Elmo Vuorenmaa: What are the stable homotopy groups of spheres?

In this talk, I will introduce what are arguably the most important objects of study in modern topology: the stable homotopy groups of spheres. I will explain the notion of stable homotopy, where it comes from, and how it differs from homotopy. I will then discuss the stable homotopy groups of spheres, explain why everyone wants to compute them, and explain why we still don't know what they look like.

This talk precedes Robert Burklund's colloquium talk  on “Beyond the telescope conjecture” and is accessible to a broad audience (master and PhD students).