Prof. Markus Brodmann
Emeritus of the Institut für Mathematik of the Universität Zürich
President of the Swiss branch of ASCO international initiative
will present:
The concept of infinity in Mathematics, Physics and Religion
Why Mathematicians were not Excommunicated
Location: Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale of Sapienza University Via Salaria 851, Rome (near Urbe Airport). Palazzina Plasma - lecture room n. 2
Time: Wednesday 19 November 2025 at 17:00
The seminar is open to everyone: general public is welcome to attend
ABSTRACT: The motivation to speak about the mentioned subject is twofold: Namely, our actual Pope Leo XIV is a mathematician and surprisingly, more than 130 years ago, Pope Leo XIII (1810 - 1903, Papacy 1878 - 1903)- a non-mathematician - made a fundamental statement concerning the relation between "Faith and Science" which is still noteworthy today. And indeed, in the background that papal statement was motivated by a controversy concerning "Faith and Mathematics", a controversy caused by the "Set Theory" of Cantor (1845 - 1914), more precisely by Cantor's "Transfinite Arithmetic" - or finally, even more precisely by what is called "Cantor's Inequality for Cardinal Numbers".
This inequality namely was considered by a number of Theologians as contradicting Christian Faith, "since it claims that there is no greatest and unique infinity above all others, the infinity of God". The problem finally was discussed even in the Vatican, and Pope Leo XIII gave order to examine it from the point of view of Theology and Philosophy. Cardinal Johann Baptist Franzelin (1816 - 1886), a Professor of Theology and Philosophy, was assigned by the Pope to perform this examination, and he came to the conclusion, that Cantor's Inequality does not contradict Christian Faith. In my talk, I shall present in detail some of the Mathematical background, but also the historic and personal background concerning Cantor himself, and speak about the enormous impact of Cantor’s ideas, including his "final rehabilitation" by the Mathematicians: in 1940 by Kurt Gödel (1906-1973 // Proof of the "Consistency of the Continuum Hypothesis") and in 1963 by Paul Cohen (1934 -2007 // Proof of the "Independence of the Continuum Hypothesis") and on further developments as "Martin's Axioms". Whether the universe is finite or infinite and how this issue relates to God will be briefly discussed (time permitting).
For additional information please contact: antonio.paolozzi@uniroma1.it or +39 3666750165