Abstract：
I shall discuss my recent work showing that the Bogomolov-Tschinkel universality conjecture holds if and only if the mapping class groups of a punctured surface is large (which is essentially the negation of the Ivanov conjecture about the mapping class groups). I will also discuss my recent work with O. Tosic regarding the closely related Putman-Wieland conjecture.
Prizes and Distinctions
Vladimir Markovic has made fundamental contributions to the theory of three-dimensional manifolds, resolving several long-standing problems, among them the proof of the Thurston conjecture concerning immersed almost-geodesic surfaces in closed hyperbolic three-manifolds.
• Simons Investigator Award, (2016)
• ICM Invited Speaker, Geometry Section and Dynamical Systems Section, ROK (2014)
• Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (2014)
• Research Merit Award, Royal Society (2014)
• Clay Research Award, awarded by Clay Institute (2012)
• Whitehead Prize, awarded by LMS (2004)
• Leverhulme Prize, awarded by Leverhulme Trust (2004)
