Distribution of primes, sieve methods and Chen's contributions Title: Distribution of primes, sieve methods and Chen's contributions Speaker: Jie Wu, Université Henri Poincaré (Nancy 1), France Venue: Room 309 Time:   18:30-20:30, Wed, 14 Nov;             14:00-16:00, Mon, 19 Nov;             18:30-20:30, Wed, 21 Nov. Abstract: This course consists of 4 one and half hour talks. I shall describe Chen's main works on Goldbach's conjecture and the existence of quasi-primes in short intervals. My aim is not only to present Chen's results but also discuss in depth his contribution to the sieve theory. In the first talk, important problems on distribution of primes and principal tools in the sieve theory (before Chen) will be introduced, which are useful for the next three sessions. In the second and the third talks, I shall present Chen's two famous theorems on Goldbach's conjecture. Finally we shall discuss Chen's proof for the existence of $P_2$ in short intervals in the last talk. Meanwhile some recent developments in these questions are mentioned.