematics; seeing how ideas and methods have evolved over the centuries can help us understand the goals of mathematics and the forces that shape its development. Contemporary proof assistants, which support writing mathematical definitions, theorems, and proofs so that they can be processed and checked by computer, provide yet another perspective.

We will consider three important mathematical developments from these perspectives to see what we can learn from them. The lectures are independent of one another and are meant to be accessible to anyone interested in mathematics and mathematical reasoning.

Lecture 1, ‬Monday, April 14, 4:10 pm - 5:00 pm, Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall

Title: Euclid's *Elements* and Diagrammatic Reasoning in Geometry. A reception in honor of the speaker will be held following the first lecture at 5:15 pm in 1015 Evans Hall‬‬.

Lecture 2, Wednesday, April 16, 4:10 pm - 5:00 pm, Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall

Title: Dirichlet's Theorem on Primes in an Arithmetic Progression and the Treatment of Functions as Objects

Lecture 3, Thursday, April 17, 4:10 pm - 5:00 pm, 60 Evans Hall (part of Colloquium series)

Title: Dedekind's Theory of Ideals and Modern Algebraic Abstraction

Jeremy Avigad is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests include formal methods and AI for mathematics, mathematical logic, and the history and philosophy of mathematics. He is the Director of the Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics and he serves on the Board of Directors for the Lean Focused Research Organization.

Past Tarski Lecturers

Year Lecturer
2025 Jeremy Avigad
2024 Kobi Peterzil & Sergei Starchenko
2023 Richard Shore
2020 Zoe Chatzidakis (not delivered)
2019  Thomas Hales
2017 Lou van den Dries
2016 William Tait
2015 Julia F. Knight
2014 Stevo Todorcevic
2013 Jonathan Pila
2012 Per Martin-Löf
2011 Johan van Benthem
2010 Gregory Hjorth
2009 Anand Pillay
2008 Yiannis N. Moschovakis
2007 Harvey M. Friedman
2006 Solomon Feferman
2005 Zlil Sela
2004  Alexander S. Kechris
2003 Ralph Nelson McKenzie
2002 Boris Zilber
2001 Ronald Bjorn Jensen
2000 Alexander A. Razborov
1999 Patrick Suppes
1998 Angus John Macintyre
1997 Menachem Magidor
1996 Ehud Hrushovski
1995

Hilary Putnam

1994 Michael O. Rabin
1993 Alec James Wilkie
1992 Donald Anthony Martin
1991 Bjarni Jónsson & H. Jerome Keisler
1990 Willard Van Orman Quine
1989 Dana Stewart Scott