CMO/Banff Workshop — Knots, Surfaces, and 3-Manifolds

A mathematical knot can be thought of as a piece of knotted string with ends attached. This knotted circle is allowed to move freely in space as long as it does not pass through itself. In recent years the study of knots has gained momentum through a series of applications, for instance in physics and in molecular biology. Such applications bring new urgency to certain classical questions pertaining to knots and how they sit inside 3-dimensional space.