The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 157

CHAPTER 25
The Centre for Mathematical
Medicine
Sivabal Sivaloganathan
“At the time, [Fields] was one of a handful of sites worldwide
dedicated to promoting the interaction of the mathematical and
biomedical sciences.”
I recall that in the fall of 1989 Jerry Marsden visited the
Mathematics Department at the University of Alberta. He
came as a Distinguished Speaker in the Math Department
Colloquium Series, although I believe the Department had
ulterior motives and (misguidedly) thought that they could
“lure” Jerry from Berkeley to a Distinguished Chair at the
University of Alberta! Jerry gave a most engaging talk in
his inimitable style, using elements of geometric control to
reformulate the “falling cat problem” (among other things) as
a problem in feedback control.
Later, a small group of colleagues from the Math
Department took Jerry out to dinner. Apart from entertaining