Strachey Lecture: Professor Leo De Moura & Professor Kevin Buzzard

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Speakers

Leo De Moura: Leo is a Senior Principal Applied Scientist in the Automated Reasoning Group at AWS and is the Chief Architect of the Lean FRO. Before joining AWS in 2023, he was a Senior Principal Researcher in the RiSE group at Microsoft Research. His research areas are automated reasoning, theorem proving, decision procedures, SAT and SMT. He is the main architect of several automated reasoning tools: Lean, Z3, Yices 1.0 and SAL. Leo’s work in automated reasoning has been acknowledged with a series of prestigious awards, including the CAV, Haifa, and Herbrand awards, as well as the Programming Languages Software Award by the ACM. More details are at https://leodemoura.github.io/about

Title: Formalizing the Future: Lean’s Impact on Mathematics, Programming, and AI

Abstract: How can mathematicians, software developers, and AI systems work together with complete confidence in each other’s contributions? The open-source Lean proof assistant and programming language provides an answer, offering a rigorous framework where proofs and programs are machine-checkable, shared, and extended by a broad community of collaborators. By removing the traditional reliance on trust-based verification and manual oversight, Lean not only accelerates research and development but also redefines how we collaborate.
In this talk, I will highlight how Lean is being used to tackle challenging problems in mathematics, software verification, and AI research that depends on formally sound reasoning. I will also introduce the Lean Focused Research Organization (FRO), a non-profit dedicated to expanding Lean’s capabilities and community. By showcasing real-world examples, ranging from advanced research projects to industry-driven applications, I illustrate how Lean empowers us to innovate in a more reliable, transparent, and truly collective manner.

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Kevin Buzzard: Kevin Buzzard got his PhD from Cambridge in 1995, for work on the mathematics behind Fermat's Last Theorem. After some time in Princeton and Berkeley he settled in Imperial College London, where he has been a professor of pure mathematics for 20 years. In 2017 he switched his research area to mathematical formalization and has since spent a lot of time introducing mathematicians to new technologies such as the Lean theorem prover. He gave a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2022.

Title: Will computers prove theorems?

Abstract: Will computers one day replace human mathematicians? Is this just around the corner, or decades away? Can neural networks spot patterns which humans have missed? Currently language models are great for brainstorming big ideas but are very poor when it comes to details. Can integrating a language model with a theorem prover like Lean solve these problems? Is the modern mathematical literature riddled with errors, and is it feasible to hope that a machine might find and even fix them? Is it possible to teach a computer the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem? And what do mathematicians make of all this? I'll talk about how modern developments in AI and theorem provers are beginning to affect mathematics.

The Strachey Lectures are generously supported by OxFORD Asset Management