Mathematics: past, present, future - "The theory of knots"

Knots are just simple closed curves in 3-dimensional space. They are some of the most basic objects in topology, but are surprisingly tricky to understand. Knot theory started in 19th century with knot tabulation, and has expanded into a huge subject with connections to many other areas of modern mathematics. I will give some of the history of knot theory and will describe some of its basic results. I will also present some fascinating unsolved problems in the field.