The Mathematics of Emergence and Flocking

Stephen J. Smale, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, who has contributed to a broad range of mathematical fields, has been named a recipient of the 2007 Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics, one of an array of prestigious prizes awarded yearly by the Israeli foundation. Though retired from UC Berkeley since 1994, Smale continues to explore new fields, such as learning theory - the mathematical description of nerve connections in the brain that give rise to intelligence and learning; flocking, the tendency of group behavior to look coordinated, as with a flock of birds or a school of fish; and the mathematics of data mining. (UC Newsroom, University of Califonia, 2007-01- 19)