Seminar: What is ... Bott Periodicity?

Gijs Heuts will entertain us with a talk about what is Bott Periodicity?

Abstract: Bott periodicity is a cornerstone of current-day homotopy theory and K-theory (both topological and algebraic). It is essentially the first instance where all the homotopy groups of a space can be calculated in a nontrivial example. There are many ways to understand it, using algebra, homotopy theory, operator algebras, or you name it. I'll give a brief overview of the result and perhaps some indication of proof.

Prerequisites: Basics of topology, homotopy groups etc. Some idea about what a topological group is.

This lecture is part of the  "What is..?" seminar.