Algebraic topology and modular forms

Abstract

Modular forms appear in many facets of mathematics, and have played important roles in geometry, mathematical physics, number theory, representation theory, topology, and other areas. Around 1994, motivated by technical issues in homotopy theory, Mark Mahowald, Haynes Miller and I constructed a topological refinement of modular forms, which we call {\em topological modular forms}. At the Zurich ICM I sketched a program designed to relate topological modular forms to invariants of manifolds, homotopy groups of spheres, and ordinary modular forms. This program has recently been completed and new directions have emerged. In this talk I will describe this recent work and how it informs our understanding of both algebraic topology and modular forms.