Title:  The Other Signature Theorem

Abstract:  The celebrated Hirzebruch’s Signature Theorem expresses the signature of an oriented 4k-dimensional manifold as a characteristic number in cohomology with rational coefficients. I will discuss a similar result for the Kervaire invariant of a spin manifold that involves characteristic numbers in real K-theory.  The presentation will be non-technical and will require very little knowledge of algebraic topology.