Geometry motivated by physics (Q2317017)

This is a transcript of a talk given by the author to the ICCM. The talk provides a personal overview of how much of modern geometry is motivated by the intuitive power of physics, and in turn, how geometry is continually impacting on important areas of physics. For example, when first proposed, the Einstein Field equations of General Relativity showed that geometry could not be separated from physics. Penrose and Hawking later used geometrical techniques to prove their singularity theorems concerning the field equations. Yau's talk encompasses many important areas of geometry, such as Riemannian geometry, Yang-Mills theory, algebraic geometry, differential topology, Hodge theory and Calabi-Yau manifolds, to name but a few.