Yakov Sinai - The Abel Prize interview 2014

00:15 beginnings, family influences
00:55 no Olympiad success
02:00 mathematical talent
02:30 schooling (WWII, USSR)
04:20 teachers
05:35 Moscow State University (Mekh mat)
07:40 mathematics vs. mechanics
08:52 Dynkin
10:13 Kolmogorov
10:35 Gel'fand
12:31 Rokhlin, Abramov
17:25 Dynamical systems
18:03 Ergodic systems
19:25 Chaos vs. Probability
22:52 Entropy
24:47 Billiards
26:45 Ornstein's Isomorphism Thm
28:10 Billiards in higher dimensions
28:52 Markov partitions, Sinai-Bowen-Ruelle
31:28 Wigner's Unreasonable Effectiveness
33:50 Math. + Phys. = Cats & Dogs
36:06 Gel'fand
36:52 anti-Semitism in USSR
43:49 Arnol'd
46:40 good results can't be stolen
48:35 the move to Princeton
50:12 comparing education regimes
50:50 what's not liked about USA system
52:30 teaching; prefers teaching undergrads
54:10 working in later years
55:05 Kolmogorov
59:15 style of problem-solving
1:00:02 Poincare-style insights
1:00:55 other interests

Interview in written. Notices of the American Mathematical Society:
https://www.ams.org/notices/201502/rn...

The Abel Prize Interview 2014 with Yakov G. Sinai
Interviewers: Mathematicians Martin Raussen og Christian Skau.
Produced by UniMedia.