These talks will be self-contained presentations of mathematical concepts and theorems. They are intended to be accessible to all mathematics
students.  Coffee, tea and drinks will be provided.
 
 

The three-body problem has intrigued and baffled mathematicians since Newton produced his universal law of gravitation. While the equations governing two gravitationally bound bodies are easy to solve with the motion being perfectly predictable, the equations of motion for three bodies are non-integrable, except numerically. While most triple configurations appear stable (they remain bound for all time), a large class of configurations display chaotic behaviour before ``decaying'' (one body becomes unbounded and leaves the system). Until now, no one has been able to predict stability from first principles. I will outline my new results showing how this can be done, giving a flavour for the beautiful mathematics underlying the theory. I will also illustrate the ideas using computer animations.