All physical systems in equilibrium obey the laws of
thermodynamics. In other words, whatever the precise nature of the
interaction between the atoms and molecules at the microscopic level,
at the macroscopic level, physical systems exhibit universal behavior in
the sense that they are all governed by the same laws and formulae of
thermodynamics.

The speaker will recount some recent history of universality ideas in
physics starting with Wigner's model for the scattering of neutrons
off large nuclei and show how these ideas have led mathematicians to
investigate universal behavior for a variety of mathematical systems.
This is true not only for systems which have a physical origin, but also
for systems which arise in a purely mathematical context such as the
Riemann hypothesis, and a version of the card game solitaire called
patience sorting.