A solvable quantum field theory

Over the last ten years there has been tremendous progress in solving a particular quantum field theory called b N 4 super Yang Millsb Surprisingly much of the progress has come from realizing that many of the physical quantities of interest can be found by solving a one dimensional quantum spin chain a system first considered by Heisenberg and Dirac and solved in its simplest form by Bethe in 1931 In this colloquium I wish to describe some of these advances Refreshments are served at 3:20pm