MATHEMATICIAN RECEIVES TOP HONOUR P · ganisations, and public service ... Ostrowski Prize 2017 ... Letters. The chair of the Abel committee John

NEWSLETTER No. 467 March 2017

SOCIETY MEETINGS AND EVENTS 2017

• 3April:SocietyMeetingatBMC,Durhampage 7• 18–22April:LMSInvitedLectures,Newcastlepage 10• 5May:MaryCartwrightLecture,Londonpage 6• 1June:NorthernRegionalMeeting,York• 30June:GraduateStudentMeeting,London

• 30June:SocietyMeeting,London• 10November:GraduateStudentMeeting,London• 10November:AnnualGeneralMeeting,London• 11December:SW&SouthWalesRegionalMeeting,Cardiff

NEWSLETTERONLINE:newsletter.lms.ac.uk @LondMathSoc

P rofessor Martin Hairer FRS,University of Warwick, has

been awarded an honoraryKBE. The award of KnightCommander, The MostExcellent Order of the BritishEmpire rewards ‘contributionsto the arts and sciences, workwithcharitableandwelfareor-ganisations, andpublic serviceoutsidetheCivilService’andisgiven in an honorary capacitytoforeignnationals.ProfessorHairerworks inthefield of stochastic analysis. HeiscurrentlyRegiusProfessorofMathematics at the UniversityofWarwick, having previouslyheld a position at the Courant Institute ofMathematicalScience,NewYorkUniversity.Heisaleaderinthefieldofstochasticpartialdifferential equations in particular, and instochasticanalysisandstochasticdynamics ingeneral.Bybringingnewideastothesubjecthehasmade fundamental advances inmanyimportantdirections.He has also received several other prestig-iousawardsandhonours.HewasawardedtheFieldsMedalin2014andwaselectedaFellowof the Royal Society in the same year. He

MATHEMATICIAN RECEIVES TOP HONOUR

has been awarded both the LMSWhitehead(2008)andFröhlich(2014)Prizes.Hehasalsoreceived the Philip Leverhulme Prize, Lev-erhulme Trust (2008) and Wolfson ResearchMeritAward,RoyalSociety(2009).Professor Hairer also presented the LMSPopularLecturesduringits150thAnniversaryyear in2015andwasoneofnineprominentmathematicians interviewed for the LMS150thAnniversary filmThinking Space. Shortclips from the film are available at https://www.lms.ac.uk/library/frames-of-mind.

LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk

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AwardsFermatPrize2017.............................................ICIAMPrizes2019.............................................MartinHairerReceivesTopHonour................OstrowskiPrize2017.........................................SimonDonaldsonAwardedDoctorHonoris Causa................................................

WolfPrize2017.................................................

Calendar of Events

LMS ItemsAitkenLectureTour-HinkeOsinga.................Annual Elections to LMS Council...................CecilKingTravelScholarship2017...................DurhamSymposia2018–callforproposals....VerblunskyMembers’Room............................

LMS MeetingsAlgebraicTopologyofManifoldsResearchSchool.............................................................

IntroductiontoGeometry,Dynamics,andModuliinLowDimensionsResearchSchool...

Invited Lecturer 2017.......................................MaryCartwrightLecture..................................MicrolocalAnalysisandApplicationsResearchSchool..............................................

NewTrendsinRepresentationTheoryResearchSchool..............................................

OrthogonalPolynomialsandSpecialFunctions Research School............................

SocietyMeetingatBMC...................................WomeninMathematicsDay............................

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MeetingsBritishMathematicalColloquium2017...........Harmonic Analysis and PDE Network.........MathematicalModellingofRandomMulticomponent Systems.............................

Mathematical Physics Day..............................NovelMathematicalApproachesforModellingEvolutioninComplexLivingSystems...........................................................

ScottishOperator Algebras Research.............UCLanMathematicsSocietySeminar...............

NewsAbel Prize 2017 Diary......................................

EuropeanNews.................................................

ImpactofHumanInteractionsin

Mathematics................................................

Mathematics Policy Round-Up.......................

PROMYS Europe...............................................

ReportsSublimeSymmetrySymposium........................

YoungTheorists'Forum....................................

ReviewsAMathematician’s Journeys............................

GalleryoftheInfinite.......................................

TheAscentofMarySomerville.......................

VisitsCatania,Davide.................................................

Davidson,Kenneth............................................

No. 467 March 2017Contents

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No. 467 March [email protected]

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Editorial officeLondonMathematicalSociety,DeMorganHouse,57–58RussellSquare,LondonWC1B4HS(t:02076373686;f:02073233655)

Events [email protected]

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AdvertisingForratesandguidelinesseenewsletter.lms.ac.uk/rate-card

General EditorMrA.J.S.Mann([email protected])

Reports EditorProfessorI.A.Stewart([email protected])

Reviews EditorProfessorD.Singerman([email protected])

Administrative EditorS.M.Oakes([email protected])

TypesetbytheLMSatDeMorganHouse;printedbyHolbrooksPrintersLtd.

Publishedmonthly,exceptAugust.Itemsandadver-tisementsbythefirstdayofthemonthpriortopubli-cation,ortheclosestprecedingworkingday.Noticesandadvertisementsarenotacceptedforeventsthatoccurinthefirstweekofthepublicationmonth.

News items and notices in theNewsletter may befreely used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, al-though attribution is requested when reproducingwhole articles. Contributions to theNewsletter aremadeunderanon-exclusive licence;please contacttheauthororphotographerfortherightstorepro-duce. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for theaccuracy of information in the Newsletter. ViewsexpresseddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsorpolicyoftheLondonMathematicalSociety.

Charity registration number: 252660.

Editorial teamhttp://newsletter.lms.ac.uk

Publication dates and deadlines

FERMAT PRIZE 2017Call for Nominations

The Fermat Prize for Mathematics Researchrewards the research work of one or moremathematicians,lessthan45yearsold,infieldswhere the contributions of Pierre de Fermathavebeendecisive:• Statementsofvariationalprinciples,ormoregenerallypartialdifferentialequations.

• Foundationsofprobabilityandanalyticalgeometry.

• Numbertheory.Thespiritoftheprizeisfocusedonrewardingtheresultsofresearchaccessibletothegreatestnumberofprofessionalmathematicianswithinthese fields. The amount of the award is

€20,000grantedeverytwoyearsbytheRégionOccitaniePyrénées-Méditerranée.Formorein-formation,andhowtoapply,visitthewebsitewww.math.univ-toulouse.fr/PrixFermat.Closingdateforapplicationsis30 June 2017.Previous laureates are: A. Bahri, K.A. Ribet(1989),J.-L.Colliot-Thél�ne(1991),J-M.Coron(1993),A.J.Wiles(1995),M.Talagrand(1997),F.Bethuel,F.Hélein(1999),R.L.Taylor,W.Werner(2001), L. Ambrosio (2003), P. Colmz, J-F. LeGall(2005),C.Khare(2007),E.Lindenstrauss,C.Villani(2009),M.Bhargava,I.Rodnianski(2011),C.DeLellis,M.Hairer(2013),L.Saint-Raymond,P.Scholze(2015).

WOLF PRIZE 2017Charles Fefferman (Princeton University) andRichard Schoen(UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine)havebeennamedthewinnersofthe2017Wolf

Prize inMathematics for ‘their strikingcontri-butionstoanalysisandgeometry’.ThetwowillsharetheUS$100,000prize.

OSTROWSKI PRIZE 2017Call for NominationsThe aim of the Ostrowski Foundation is topromote the mathematical sciences. Everysecond year it provides aprize for recentout-standingachievementsinpuremathematicsandinthefoundationsofnumericalmathematics.

Thejuryinvitesnominationsforcandidatesforthe 2017Ostrowski Prize.Nominations shouldbesenttotheChairofthejuryfor2017,GilKalai,HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem, Israel ([email protected])by15 May 2017.


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Honours & Awards

ABEL PRIZE DIARY 2017TheAbelPrizewasestablishedon1January2002.ThepurposeistoawardtheAbelPrizefor outstanding scientific work in the fieldofmathematics.Theprizeamount isNOK6million (about €7675,000, £578.00) andwasawardedforthefirsttimeon3June2003.

Abel Prize announcement21March2017at12:00TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLetters

Thenameofthe2017AbelLaureatewillbeannounced by Ole M. Sejersted, Presidentof the Norwegian Academy of Science andLetters.ThechairoftheAbelcommitteeJohnRognes will then give the reasons for theawardingoftheprize,followedbyapopularscience presentation of the prize winner'swork by Terrence Tao. The announcementwill asprevious yearsbefilmedand canbewatchedasa livewebcastattheAbelprizewebsitehttp://www.abelprize.no/.

Wreath-laying ceremony at the Abel Monument22May2017at17:00RoyalPalacegrounds,Oslo

The Abel Laureate will honour NielsHenrikAbelby layingawreathat theAbelMonument. Kristian Ranestad, chair of theAbel board,will give a speech.Musical per-formances.Theeventisopentothepublic.

Dinner in honour of the Abel Laureate22May2017at18:00TheNorwegianAcademyofScienceandLetters

TheNorwegianAcademywill host a dinnerinhonouroftheAbelLaureate.Amongtheinvitedguestswill bemembers of theAbelcommittee and the Abel board, membersof the Academy's mathematics group andvisitingmathematiciansfrommanycountries.Byinvitationonly.

Abel Prize Award Ceremony23May2017at14:00UniversityAula,Oslo,Norway

TheAbelLaureatewillreceivetheAbelPrizeat an award ceremony in the UniversityAula inOslo,Norway.Theceremonywillbefollowed by a reception and an interviewwith the Abel Laureate in front of a liveaudience at a nearby theatre, Det NorskeTeatret.

The Abel Banquet23May2017at19:00AkershusCastle,Oslo

TheNorwegiangovernmenthostsabanquetinhonouroftheAbelLaureateatAkershusCastle.Byinvitationonly.

The Abel Lectures 201724May2017at10:00GeorgSverdrupsHus,UniversityofOslo

TheAbelLaureatewillgivetheirprizelectureat the University of Oslo followed by twoAbelLectures,usuallyontopicsrelatedtotheprizewinner'swork. For some years now apopularsciencelecturehasalsobeenpartoftheprogram.

ICIAM PRIZES 2019Call for Nominations

ICIAM (International Council for Industrialand Applied Mathematics) is the world or-ganisation for applied and industrial math-ematics.TheICIAMPrizeCommitteefor2019callsfornominationsforthefiveICIAMPrizestobeawardedin2019(theCollatzPrize,the

LagrangePrize,theMaxwellPrize,thePioneerPrizeandtheSuBuchinPrize).The deadline for nominations is 15 July

2017. Nominations should be made elec-tronically through the website https://iciamprizes.org/.


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For further information and to register: http://www.maths.dur.ac.uk/bmc2017/index.xhtmlEarly bird registration is now open.

This Society Meeting is part of the British Mathematical Colloquium 2017. The full conference will also include a public lecture by Noam Elkes (Harvard), and plenaries given by Eva Bayer-Fluckiger (ÉPFL), Kenji Fukaya (Kyoto University/Simons Center), Laurent Lafforgue (IHÉS), Jacob Lurie (Harvard University) and George Lusztig (MIT).

MORNING SPEAKERSAlessandra Bernardi, Gérard Besson, Tara Brendle, Jan Bruinier, Olivia Caramello, Alexander Grigor’yan, Fanny Kassel, Ari Laptev, Diane Maclagan, Oscar Randal-Williams, James Robinson.

Workshops (Tue & Wed afternoon)Algebra, organiser: Emilie DufresneAnalysis, organisers: Norbert Peyerimhoff, Ari LaptevGeometry, organiser: John ParkerNumber Theory, organiser: Jens FunkeTopology, organiser: Dirk Schuetz

The plenary and morning talks will take place in the Calman Learning Centre (CLC) on the Science Site. The tea/coffee and lunches will be served in the Earth Sciences (ES) building, adjacent to the CLC. Rooms E101 and E102 are in the Engineering building and CM101 is in the Maths building.

The cost of registration is £50 (early bird until 28 February 2017; £80 thereafter). The registration fee for postgraduate students is £50. The conference dinner is £50.

The accommodation is in Collingwood College, which is a 10 minute walk from the Science Site, where the conference will take place.

BMC 2017: 3–7 April 2017including

LMS Society MeetingMonday 3 April

Durham3:45 pm LMS Society Meeting

Plenary Lecture: Isabelle Gallagher (Université Paris-Diderot, IMJ-PRG)


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LMS Items

THE VERBLUNSKY MEMBERS’ ROOM

LMS members are warmly invitedtovisitDeMorganHouse inRussellSquare,LondonandmakeuseoftheLMSMembers’Room,orVerblunskyRoom.NamedafterSamuelVerblun-sky,agenerousbenefactorandlongstanding LMS member (1929-1996),the LMS Members’ Room offers aquietandcomfortablespacetoworkandrelaxinthemidstoftheLondonhubbub.With free wi-fi, networkedcomputers and complimentary teaand coffee in the nearby kitchen,membersarewelcometousetheroomduringoffice hours;Monday to Friday, 9-5. An ap-pointmentisnotrequired,justringthebuzzerat themain entrance;No. 58 Russell Square.DirectionstoDeMorganHousecanbefoundhere: http://demorganhouse.org.uk/content/our-location.TheVerblunskyMembers’Roomalsohousestwo special collections; the Hardy Collectionand the Philippa Fawcett Collection. TheHardy Collection, named after the Society’sformerPresident, containsover 300 volumesfrom G.H. Hardy’s personal library of books,which were used by him at various pointsthroughouthis career. As such,onecangetaglimpseof theauthorswho influencedhisthinking or caught his attention. Many ofthesevolumescontainHardy’s signatureandinsomecasestheyalsocontainadedication.

ForfurtherinformationabouttheHardyCol-lection, go to https://www.lms.ac.uk/library/special-collections#hardy.ThePhilippaFawcettCollection,namedafterthefirstwomantocometopinthefinalsex-aminationatCambridgeandanearlymemberoftheLMS,isawide-ranginglibraryofbookswrittenbyandaboutwomenwhostudiedorworkedinmathematicalsubjects inthenine-teenthandfirstpartofthetwentiethcentury,orearlier.TheCollectionwasdonatedtotheLondon Mathematical Society by one of itsmembers,DrA.E.L.Davis.Itishopedthatthebookswillbeausefulresourcetoscholarsofthehistoryofwomeninmathematicsaswellasaninspirationtofemalemathematiciansofthefuture.Forfurtherdetailsvisitthewebsiteat: https://www.lms.ac.uk/library/special-collections#fawcett.

Armadachessset FawcettandHardySpecialCollections


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ANNUAL ELECTIONS TO LMS COUNCIL

TheNominatingCommitteeisresponsibleforproposingslatesofcandidates forvacanciesonCouncilandvacanciesonitsownmember-ship. The Nominating Committee activelywelcomessuggestionsfromthemembership.AnyonewhowishestosuggestsomeoneforapositionasanOfficeroftheSocietyorasaMember-at-Largeof Council (nowor in thefuture)isinvitedtosendtheirsuggestionstoProfessor John Toland, the current Chair ofNominating Committee ([email protected]).Pleaseprovidethenameandinstitu-tion(ifapplicable)ofthesuggestednominee,his/her mathematical specialism(s), and abrief statement to explain what s/he couldbringtoCouncil/NominatingCommittee.Nominating Committee seeks to maintaina balance in gender, subject area and geo-graphical location when drawing up its listofprospectivenominees,andLMSmembersshouldbearinmindthatitistothebenefitoftheSocietythatCouncilisbalancedandrep-resents the fullbreadthof themathematicscommunity. Furtherdetailsabout theworkof the Nominating Committee are on theLMS website at www.lms.ac.uk/about/nominating-committee.Nominations should be received by Friday

28 April 2017inordertobeconsideredbytheNominatingCommittee.In addition to the above there exists the

optionformembers tomakedirectnomina-tionsforelectiontoCouncilortotheNomi-natingCommittee.Directnominationsmustbe sent to the Executive Secretary’s office([email protected]) to arrive before noon on 1 September 2017. Nominationscanbe submitted inhard copyor via email.Allnominationsmustbearthesignaturesofthe nominator and three seconders and ofthe nominee. For hard copy, a letter withthe relevant names and signatures is suffi-cientorsubmissionscanbemadeviaaformavailable from the LMS website at http://tinyurl.com/q28lrvp. For email submissionsnominationsandstatementsfromsecondersmustbesentfromaverifiableemailaddresstonominations@lms.ac.uk.Membersconsid-eringmakingadirectnominationareaskedto bear in mind the desirability of Councilbeingbalancedwithregardtothefullrangeofmathematicalspecialisms,UKregionsandgender.The slate proposed by NominatingCommittee, together with other directnominationsreceiveduptothattimewillbepostedon the LMSwebsite in earlyAugustformemberstoseebeforedecidingwhethertheywishtomakeanyfurtherdirectnomina-tions.Further nominations will be posted ontothewebsiteastheyarereceived.

Othertreasuresondisplayincludeaporcelaintea set gifted by theMoscowMathematicalSociety, anArmada chess set, a collectionof90thbirthdaymessagespresentedtoSirChris-topher Zeeman and a facsimile of the LMSMembers’Bookfrom1865-1990. Ifyouhavenot yet signed the original Members’ Book,youcandosoatoneofourSocietyMeetings(www.lms.ac.uk/events/society-meetings).Don’t forget to look out for the Society’sRoyal Charter, Royal Society Athena MedalandgiftsfromotherSocietiesondisplayinthereceptionareaofDeMorganHouse.

DeMorganHouseitselfissituatedonRussellSquarewithinthecreativeheartofBloomsburyandashortwalkfromtheWestEnd.WithUni-versityCollegeLondon(UCL)onlya10minutewalkaway,memberscanalsotakeadvantageoftheircomplimentaryuseoftheLMSLibrarythat ishousedatUCL. Fordetailsonhowtoregister/renewasaUCLLibraryuser,pleasevisit:https://www.lms.ac.uk/library/how-register.We look forward to welcoming you at DeMorganHousesoonandarehappytoansweranyqueriesinthemeantime:[email protected].


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LMS INVITED LECTURER 2017Professor Jim Agler (UCSD)Function Theory by Hilbert Space Methods18-22 April 2017, Herschel Building, Newcastle UniversityOur topic will be a powerful machinery that has been developed in the last 60 years both to discov-er and to prove theorems about analytic functions in one and several complex variables through the construction of operators on Hilbert space. The lectures will begin with expositions of the elementary operator theory that is required to achieve interesting results in function theory. Next we will show how a number of classical results in the theory of analytic functions in one variable, when cast in a Hilbert space setting, can be proved by operator-theoretic methods which are largely algebraic in nature. These results will include the Herglotz Representation Theorem, the Carathéodory and Pick Interpolation Theorems, Nevanlinna’s Representation Theorems, the Car-athéodory-Julia Theorems, and Loewner’s Theorem. The remainder of the talks will focus on how the operator-theoretic proofs of these one- variable theorems can be generalized to yield a variety of new results in several complex variables.

Guest LecturesThere will also be supplementary lectures by: Professor John McCarthy (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)Research interests: Analysis, especially Operator Theory and one/several Complex VariablesAssociate Professor Greg Knese (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)Research interests: Complex Function Theory, Operators, Harmonic AnalysisAssistant Professor Kelly Bickel (Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA)Research interests: Multivariate Operator Theory, Several Complex Variables, Harmonic Analysis

Accommodation, Travel Funding and RegistrationAccommodation will be provided at the Osborne Hotel. Limited fi nancial support is available with preference given to UK research students. Please contact the organiser for further details: Zinaida Lykova [email protected]. Deadline for funding: 1 April 2017.

For further details and how to register for the 2017 Invited Lectures please visit: http://www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/~nek29/lmslectures2017/function_theory.html


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Further information: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/opsf-summerschoolApply online at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RS31OrthogonalPolynomialsApplicationForm by 31 March 2017

Course outlineModern developments in theoretical and applied science depend on knowledge of the properties of various mathematical functions, from elementary trigonometric to the multitude of orthogonal polynomials and special functions. These lectures cover various aspects of orthogonal polynomials and special functions of current interest and undergoing rapid development.

The three main lecture course topics are:• Properties of Orthogonal Polynomials, Kerstin Jordaan (University of Pretoria, South Africa) • Discrete Painlevé Equations, Nalini Joshi (University of Sydney, Australia)• Multiple Orthogonal Polynomials, Walter Van Assche (KU Leuven, Belgium)

These lecture courses will be supplemented by tutorial sessions.

Guest lectures• Adri Olde Daalhuis (University of Edinburgh, UK)• Andrei Martinez-Finkelstein (University of Almería, Spain)

Apply online; see details below. Research students, post-docs and those working in industry are invited to apply. All applicants will be contacted within three weeks after the deadline; information about individual applications will not be available before then*

FeesResearch students: £150 (no charge for subsistence costs).Early career researchers: £250 (no charge for subsistence costs).Other participants: £250 (plus subsistence costs).

Research students who will not have not completed their PhDs by the start of the Research School and who would otherwise be unable to attend can apply for fi nancial aid.

Fees are not payable until a place at the Research School is offered but will be due by 26 May 2017.

ORTHOGONAL POLYNOMIALS & SPECIAL FUNCTIONSLMS Research SchoolUniversity of Kent, Canterbury, UK; 26–30 June 2017Organisers: Peter Clarkson (Kent) and Ana Loureiro (Kent)


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MATHEMATICS POLICY ROUND-UPMarch 2017

RESEARCHInvestment in science, research and innovationBusinessandEnergySecretaryGregClarkhasannounced that the government is backing125cutting-edge researchanddevelopmentprojectsacrossthecountry.Through InnovateUK, theUK’s innovationagency,thegovernmentissupportingawide-rangeof cuttingedge innovationsandbusi-nesses with the awarding of £15million ingrants tobusiness-led, commercial ideas forresearchanddevelopmentprojects.

The Industrial Strategy Green paper is available at http://tinyurl.com/jv64b5b.Science Minister Jo Johnson has alsoannounced that Professor SirMarkWalportwill be appointed as Chief ExecutiveDesignate of UK Research and Innovation(UKRI),leadingontheestablishmentofUKRIand ensuring it ‘plays a central role at theheart of the Industrial Strategy’. More in-formation is available at http://tinyurl.com/jzf4n9v.

HIGHER EDUCATIONReview recommends changes to higher education sector agenciesUniversities UK has published recommendationsofitsreviewlookingatthehighereducationsectoragencies.AreviewgroupwasestablishedbyUniversitiesUK in February 2016 to consider the effective-nessandtheresponsibilitiesofthecurrentsectoragencies that support higher education institu-tions.The review considered the following highereducationagencies:• EqualityChallengeUnit(ECU)• HigherEducationAcademy(HEA)• HigherEducationCareersServicesUnit(HECSU)• HigherEducationStatisticsAgency(HESA)• Jisc• LeadershipFoundationforHigherEducation(LFHE)

• OfficefortheIndependentAdjudicatorforHigherEducation(OIAHE)

• QualityAssuranceAgency(QAA)• UniversitiesandCollegesAdmissionsService(UCAS)

• UniversitiesandCollegesEmployersAs-sociation(UCEA)There are a number of recommendationsin the report including seeing the numberof core agencies taking subscriptions frominstitutions(particularlyinEngland)reducedfromninetosixoverthenexttwoyears.Mostsignificantly,anewbodyisproposedthatwillbringtogetherthefunctionsoftheEqualityChallengeUnit (ECU), theHigher EducationAcademy (HEA) and the Leadership Founda-tionforHigherEducation(LFHE).ThecorefunctionsoftheEqualityChallengeUnit (ECU), the Higher Education Academy(HEA) and the Leadership Foundation forHigher Education (LFHE) should bemergedintoasinglebodytocreateanew,morere-sponsive agency supporting institutions inrelation to equality and diversity, learningandteaching,andleadershipandgovernanceA transitiongroup shouldbeestablished tohelpcoordinatethedeliveryoftheproposedmerged body. The report is available athttp://tinyurl.com/h2snlxs.

OTHERCaSE concern for UK scienceThe Campaign for Science and Engineering(CaSE) haswritten to the PrimeMinister tohighlight the longstanding and mutuallybeneficial partnership between theUK andUS scientific communities and warn thatthosetiesmaybeerodedbythePresident'sexecutiveorderonimmigrationandawiderrestrictive approach to migration, both intheUKandUS,tothedetrimentoftheUK'sscientific strength. The letter is available athttp://tinyurl.com/jfw4e6t.

DrJohnJohnstonJointPromotionofMathematics

News


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SIMON DONALDSON AWARDED DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA

SirSimonKirwanDonaldsonFRS,Professorin PureMathematics at Imperial CollegeLondon (UK), and permanent memberof the Simons Center for Geometry andPhysics at Stony Brook University (US),hasreceivedthehonorarydegreeDoctorHonoris Causa by Universidad Com-plutensedeMadrid(Spain)on20January2017.ProfessorDonaldson is a Fellowof theRoyalSocietyandamemberof theLMS.HeobtainedtheWhiteheadPrizeandthePólyaPrize from the LondonMathemati-cal Society, and the Royal Medal of theRoyal Society. He has also received theFieldsMedal,theCrafoordPrize,theShawPrizeandtheBreakthroughPrize.The ceremony was presided by His Excel-lencytheRector,CarlosAndradas,whoisalsoaProfessorinAlgebraatUniversidadComplutensedeMadrid.VicenteMuñoz,formerPhDstudentof SimonDonaldson atOxfordUniversity, andnowProfessorinGeometryandTopologyatUCM,wasinchargeofreadingtheLaudatio,reviewingthe mathematical achievements of ProfessorDonaldson.ItwasfollowedbyaspeechfromthelaureateinwhichhedelvedintotheconnectionsbetweenGeometry,Algebra,andSpace.Finally,theRectorgave thenewdoctorhonoris causaseveralsymbolsofthemagisteriumandfinished

withaspeechinwhichhepraisedthehighscien-tificmeritsofProfessorDonaldson.The ceremony took place in the Faculty ofMathematics of UCM. This was the first timethatsuchaneventhasbeenhostedinthisrela-tively new building. This allowed for a largeaffluence of undergraduate and postgradu-ate students, and served to commemorate the25th anniversary of the Faculty building. Theceremonycanbeviewedatwww.youtube.com/watch?v=xoC53Smg-WI. A report (in Spanish)canbefoundintribuna.ucm.es/43/art2605.php.

VicenteMuñozUniversidadComplutensedeMadrid

SimonDonaldson(left)andCarlosAndradas(right)duringtheceremony

©JesúsdeMiguel/UCM

EUROPEAN NEWSOberwolfach Library and ElsevierThe Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach Library cancelled all subscrip-tionstoonline journalsprovidedbyElsevierPublishing. From January 2017, the currentissuesofallElsevierjournalswillnolongerbeaccessibleonline.The cancellation came about during ne-gotiations with Elsevier which were beingconducted by the DEAL project group. The

DEAL Project represents more than 100 ne-gotiation mandates by German universitiesand research institutions. In close consulta-tionwith theDEALproject group, some60German academic and research institutionsdecided against prolonging their individualcontractswithElsevierafter2016. Forback-grounddetailsseewww.mfo.de.

DavidChillingworthLMS/EMSCorrespondent


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News

THE IMPACT OF HUMAN INTERACTIONS IN MATHEMATICS

The current consultation on the REF(Research Excellence Framework), andEPSRC’sforthcomingReview of Knowledge Exchange in the Mathematical Sciences,have once again got the UKmathematicscommunitythinkingaboutimpact.The impactofmathematics ineverywalkoflifeisastounding.Deloitteestimatethat10% of all UK jobs and 16% of total UKGDPisadirectresultofmathematics–andEPSRCsanalysisofthe2014REFshowstheuniquebreadthof that impact. Yetmath-ematicsscoreslesswellthanotherscienceson standard measures of knowledgeexchange, such as patents and contractresearch, a concern to administrators inan increasingly metrics-conscious world.Mathematicianshavelongarguedthattheimpact ofmathematics is long term, hardtopredict,andoftenhappensviainterdisci-plinarywork,andthatartfullyconstructedcasestudiesmayearnhighREFscores,butmissthebiggerpicture. Somehavegonefurther, arguing vehemently against theveryconceptof“impact”,andpointingoutthat the biggest impact of all, ignored bytheREF,comesthrougheffectiveeducationofstudents.ArecentpaperbyLauraMeagher,aseniorresearch evaluator, and me, a computerscientist(andformerlyapro-vicechancellor,REF/RAE panel member and a member ofLMSCouncil),usedthequalitativemethodsof social policy researchers, and the troveof material provided by the 2014 REF, todig into209publishedREF case studiesofthe impact of UK mathematics and statis-tics and 52 REF impact templates, comple-menting this with surveys, focus groupsand in-depth interviews. We consideredtwobasicquestions–whatkindsofimpactdoesmathematicshave,andhowdoesthatimpactcomeabout.Wedrewonacategorisationof impactsoriginally developed for the human

sciences which includes, alongside direct“instrumentalimpacts”ofaparticularpieceof work in a particular application, the“conceptual impacts” that can reshape awhole field, “capacity building” impactsthrougheducationand training,“attitudeor cultural change” and the “enduringconnectivity “ of long term relationshipswith research users. While intervieweesoftenfeltthattheREFdrovethemtowardsthe “instrumental” impacts, which indeeddominated the case studies, our researchshowed that the broader categorisationwasagoodfittomathematics,andindeedsuch broader themes were represented intheREFguidelinesofsomeotherdisciplines.Turning to mechanisms for impact, weidentified the importance of mathematicsfocussed“knowledgeintermediaries”,whobuildbridgesbetweentheacademicmath-ematics community and users of research.Examples include the IndustrialMathemat-ics KTN, the long running OCIAM studygroupswith industry, and individualmath-ematicianswiththeexperienceandhumanskills to nurture and develop trusted longterm relationships with external users ofresearch, so that the right academic col-leaguescanbebroughtinquicklywhenanopportunityarises.Our study confirms theimportanceof such long term informal re-lationships,oftenviaanotherdiscipline,asvectors for impact. Indeed, reading acrossthe case studies emphasises that they arewindows onto a complex ecosystem ofresearch and research users: the morecomplexthesystem,theeasieritislikelytobetoextractlinearnarratives,butthelessrepresentativeofthetruepicturesuchnar-rativeswillbe.Ourworkreinforcesthecrucialroleofuni-versitiesindevelopingaculturesupportiveof researchandthegenerationof impactswhichreinforcesthedistinctivebutall-per-vasivenatureofmathematics,andwehope


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wehave contributed to a robust evidencebase forGovernment,universities and themathematics community to ensure thatthe distinctive nature of mathematics isrecognised in allocating support, ensuringthatanyfutureREFaddressesmathematicsimpacteffectively.Findingnewwaystotellthe stories of impact has the potential toopen up the richness and power of math-

ematics in newways for practitioners andthewidercommunity.

ProfessorUrsulaMartin,CBEUniversityofOxford

[email protected]

Slightly dirty maths: The richly textured mechanisms of impact, Laura R Meagher and Ursula MartinResearchEvaluation(2017).Publishedonlineaheadofprint,18January2017:http://bit.ly/2krMiYm

PROMYS EUROPEThePROMYS(PrograminMathematicsforYoungScientists)summerschoolforhighschoolstudentswas setupbyGlennStevens inBoston,USA, in1989. Ithasbeen the startingpoint formanyastellarcareerinmathematics.Amirrorprogramme,PROMYSEurope,waslaunchedinOxfordin2015,as a partnership between PROMYS, the Math-ematicalInstitute,WadhamCollege,andtheClayMathematicsInstitute,withsupportfromOxfordalumni.Itranverysuccessfullyforthesecondtimelast summer: 24 students and seven counsellorsfromsome15countriesspentsixweekstacklingchallenging number theory problems, formulat-ingandprovingtheirownconjectures,andreallygettingatasteforwhatit istoworkasamath-ematician.This July pre-university students from acrossEuropewill once again arrive inOxford to par-

ticipate in PROMYS Europe. First-year studentswill focus primarily on a series of very challeng-ingproblemsets,daily lectures,andexplorationprojects in number theory. Therewill also be aprogramme of talks by guest mathematiciansand PROMYS Europe counsellors, on a widerangeofmathematicalsubjects,aswellascoursesaimedprimarilyatstudentswhoarereturningtoPROMYSEuropeforasecondorthirdtime.Partic-ipantswillfindarichlystimulatingandsupportivecommunityoffellowfirst-yearstudents,returningstudents, undergraduate counsellors, researchmentors,faculty,andvisitingmathematicians.Selection is highly competitive, but is needs-blind, with costs covered for those whowould otherwise be unable to attend. Forfurther details visit the website at http://promys-europe.org.

PROMYSEurope2016participants


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Algebraic Topology of ManifoldsLMS-CMI Research School

Oxford 11 – 15 September 2017

Organiser:UlrikeTillmann(Oxford)

Manifoldsareatthecentreofmuchofgeometryandtopology,andthroughtheinfluenceofaxiomatictopologicalquantumfieldtheorytheyhavebecomeanimportantorganisingforceincategoryandrepresentationtheory.Classically,inthe1960s,algebraictopologywasattheheartoftheirclassificationtheoryinformofcharacteristicclassesandnumbers,cobordismtheory,surgerytheory,andlaterWald-hausen’sK-theoryofmanifolds.Wearenowexperiencingarenaissanceofthefieldaswellasaparadigmshiftwheremanifoldsnotonlyaretheobjectsofstudybutbecomethetools.Theschoolaimsatinspiringthenextgenerationwiththisexcitingsuccessstoryofinterwovenideasbouncingbetweendifferentfields,andgivingtheparticipantsthetoolstocontributetothislivelyresearcharea.

Lecture CoursesDan Freed(Austin,USA)Topological Quantum Field TheoryOscar Randall-Williams(Cambridge,UK)Characteristic classes & moduli spaces of manifoldsGreg Arone(Virginia,USA)The Goodwillie–Weiss embedding calculusNathalie Wahl(Copenhagen,Denmark)Homological stabilityTheselecturecourseswillbesupplementedbytutorialsessions.Inadditiontherewillbeguestlectures.Forfurtherinformation,pleasevisit:https://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/tillmann/ATM-SCHOOL.html

Apply online (www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RS33-ATManifoldsApplicationForm) by 16 June 2017.Researchstudents,post-docsandthoseworkinginindustryareinvitedtoapply.*Allap-plicantswillbecontactedwithinthreeweeksafterthedeadline;informationaboutindividualapplicationswillnotbeavailablebeforethen*

FeesResearchstudents:£150.Therewillbenochargeforsubsistencecosts.Earlycareerresearchers:£250.Therewillbenochargeforsubsistencecosts.Otherparticipants:£250plussubsistencecosts.ResearchstudentswhowillnothavecompletedtheirPhDsbythestartoftheResearchSchoolandwhowouldotherwisebeunabletoattendcanapplyforfinancialaidtocovertheirtravelcosts.FeesarenotpayableuntilaplaceattheResearchSchoolisofferedbutwillbedueby21July2017.


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Introduction to Geometry, Dynamics, and Moduli in Low Dimensions

LMS-CMI Research SchoolWarwick

11 – 15 September 2017

Organisers:J.Aramayona(Madrid),S.Schleimer(Warwick),J.Smillie(Warwick)

Course outline

TheResearchSchoolwillofferabroadintroductiontolow-dimensionalgeometry,topology,anddynamics.Experts inthefieldwilleachdeliveramini-coursedevotedtoaparticularsub-area.Themini-courseswillbeaccompaniedbyproblemsessions,supervisedbytutors.TheSchool istheopeningeventoftheEPSRC-WarwickSymposium“Geometry,dynamics,andmoduliinlowdimensions”tobeheldatWarwickduringtheacademicyear2017-18.ParticipantsoftheSchoolarealsoinvitedtoapplytotheotherworkshopsofthesymposium.

Lecture Courses

Yael Algom-Kfi r(Haifa)Free groups as fundamental groups of graphs

Tara Brendle (Glasgow)Description of Teichmüller space in terms of hyperbolic geometry

Nathan Dunfi eld (UIUC)Methods for computation of geometric structures and invariants

Erwann Lanneau (Grenoble)Teichmüller dynamics

Julien Marché (ParisVI)Geometric structures viewed in terms of representations

Theselecturecourseswillbesupplementedbytutorialsessions.

Forfurtherinformation,pleasevisit:www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/maths/research/events/2017-18/symposium/igdm/

Apply online (https://tinyurl.com/gwgv8lr) by 16 June 2017. Research students, post-docs andthoseworkinginindustryareinvitedtoapply.Areferenceisalsorequired:https://tinyurl.com/jcmgffk

*Allapplicantswillbecontactedwithinthreeweeksafterthedeadline;informationaboutindi-vidualapplicationswillnotbeavailablebeforethen.*

Fees

Researchstudents:£150.Therewillbenochargeforaccommodationandsubsistencecosts.

Earlycareerresearchers:£250.Therewillbenochargeforaccommodationandsubsistencecosts.

Otherparticipants(e.g.thoseworkinginindustry):£250

ResearchstudentswhohavenotcompletedtheirPhDsbythestartoftheResearchSchoolandwhowouldotherwisebeunabletoattendcanapplyforfinancialaid.

FeesarenotpayableuntilaplaceattheResearchSchoolisofferedbutwillbedueby11August2017.


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SUBLIME SYMMETRY: THE MATHEMATICS BEHIND DE MORGAN’S CERAMIC DESIGNSReport

On 13 January 2017, mathematicians andarthistorians joined togetheratDeMorganHouse, headquarters of the London Math-ematical Society, to listen to talks at thesymposium Sublime Symmetry: The Math-ematics behind De Morgan’s Ceramic Designs.Of course, Augustus De Morgan, firstPresidentoftheLMSisextremelywellknown.Hisworkonlogic,algebraandultimatelyDeMorgan’slawshavebeenagreatinfluenceonmodernmathematics.He isalsowellknownforpopularisingmathematicsintheVictorianperiod, through his extensive writing andpublishing in theAthenaeumMagazineandinthePennyCyclopaedia.Perhaps less commonly known to math-ematicianstodayistheworkofDeMorgan’ssonWilliam,perhapsthemost inventiveandexciting ceramic designer of the Victorianperiod. William began creating ceramicsshortlyafterhisintroductiontothegreatArts

and Crafts protagonist William Morris, withwhomhehadalife-longfriendship.Manycon-temporariesoftheDeMorgan’s,andscholarssince, have commented on the similaritiesbetweenAugustusandhissonWilliam.Theyhadaverysimilarwitandimagination,bothusing satire in notes and letters to illustratetheirideasandbothcoveringtheirlettersindoodlesanddrawingsoffantasycreatures.Beingraisedbyoneofthemostprominentmathematicians of the time clearly had aninfluence on William; he once commentedthat EuclidBook Iwas the ‘most entrancingnovel in literature’.Whilst a student at Uni-versityCollege,wherehisfatherwasProfessorofMathematics,Williamwouldhavestudiedgeometryandalgebraandclearlyhadarealinterestinthesubject.WilliamDeMorgan’s designs are exquisite.HeborrowspatternsandmotifsfromsourcesasdiverseasMedievalandIslamicdesign,but

JuneBarrow-Green’stalkonAugustusDeMorganIt is easier to square the circle than to get around a mathematician

(JuneexpressedherthankstoAdrianRiceforhiscontributionstohertalk)

Reports


19The Ninth Young Theorists' Forum (YTF)conference took place at Durham Univer-sity from11 to12 January2017.YTF isanannual conference organised by a collabo-rationofPhDstudentsfromtheCentreforParticleTheory,whichhasmembers in thedepartments of Physics and MathematicalSciencesatDurhamUniversity.Thepurposeoftheconferenceistobringtogetherpost-graduate students working in theoreticalphysics, providing them with the oppor-tunity to present their work to a friendlyaudience.With 72 registered attendees this wasa vibrant event – succeeding in its aim offostering development of early career re-searchers and encouraging collaborationbetweendifferentuniversities. The confer-encehadtwoparallelstreamsoftalks:onephenomenological, and one more mathe-maticallyformal.Thetopicsofthephenom-enologysessionswere:• BeyondtheStandardModel(BSM)TheoryandLattice

• Neutrinos• BSMPhenomenology• DarkMatterThetopicsofthemoremathematicaltalkswere:

• StringTheory• Holography• GravityandGaugeTheories• GravityandCosmologyOverall, 29 PhD students had the oppor-tunitytopresenta20minutetalkontheirresearch,witheachtalkbeingfollowedbya brief discussion session. Attendees alsohad a chance to present their research atapizzaandpostersession, takingplaceattheendofthefirstday.The plenary talk was given by Dr DonalO’Connell of the University of Edinburgh.Entitled Physics in 2017: Something's funny? the talk focused primarily on thedouble copy for calculating gravity ampli-tudesfromYangMillsamplitudes.The conference was supported by anLMS Postgraduate Research Conferencegrant (Scheme 8), the Institute of Physics,the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance,the Durham Centre for Academic, Re-searcher and Organisation Development,the Durham University Centre for ParticleTheoryandtheDurhamUniversityInstituteforParticlePhysicsPhenomenology.

MaciejMatuszewski,PhDstudentDeptofMathematicalSciences

DurhamUniversity

NINTH YOUNG THEORISTS’ FORUM CONFERENCEReport

within them he employs a clear geometricstructure that affords them a clarity andbeauty. Sublime Symmetry is a touring exhi-bition organised by theDeMorgan Founda-tion which explores William De Morgan’suseofmathematicaldevicesinhiswork.Thesymposiumwasheldtocelebratethesuccessofthistouringexhibition,whichhasattracted50,000visitorstodate.TheLMSandtheDeMorgan Foundation welcomed contributorstopresenttheirresearchintotheconnectionsbetweenmathematicsandart.SpeakersonthedaycoveredtopicsoftheDe

Morgan Foundation’s collection of ceramicsandpaintings,WilliamDeMorgan’splace inthe Victorian Art World and interest at thetimeintheideaofDivineNumbers,AugustusDeMorganandmathematicsintheVictorianperiod,usingarttoteachmathematicsandtheproblemspresentedbythestudyofsymmetry.Thedaywasahugesuccessandweareverygratefultoallwhocame.Notesfromtheeventcan be downloaded here: www.demorgan.org.uk/sublime-symmetrytouring-exhibition

SarahHardyExhibitionCurator,SublimeSymmetry


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Microlocal Analysis and ApplicationsLMS-CMI Research School

Cardiff 26 – 30 June 2017

Organisers:S.Eswarathasan(Cardiff),C.Guillarmou(ENS,Paris),R.Schubert(Bristol)

MicrolocalanalysisisastudyofpartialdifferentialequationsthroughthelensofsymplecticgeometryandFourieranalysis.Thefieldhasawiderangeofapplicationstowards,andnotlimitedto,spectraltheory,scatteringtheory, inverseproblems,anddynamicalsystems.Thepurposeofthisschool isto introducegraduatestudentsandyoungresearcherstoboth itsfoundationsandrecentapplications.

Lecture CoursesAlexander Strohmaier(UniversityofLeeds)andJared Wunsch(NorthwesternUniversity)Basic ideas in Microlocal AnalysisStéphane Nonnenmacher(UniversitéParis-Sud,11)andAndrew Hassell(AustralianNationalUniversity)Scattering Theory and Spectral TheoryViviane Baladi(InstitutdeMathématiquesdeJussieu)andColin Guillarmou(CNRS,UniversitéParis-Sud,11)Pollicott-Ruelle Resonances, Mixing in Dynamical Systems, and X-Ray TransformTheselecturecourseswillbesupplementedbytutorialsessions.

Distinguished SpeakersMaciej Zworski(SpectralTheory,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley)Gunther Uhlmann(InverseProblems,UniversityofWashington,Seattle)Mark Pollicott(DynamicalSystems,UniversityofWarwick)Clickhereforfurtherinformation:https://sureshes.wordpress.com/lms-cmi-research-school/

Apply by 31 March 2017: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RS-32-MicrolocalAnalysis.A reference will also be required so your referee should complete this form:https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RS-32RefereeForm.*Allapplicantswillbecontactedwithin threeweeksafter thedeadline; informationaboutindividualapplicationswillnotbeavailablebeforethen.*

FeesResearchstudents:£150.Therewillbenochargeforsubsistencecosts.Earlycareerresearchers:£250.Therewillbenochargeforsubsistencecosts.Otherparticipants(e.g.thoseworkinginindustry):£250plussubsistencecosts.ResearchstudentswhowillnothavecompletedtheirPhDsbythestartoftheResearchSchool(whowouldotherwisebeunabletoattendunderthetitleof“researchstudent”)canapplyforfinancialaid.FeesarenotpayableuntilaplaceattheResearchSchoolisofferedbutwillbedueby26May2017.


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New Trends in Representation Theory - The Impact of Cluster Theory

in Representation TheoryLMS-CMI Research School

University of Leicester19 – 23 June 2017

Organisers:KarinBaur(UGraz)andSibylleSchroll(Leicester)

Thefocusofthecourseisonrecentadvancesthathaveemergedinrepresentationtheorythroughcluster theory:n-representation theory, integrable systemsand friezes,and siltingand infinitedimensionalrepresentations.Theseareasofmathematicsareenrichedbytheirinteractionswithotherareasofmathematicssuchascategorytheory,dynamicalsystemsandmathematicalphysics.

Lecture Courses

Peter Jorgensen(Newcastle)n-representation theory

Sophie Morier-Genoud (Paris)Integrable systems and friezes

Lidia Angeleri-Hügel (Verona)Infi nite dimensional representations

Theselecturecourseswillbesupplementedbytutorialsessions.

Guest lectures: M. Herschend (Uppsala),P.-G. Plamondon (Orsay)andM. Prest (Manchester)

Forfurtherinformation,pleasevisit:https://sites.google.com/site/clustertheoryinreptheory/

Apply by 24 March 2017: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RS-28-NewTrendsInRepresentationTheory.A reference will also be required so your referee should complete this form:https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RS-28RefereeForm. Research students, post-docs and thoseworkinginindustryareinvitedtoapply.

*Allapplicantswillbecontactedwithinthreeweeksafterthedeadline;informationaboutindivid-ualapplicationswillnotbeavailablebeforethen.*

Fees

Researchstudents:£150.Therewillbenochargeforsubsistencecosts.

Earlycareerresearchers:£250.Therewillbenochargeforsubsistencecosts.

Otherparticipants(e.g.thoseworkinginindustry):£250plussubsistencecosts.

ResearchstudentswhohavenotcompletedtheirPhDsbythestartoftheResearchSchoolandwhowouldotherwisebeunabletoattendcanapplyforfinancialaid.

FeesarenotpayableuntilaplaceattheResearchSchoolisofferedbutwillbedueby19May2017.


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Visits

VISIT OF DAVIDE CATANIA

Dr Davide Catania will be visiting the De-partment ofMathematics, SurreyUniversityfrom22April to3May2017. DrCatania isa member of the Research Group of Math-ematicalAnalysisoftheUniversityofBrescia.His recent research activity concerns partialdifferential equations of fluid dynamics ormagnetohydrodynamics (MHD), that modelphysicalorengineeringproblems.DuringhisvisitDrCataniawillgivelecturesat:• UniversityofSussex,24April(contactGabrielKoch:[email protected])

• UniversityofOxford,27April(contactAngkanaRuland:[email protected])

• UniversityofSurrey,2May(contactMicheleBartuccelli)For further details contactMichele Bartuc-celli ([email protected]). The visit issupportedbyanLMSScheme2grant.

VISIT OF KENNETH DAVIDSON

ProfessorKennethDavidson (WaterlooUni-versity)will be visiting theUKbetween 25Apriland7May2017.Hisareasofresearchinclude operator theory and C*-algebras.During his visit Professor Davidson willlectureon:• 27April,LancasterUniversity,DepartmentofMathematicsandStatistics(contactStevePower:[email protected])

• 2May,NewcastleUniversity,SchoolofMathematicsandStatistics(contactEvgeniosKakariadis:[email protected])

• 5May,Queen'sUniversityBelfast,PureMathematicsResearchCentre(contactIvanTodorov:[email protected])For furtherdetails contactEvgeniosKaka-riadis ([email protected]). ThevisitissupportedbyanLMSScheme2grant.


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The London Mathematical Society is a registered charity for the promotion of mathematical knowledge.

CECIL KING TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP

The London Mathematical Society annually awards a £5,000 Cecil King Travel Scholarship in Mathematics, to a young mathematician of outstanding promise. The Scholarship is awarded to support a period of study or research abroad, typically for a period of three months. Study or research in all areas of mathematics is eligible for the award. The award is competitive and based on a written proposal describing the intended programme of study or research abroad, and the benefits to be gained from such a visit. A shortlist of applicants will be selected for an interview during which they will be expected to make a short presentation on their proposal. Applicants must be nationals of the UK or the Republic of Ireland, either registered for or having completed a doctoral degree within 12 months of the closing date. Applications should be made using the form available on the Society's website (https://www.lms.ac.uk/prizes/cecil-king-travel-scholarship) or by contacting [email protected]. The closing date for applications is Friday 31 March 2017. It is expected that interviews will take place in London in late May or early June. The Cecil King Travel Scholarship was established in 2001 by the Cecil King Memorial Fund. The award is made by the Council of the London Mathematical Society on the recommendation of the Cecil King Prize Committee, nominated by the Society's Research Meetings Committee.

CECIL KING TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP


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Meetings

MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS DAYThe 49th North British Mathematical Physics Seminar (NBMPS) one-daymeetingwill take place at the ICMS, EdinburghonWednesday 8March 2017 from 11 am.Speakersinclude:• VasilisNiarchos(Durham)• LuciaRotheray(Glasgow)• Panagiota-MariaAdimopoulou(Heriot-Watt)

• SeverinBunk(Heriot-Watt)Themeetingisopentoall.Fulldetailsareavailableatwww.macs.hw.ac.uk/~anatolyk/NBMPS49.html.Three NBMPS meetings are held eachyear, supported by an LMS Joint ResearchGroupsintheUKScheme3grant,bringingtogetherMathematicalPhysicsgroupsfromDurham,Edinburgh,Glasgow,Heriot-Watt,Newcastle, Nottingham and York. Furtherdetails about the NBMPS meetings areavailable at https://empg.maths.ed.ac.uk/NBMPS/.

NOVEL MATHEMATICAL APPROACHES FOR MODELLING EVOLUTION IN COMPLEX LIVING SYSTEMSA workshop on mathematical and compu-tational models in evolutionary biologywilltakeplaceintheDepartmentofMath-ematics in University of Leicester from 4to7April2017.Theworkshopwillexplorenew mathematical and computationalapproaches which are currently beingdeveloped to cope with the existing andnewly emerging challenges in modellingevolution and adaptation in differentbiological systems ranging from biomol-ecules to human societies.Mathematically,the approaches will include (but will notbe limited to) game theory, optimisation,systemcomplexityreduction,reinforcement

learning,networksmodelling,datamining,agent-based simulation and their combi-nations. Intensive debates are planned todiscusstheuniversalityofnewlydevelopedapproaches to tackle various aspects ofbiological evolution,whichmight gowellbeyond the initial area of implementa-tionof thesuggestedmethods.The listofkeynotespeakersincludes:• TroyDay(Canada)• AlexanderGorban(UK)• EvaKisdi(Finland)• HannaKokko(Switzerland)• PhilipMaini(UK)• SylvieMeleard(EcoleFrance)• JohnMcNamara(UK)• HansMetz(Netherlands)• KalleParvinen(Finland)• KarlSigmund(Austria)To register for this event email themainorganizer Dr Andrew Morozov ([email protected]). For further informationvisit the website at http://tinyurl.com/jt6kcwy. There will be a limited supportfor young researchers (UK based researchstudents).Themeeting is supportedbyanLMSConferencegrantandtheUniversityofLeicester.

UCLAN MATHEMATICS SOCIETY SEMINAR

The UCLan Mathematics Society will behosting its second seminar of the yeartaking place at The University of CentralLancashire on Tuesday 7 March. Theseminar will be given by Jessica Banks,Lecturer inMathematics at the UniversityofHull. Jessica’s research ison lowdimen-sional, geometric topology, particularly3-manifold topology and knot theory, as


25

wellasconnectionstographtheory.The talk will be accessible to under-graduates in mathematics and relatedsciences and it is free to attend. Refresh-mentswillbeprovidedbeforetheseminarandaquestionandanswersessionwillbescheduled for afterwards. For more infor-mation consult the Mathematics SocietyFacebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/UCLanMathSoc/) or contactthe organizer Rimsha Tariq ([email protected]).The conference is supported by an LMSFunding forUndergraduateMathematicalSocietyMeetings.

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF RANDOM MULTICOMPONENT SYSTEMSThe first Mathematical Modelling of Random Multicomponent Systems(MMRMS)workshopinthe2017serieswilltake place at the Department of Mathe-matics,UniversityofSwansea,onMonday27 and Tuesday 28 March. The meeting,which is open to all, will highlight topicsinanalysisofinfiniteparticlesystems.Thespeakersare:• OstapHryniv(Durham)• TobiasKuna(Reading)• AlexDaletskii(York)The meeting is supported by an LMSJointResearchGroupsintheUKScheme3grant and the Department of Mathemat-ics, University of Swansea. For further in-formationvisitthewebsiteathttp://tinyurl.com/h6uy37nor contact Professor EugeneLytvynov([email protected]).

SCOTTISH OPERATOR ALGEBRAS RESEARCH The Scottish Operator Algebras Research(SOAR)meetingwilltakeplaceattheUni-versity of Glasgow from 24 to 25 March2017 on operator algebras and applica-

tions.Thespeakersare:• SarahBrowne(Sheffield)• JanCameron(Vassar)• ErikGuentner(Hawaii)• SimonHenry(Paris)• VaughanJones(Vanderbilt)• AndyMonk(Glasgow)• KarenStrung(IMPAN)• GáborSzabó(Aberdeen)VaughanJoneswillbegivinganaddition-alEdinburghMathematicalSocietylectureon24March,aftertheSOARmeetingtalksfor thatday. Participants fromacross theUK and beyond are most welcome. Themeeting is supported by the GlasgowMathematicalJournalTrust.Fulldetailsofthemeetingcanbefoundathttp://tinyurl.com/hnarxph.

HARMONIC ANALYSIS AND PDE NETWORKTheHarmonicAnalysisandPDENetworkishostingitsfirstworkshopinthe2017seriesat the School of Mathematics, UniversityofBirminghamonTuesday14March2017from11:00to17:00.Themeeting,whichisopentoall,willfocusontopicsinharmonicanalysisandrelatedareas.Theinternation-alspeakersare:• TuomasHytönen(UniversityofHelsinki)• ShoheiNakamura(TokyoMetropolitanUniversity)

• CarlosPérez(UniversidaddelPaisVasco,BCAM)

• BrettWick(WashingtonUniversity,StLouis)Fundingmaybeavailabletosupporttheattendanceofresearchstudents.Enquiriesshould be addressed to Maria Reguera([email protected]). The meeting issupportedbyanLMSJointResearchGroupsin the UK Scheme 3 grant, the School ofMathematics, University of Birminghamand the consolidator ERC grant entitledTransversal Multilinear Harmonic Analysis.Further information about the workshopis on thewebsite at http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/~dxb378/meeting.html.


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A MATHEMATICIAN’S JOURNEYS: OTTO NEUGEBAUER AND MODERN TRANSFORMATIONS OF ANCIENT SCIENCEedsAlexanderJones,ChristineProust,JohnM.Steele,Springer,2016,pp342,£74.50,ISBN978-3319258638.

Otto Neugebauer (born1899 in Innsbruck, Aus-tria,died1990inPrince-ton, New Jersey) wasoneofthefirstmajorre-searchers in the historyofpre-Greekmathemat-ics and astronomy. Hiswork shaped the wayweperceive thehistoryof ancient science eventoday by convincingly

demonstrating that the birth of science didnothappenoutofnothing inancientGreece.Instead, he showed that ancient Greekmath-ematicians and astronomers had an impres-sivecorpusofknowledgetodrawfromintheform of Egyptian and even more cuneiformtextsthatenabledthemtocreatewhatweas-sociatewiththetermGreekscience.Inaddition,anymodernhistorianofpre-Greekastronomyor mathematics will encounter the work ofNeugebauer, since several of his outstandingpublications have since become the standardtext editionsofmanypre-Greekastronomicalandmathematicalsourcetexts.Alsoofinterest,Neugebauer was deemed “unacceptable” bytheNazistudentsoftheGöttingermathemati-calinstitute,whichledtoathree-yearappoint-mentinCopenhagenfollowedbyhisexpulsionfromEuropeandhismovetoBrownUniversity.To anyonewho is interested inNeugebauer’slifeandwork(aboutwhichinformationisnotalwayseasytoobtain),withanyofthecurrentstateofthefieldstowhichNeugebauersofruit-fully contributed,A Mathematician’s JourneysprovidesacollectionofchaptersthathighlightvariousaspectsofNeugebauer’slife,work,andthehistoricalsubjectsinwhichNeugebauerwasinterested(forashortoverviewcf.alsotheobit-uarybyNoelSwerdlowwhichcanbefoundon-line at http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/neugebau-er-otto.pdf).ThevolumeeditedjointlybyAlex-

anderJones,ChristineProustandJohnM.Steelecontains the revisedcontributionsofa confer-enceheldin2010attheInstitutefortheStudyoftheAncientWorldatNewYorkUniversityinhonorofthe20thanniversaryofthedeathofOttoNeugebauer.While the titlesof the indi-vidualcontributionsseemtoindicatethattheymayfallintwogroups-dealingwithbiographi-calaspectsofOttoNeugebauerorthesubjectsthatNeugebauerhadcontributedsofruitfullyto,manyofthemarenecessarilyacombinationofboth.This isbecause the lifeandworksofOttoNeugebauerquiteobviouslyaremutuallydependent,forinstance,hisbeingatGöttingenwith its specific setting at the mathematicalinstitute.Furthermore,atGöttingentheEgyp-tologyDepartmentwasheadedbyKurtSethewhohaswrittenthestandardmonographonancientEgyptiannumbers.ThismustofcoursebetakenintoaccountwhenitcomestolookingatthethesisthatNeugebauerwroteonancientEgyptianfractionreckoning.Likewise,thecon-tributors’personalconnectiontoNeugebauerisreflectedintheindividualchaptersfocusingone.g. thebackgroundof themathematical lifeat Göttingen (David Rowe), Neugebauer andtheNaziregime(ReinhardSiegmund-Schultze),histimeatCopenhagen(LisBrack-Bernsen),hisworkonancientEgyptianmathematics(JimRit-ter),hisworkonMesopotamianmathematics(JensH�yrup),andhisworkonBabylonianas-tronomy(JohnM.Steele,MathieuOssendrijver).Theseall leadtoacertainoverlapconcerningspecificeventsinNeugebauerslifeandworksinbetweenindividualarticles,butareseenfromdifferent perspectives thus giving a more de-tailedpictureoftheevent.The book opens with the contribution byDavidRowe,“FromGraztoGöttingen:Neuge-bauer’sEarlyIntellectualJourney”whichdrawsapictureoftheearlycareerofOttoNeugebau-erfromitsbeginnings,whenhewasastudentofphysicsinGraz,followedbyaninterludeasastudentofmathematics,endingwithhisdisser-

Reviews


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tationaboutEgyptianfractionsandhisHabilita-tionabouttheBabyloniansexagesimalsystemandhisvisionabouthowtoresearchtheearlyhistoryofmathematics.WithinRowe’saccount,the scene at the Göttingen Institute takescenterstage,thusgivingmuchdetailabouttheinstitutionalbackgroundofOttoNeugebauer'scareer.ThefollowingchapterbyReinhardSieg-mund-Schultze:“’NotinPossessionofAnyWel-tanschauung’: Otto Neugebauer’s Flight fromNazi Germany and His Search for ObjectivityinMathematics, inReviewing,andinHistory”,alsocentersonthebiographicalside,throughananalysisoftheworkofOttoNeugebauerinthetimeoftheNazisandthe“extremistideolo-giesanddictatorships”(p.63)thathewasfacedwith.TheseofcoursestoodinstarkcontrasttotheidealsthatGöttingensciencehadformerlyespousedandupheld.ThetwostaysofNeugebaueratCopenhagenare detailed in the contribution of Lis Brack-Bernsen: “Otto Neugebauer’s Visits to Copen-hagenandHisConnectiontoDenmark”.Ofhistwovisitsthefirstoneyieldedhisonlymathe-maticalpublicationincollaborationwithHaraldBohr,andalsohisreviewoftheeditionoftheRhind Mathematical Papyrus by Thomas EricPeet,whichisseenbyseveralcontributorsofthevolumeasonekeypointinthedevelopmentofNeugebauer’sinterestinEgyptianmathematics.DuringhissecondstayinCopenhagen,Neuge-bauer,whowasthenfirmlybasedinthefieldof pre-Greek mathematics, collaborated withthe Danish Egyptologists Aksel Volten andHansLange(resultingintheeditionofPapyrusCarlsbergI,oneofthemostimportantEgyptianastronomicalpapyri).Herehealsoacquiredhisfirstdoctoralstudent,OlafSchmidt.Thefollowingchapter“OttoNeugebauerandAncientEgypt”byJimRittertakesacloserlookatthefirstoftheancientculturesthatNeuge-bauerworkedon,andtraceshowNeugebauercametobecomeahistorianofEgyptianmath-ematics.While this chapter begins geographi-cally - like the first chapter by David Rowe- inGöttingen, thefocus ismuchmoreonthepersonofOttoNeugebauerhimself, resultingin twochapters (Rowe'sandRitter's) thatareworthwhile to be read in combination. Ritter

presentsthesourcesituationforEgyptianmath-ematicsinthetimeofOttoNeugebauer(which,ashepointsouthasn’tchangedallthatmuchsincethen)andthengivesathoroughoverviewof the writings of Neugebauer on Egyptianmathematics and astronomy. This section isfollowed by Jens H�yrup’s analysis of Neuge-bauer’s contribution to the historiography ofMesopotamianmathematics “As theOutsiderWalked in: The Historiography of Mesopota-mian Mathematics Until Neugebauer” - andagain, this and the previous chapter by JimRitter make good complementing chaptersto illuminate the contributionofNeugebauertoeachfieldandhowtheywerereceived, re-spectively.While Neugebauer remainedmoreof an outsider to Egyptology (he is probablybest known in Egyptology for his edition ofthe Egyptian astronomical texts in collabora-tion with Richard Parker and his edition ofPapyrusCarlsbergIincollaborationwithHansLange), his mark on Mesopotamian math-ematics and astronomy has beenmuchmorestriking (hisMathematische Keilschrifttexte in3 volumes and his Mathematical Cuneiform Texts still being the point of departure foranyoneworkingonMesopotamianmathemat-ics).ThecontributionbyBéatriceAndré-Salvini“FrançoisThureau-DanginandCuneiformMath-ematics”givesabiographicalaccountoftheas-syriologist contemporary to Neugebauerwhoworkedoncuneiformmathematicaltexts.ThisisfollowedbyChristineProust’s“Mathematicaland Philological Insights on Cuneiform Texts.Neugebauer’sCorrespondencewithFellowAs-syriologists”.Proustshedsfurther lightonthepainstaking efforts that Neugebauer took inhisworkon cuneiform sources. TheappendixAofthatchapterpresentsexamplesofletters(German letters in English translation) thatNeugebauer once wrote to his colleagues orreceivedfromthem.Inthechapter“AfterNeu-gebauer: Recent Developments in Mesopota-mianMathematics”,DuncanMelvillepresentshisassessmentofthecurrentstateofthefieldof the history of Mesopotamian mathemat-ics.ThefinalthreecontributionsdealwiththeotherinterestofOttoNeugebauer:Babylonianastronomy.Thissectionbeginswiththechapter


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Reviews

byTeijedeJong“BabylonianAstronomy1880-1950:ThePlayersandtheField”whichtellstheearlyhistoryoftherediscoveryandresearchintoBabylonianastronomy.ThisisfollowedbyJohnSteele’sappreciationofNeugebauer’scontribu-tion “Neugebauer’s Astronomical CuneiformTexts and Its Reception”, which “defined thefieldofBabylonianastronomyformostofthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcentury”(p.303).SteeletracesthegenesisofthebookfromCo-penhagentoitspublicationtwentyyearslaterbefore discussing its reception among assyri-ologistsandhistoriansofastronomy.Thebookendswiththechapter“TranslatingBabylonianMathematical Astronomy: Neugebauer andBeyond”byMathieuOssendrijver,whoanalysestheprinciples thatNeugebauer used in estab-lishinghistranslations.As the brief (and I’m afraid incomplete)

summaries may have indicated, this volumeoffersarichvarietyofinformationonthelifeand works of Otto Neugebauer. The editorshavesuccessfullychosencontributorswhoshedlightonthekeyissuesinthelifeandworkofOtto Neugebauer. The reviewer would havewished for an additional final section by theeditors that could have been used to drawtogether the various strands that appear inthe individual contributions. Throughout, thebookusescopiesofNeugebauer'sunpublisheddocuments.Thismadethis reviewerwishthathisNachlasswas subjected to an edition thatcouldthentellthewholestoryofthelifeandworksofOttoNeugebauerofwhichthisbookgavetheseindividualinsights.

AnnetteImhausenHistorischesSeminar

Goethe-UniversityFrankfurt

GALLERY OF THE INFINITEbyRichardEvanSchwartz,AmericanMathematicalSociety,2016,pp187,US$29.00,ISBN978-1470425579.

This isabeautifulbook.The pictures keep thereader engaged in acolourful mathemati-cal journey. It iswrittenin an engaging stylesuitable for over 11’sbut also contains ideasthatarelikelytointerestmost adults (withouttheneedforarefresher

course,sincethebookdoesagoodjobofbeingself-contained).IfyouwouldliketogetanideaofSchwartz’spresentationstyle,thereisabooktrailerforhissecondillustratedbookReally Big Numbers available on YouTube. Although amathematicianwouldlikelybeawareofmanyoftheconceptsthebookpresents,Iwouldstillrecommenditbothasatooltointrigueothers(itmakesagreat‘coffeetable’book)andalsosinceitcontainsmanyimaginativeexplanationsand original arguments. The illustrations andnarrativekeepthereaderentertainedandmakethebookhardtoputdown.Youareatadinnerparty,andareambushed

bypeopleaskingyouwhatyoudo.Whatwouldyou say?Or howwould you explain to themthat mathematicians aren’t just calculators? IhadthischallengerecentlywhenIdecidedthatmathematicalstand-upcomedywasagoodideaandwantedto showpeople some ‘real’math-ematics. I chose Cantor’s diagonal argumentbecauseIthoughtitwouldbeunderstandablebutthoughtprovoking.SinceSchwartz’sbookisoninfinityit’snotsurprisingthatitalsocontainsCantor’s diagonal argument,which is done inbinarybyusingblackandwhiteboxes. ItalsocontainsCantor’sargumentthatthecardinalityofanon-emptysetislessthanthecardinalityofitspowerset. I’lldescribeSchwartz’sapproachtothisproofasanexampleoftheneatexplana-tions,thoughIcan’tdemonstratetheseamlessflowofthebooknorhowtheillustrationsaidthereader.LetAbeasetconsistingofvariousdifferentanimals.WecanthinkofthepowersetofAasthecollectionofallgroupphotographsof these animals. For these two sets to havethesamesize,wemustbeabletoconstructamatchingbetweenalloftheanimalsandallofthephotographs.Forthemomentletusimagine


29

thatthereissuchamatching.We’llconsiderananimalhappyif it iscontainedwithinthepho-tographitreceives.Nowconsiderthecollectionofalloftheanimalsthatarenothappy.Sincewe are assuming there is amatching, exactlythis(potentially infinite)collectionofunhappyanimalsappearsinoneofthephotographsandthis photograph is received by some animal.Consideringwhether the animal that receivesthis photograph is happy or unhappy yieldsthe contradiction. After showing a differentargumentfromthebooktopeopleattheUni-versityofSouthampton,Iheardmanyexclama-tions along the lines of ‘That reallymademyday/week/year’. The illustrations do a particu-larlygoodjobofassistingtheproseandhelptovisualisethemainideas.The book starts at an elementary level, andiscautiousnottoraceaheadwiththedifficultconceptsandtogivethereadertimetodigestwhat they’ve seen (through its colourful andwhacky illustrations). The notion of set is in-troduced in a concrete and well-motivatedway,asarethenotionoftheemptysetandtheconstruction of the natural numbers startingwithjusttheemptyset.Infact,becauseofthepicturesandthewritingstyle,alloftheconceptsintroducedfeelnatural.Andjusttogiveyouanideaofhowwhackyit is, ifyoubuythisbook(which Iverymuchrecommendyoudo)you’llmeeta chickenwith infinitelymany teeth,aninfinite rational shark, and a man with themostunbelievablycuriousfingers.Isupposethis

leadsmetomyonlycriticism:there’snotmore!Ithinkthecurrentformatisexcellentinbeingapproachable foralmostanyone,andbecauseofthepicturesitisdefinitelypossibletorereaditmanytimes,butI’dreallylikedtohaveseenafewmoreargumentsbeforesigningoff.It’sstillagemofabookandonethatIhopewillbringplentyofjoyasitintriguesandeducatesthosegrabbedbyitscolourfulpages.Thebooksaysthatitisnotsuitableforunder11’s,and Iwouldagreewiththat.Thewritingstyleandpicturesarehumorous,butcouldbescary for younger readers. Also the conceptsare wonderfully explained, but the patienceandlanguageskillsrequiredmaybebeyondayoungerreader.Iwouldclaim(muchinthespiritofthetopicofthebook)thatthereisnolimitontheageatwhichonecouldenjoythisbook.Ihaveshownthebooktoquiteafewnon-mathe-maticians(reviewingthisbookaroundChristmastimewasusefulforthis)andallofthemhavebeenenthralledbythepicturesandpunchy,butclear,writingstyle.There are two previous illustrated booksexploring mathematics by Schwartz. The firstwasYou Can Count on Monsterswhich looksatprimesandfactoring,especiallyforthefirst100 numbers, and the second was Really Big Numbers. Thisbook continues the trendof in-creasingdifficultyand I feel that it’s themostsuitableofthethreeforanolderaudience.

CharlesGarnetCoxUniversityofSouthampton

THE ASCENT OF MARY SOMERVILLE IN 19TH CENTURY SOCIETYbyElisabettaStrickland,Springer,2016,pp102,€59.49,ISBN978-3319491929.

ThebookThe Ascent of Mary Somerville in 19th Century Societyby Elisabetta Strick-land beautifully fol-lowsthelifeandworkof the distinguishedBritishscientificwriterMary Fairfax Somer-ville (1790-1872),from her wild andcarefree childhood

inruralScotlandtoherunprecedentedriseasa strongmathematicalmindwithaunique in-sightintothelatestscientificdiscoveriesofhertime, leadingtoaHonoraryFellowshipoftheRoyalAstronomical Society (1835), to her col-ourfulandexcitingnomadiclifeinItaly(1840-1872).Bypayingattentiontoboththeupsanddownsofherpersonallifeandtheeffortsandrewardsofherscientificwork,MarySomervilleisportrayednotasahistoricalfigure,butratherasarealpersonwithacomplexandcharmingpersonalitycapableofinspiringgenerationsto


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Reviews

come. Inthisbook,MarySomerville’s loveforscience and mathematics in particular, whichledhertopublicandinternationalrecognition,ismatchedbythatforherfamilyandfriends.Forherparents,whoseeffortsasfarasMary’seducationwasconcernedmeantpreparingherforagoodmarriage, she felt that“theyhadbeen misled by conventional points of viewaboutwomenandtheirintellectualpursuits”(p.5).Forhersecondhusband,DrWilliamSomer-ville,FRS(1771-1860),whoendeavoredtosup-portMary’sscientificworkbyintroducinghertoimportantsocialcircles,copyingandcriticallyreviewinghermanuscriptsandmaintainingonherbehalfthecorrespondencewithmalescien-tistswhowouldfindwritingdirectlytoherso-ciallyunacceptable,shechosetomovetoItalywherehishealthwouldbenefitfromawarmerclimate. Her husband’s deteriorating healthalsomeantthattheincomegeneratedbyMarySomerville’s scientific disseminations eventu-allybecamethemainsourceoffamilyincome.Mary’sloveforherfamilyfurthermanifestedinwantingtogivetoherchildrensomethingsheneverhad,theopportunitytolearnasmuchaspossiblefromanearlyage.Shewouldhowevernotbesparedthepainsthatmanyparentshadtoendureatatimewhencommoninfectiousdiseasescutshortthelivesofmanyyoungchil-dren,butperhapsherstrongself-disciplineandloveforscientificinvestigationalsoconstituteda source of strength in overcoming such per-sonal tragedies. Her open and approachablepersonalityisalsocapturedthroughaglimpseinto her friendship with with Ada Lovelace(1815-1852), Lord Byron’s daughter, who be-came the first computer programmer as shewas theonlypersonwhounderstood the im-portanceoftheanalyticalenginedesignedbyCharlesBabbage (1791-1871):“WhenAdaen-countereddifficultiesinsomecalculations,shewould walk to Mary Somerville’s house andthey would straighten the matter up over acupoftea”(p.16).Herfirstbook,entitled“OntheMechanism of the Heavens” (1931), wascommissionedbyLordHenryBrougham(1778-1868), the founder of the Society for theDif-fusionofUsefulKnowledgeinEdinburgh,onaccount that “no more than twenty people

knew the contentsofNewton’sPrincipiaandLaplace’s Mechanique Céleste, and no morethan a hundred knew them even by name”and thought that“Mrs. Somerville couldaddtwo cyphers to each of those figures”.Withcharacteristic modesty,Mary Somerville want-ed to decline the invitation, but accepted intheend“upontheconditionofsecrecy,sothatif she failed, themanuscript couldbeputonfire”(p.18).Thisshouldbeahumblinglessoninself-criticismformanyscientificauthorseventoday.ThebookwascompletedandpublishedwhenMarySomervillewasfifty-oneyearsold,and was an international success, as it clari-fied and enhanced Laplace’s work throughmany independent calculations and detaileddiagrams,whichweremissing from theorigi-nal. Three other major books followed: “OntheConnexionofthePhysicalSciences”(1834),“PhysicalGeography”(1848),and“OnMolecu-larandMacroscopicScience”(1869),andMarySomerville’s love and care for the scientificworkwhichshecontinuedtosupportenthusi-asticallyandinterpretforthebenefitofothersrewardedherwithmanyvaluablefriendswhowereonlytoohappytokeepherup-datedontheir latest scientificdiscoveries,unlike in theearlier stages of her investigationswhen shedrew all the information through extensiveandassiduousreading.Toofferadirectinsightinto Mary Somerville’s clear and poetic style,Elibetta Strickland’s book concludeswith sub-stantialextractsfromtheprefaceentitled“Pre-liminaryDissertation”of“On theMechanismoftheHeavens”,writtenforabroadaudienceandprintedseparatelytoenticetheuninitiatedto ”Science, regarded as the pursuit of truth,whichcanonlybeattainedbypatientandun-prejudicedinvestigation,...whetheritbeinthediscoveryofaworld,orofanewpropertyofnumbers”(pp.84-85).ThisnewbookonMarySomerville’slongandrichlifeisthereforeaverywelcomeadditiontotheexistingbiographiesofthispolyhedricpersonalityandshouldserveasaninspirationtoallthosewhowishtolearnmoreaboutherscientificworkandpioneeringdissemination.

AngelaMihaiMathsDepartment,UniversityofCardiff


31

LMS WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS DAYBirkbeck, University of London30 March 2017

A London Mathematical Society Women in Mathematics Day will be held on 30 March 2017 as part of the Winton Women Trailblaz-ers in Mathematics conference hosted by Winton and organised by Birkbeck, University of London.

The event is aimed in particular at postgraduates, fi nal year under-graduates, postdocts and others at an early stage in their career. The Women in Mathematics Day provides an opportunity to meet and talk with women who are active and successful in mathematics. Participants from previous meetings have found this opportunity useful and benefi cial. While women are especially encouraged to attend this day, men are not excluded from these events.

There will be a range of talks from women mathematicians during the day. There is a poster session and to encourage high quality submissions, there will be a prize for the best Women in Mathe-matics Day poster. There will also be short presentations by post-graduate students.

The conference is free, and there is also funding from the LMS to assist with participants’ travel costs, with priority given to support-ing UK PhD students.

For more information, and to register, visit the conference page https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-mathematics-day-tickets-31248322574


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LMS DURHAM SYMPOSIA 2018CALL FOR PROPOSALS

TheLondonMathematicalSocietyandDurhamUniversityinviteproposalsforLMSDurham Symposia in 2018 and intend to support two Symposia to take place inAugust2018.

TheSymposiabeganin1974,andhavenowbecomeanestablishedandrecognisedseriesofinternationalresearchmeetings.Theyprovideanexcellentopportunitytoexploreanareaofresearchindepth,tolearnofnewdevelopments,andtoinstigatelinksbetweendifferentbranches.Theformatisexpectedtoallowsubstantialtimeforinteractionandresearch.ThemeetingsarebyinvitationonlyandheldinAugust,lasting5days,withupto50participants,roughlyhalfofwhomwillcomefromtheUK.TheyareheldattheUniversityofDurham.

ProspectiveorganisersshouldsendaformalproposaltotheDurhamRepresentative,DirkSchuetz([email protected])byMonday 10 April 2017.

Proposalsshouldinclude:

• Afulllistofproposedparticipants,dividedintospecificcategories(pleaseseetheguidanceonsubmissionofproposalsatwww.lms.ac.uk/events/durham-symposiaformoredetails).Proposersareencouragedtoactivelyseektoincludewomenspeakersandspeakersfromethnicminorities,orexplainwhythisisnotpossibleorappropriate.

• Adetailedscientificcaseforthesymposium,whichshowsthetopicisactiveandgivesreasonswhyUKmathematicswouldbenefitfromasymposiumontheproposeddates.

• Detailsofadditionalsupportfromotherfundingbodies,whichwillbesoughtiftheapplicationissuccessful,withtheviewtoincreasethenumberofparticipantsand/orthenumberofdays.

TheDurhamRepresentativewillprovideanestimatedcostforaccommodationforthesymposiumandestimatedtravelcostsforparticipants.

ForfurtherdetailsabouttheDurhamSymposia,pleasevisittheSociety’swebsite:www.lms.ac.uk/events/durham-symposia.

Before submitting:Organisers arewelcome todiscuss informally their ideaswiththeDurhamRepresentative ([email protected]) and/or the Chair of theResearchMeetingsCommittee,ProfessorChrisParker([email protected]).


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Random Walks and Heat Kernels on GraphsMartin T. Barlow,University of British Columbia, Vancouver

• Connects geometry and probability, showing how geometric properties of the graph can be used to estimate the heat kernel

• Introduces important analytic inequalities in the graph context

• Written by a leading researcher who has made significant contributions to this area of study

London Mathematical Society Lecture Notes Series, No. 438

Paperback | 978-1-107-67442-4 | March 2017 | £50.00 £37.50

www.cambridge.org/LMS438

www.cambridge.org/maths

Groups, Graphs and Random WalksTullio Ceccherini-Silberstein,Università degli Studi del Sannio, Italy

Maura Salvatori,Università degli Studi di Milano

Ecaterina Sava-Huss,Cornell University, New York

• Emphasizes the strong connections between the theory of random walks on groups and graphs and other branches of mathematics

• Provides a valuable and up-to-date reference from which future research activities may stem

• Offers a panoramic account of recent developments in the field

London Mathematical Society Student Texts Series, No. 436

Paperback | 978-1-316-60440-3 | March 2017 | £65.00 £48.75

www.cambridge.org/LMS436

Save 25%

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Fullpage £475.00 £540.00 £370.00 £415.00

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ToadvertiseinthisLMS NewslettercontactSusanOakes([email protected]).

LMS Newsletterrates(plusVATwhereapplicable):

Discounts of10%willbegivenforbookingsofsixissues(withinaperiodofoneyear)and15%willbegivenfor12months(11issues).

Example:seepages5,22and33.

Furtherdetails,includingformatanddimensions,areathttp://newsletter.lms.ac.uk/rate-card/


34

New Zealand Mathematical Society

LMS – NZMS AITKEN UK LECTURE TOUR 2017The Society is delighted to announce that the 2017 LMS-NZMS Aitken Lec-turer is Professor Hinke Osinga FRSNZ (University of Auckland).

Hinke Osinga, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Univer-sity of Auckland in New Zealand, is the fourth Aitken Lecturer to visit the UK. She is an expert in dynamical systems and its applications. Her publications, illustrations, animations and outreach activities have made her famous worldwide in the mathematics and arts communities.

In 2017, there will be two Aitken Lecture Tours taking place. In May 2017, Professor Osinga will visit Bath, Cambridge, Exeter and Oxford. She will then return to in October 2017 to visit Bristol, Kent, Newcastle and Warwick.

She will give lectures on “Chaos and wild chaos in Lorenz-type systems,” “The art of computing global manifolds,” and “Shaken but not stirred: Using mathematics in earth-quakes.”

The Aitken Lectureship scheme is part of Forder-Aitken Lectureship exchange, which is a collab-oration between the London Mathematical Society and the New Zealand Mathematical Society. Each Society invites an eminent mathematician from the other country to give lectures at different universities around the country.

The Aitken Lectureship, named after Professor A. Aitken - one of New Zealand’s great mathema-ticians, is a Lecture Tour around the UK undertaken by a mathematician from New Zealand. The Forder Lectureship, named after Professor H. G. Forder (formerly of the University of Auckland and a benefactor of the London Mathematical Society) is a Lecture Tour around New Zealand under-taken by a mathematician from the UK. For further details about the Aitken Lectureship, please visit https://www.lms.ac.uk/events/lectures/forder-and-aitken-lectureship#Aitken


35

CALENDAR OF EVENTSThiscalendarlistsSocietymeetingsandothermathematicalevents.FurtherinformationmaybeobtainedfromtheappropriateLMSNewsletterwhosenumberisgiveninbrackets.AfullerlistisgivenontheSociety’swebsite(www.lms.ac.uk/content/calendar)[email protected].

MARCH 20172ComputingfortheFutureofthePlanet,RoyalSociety,London(466)7UCLanMathematicsSocietySeminar,UniversityofCentralLancashire(467)8NorthBritishMathematicalPhysicsSeminar,ICMS,Edinburgh(467)10–11NorthBritishFunctionalAnalysisSeminar,Birmingham(466)14HarmonicAnalysisandPDENetwork,Birmingham(467)20–24YoungGeometricGroupTheoryMeeting,Oxford(465)22Maths,TeamworkandGooglies,RobEastaway,ChristopherZeemanMedalLecture,London(466)24–25ScottishOperatorAlgebrasResearchMeeting,UniversityofGlasgow(467)27–28MathematicalModellingofRandomMulticomponentSystems,Swansea(467)29–31YoungFunctionalAnalysts'Workshop,Glasgow(465)30SpectralGeometry,Leeds(465)30LMSWomeninMathematicsDay,Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon(467)

SEPTEMBER 201710–15MathematicsEducationfortheFutureDecade,Balatonfüred,Hungary(460)11–15AlgebraicTopologyofManifoldsLMS-CMIResearchSchool,Oxford(467)11–15IntroductiontoGeometry,Dynamics,andModuliinLowDimensionsLMS-CMIResearchSchool,Warwick(467)11–15ScientificComputationandDifferentialEquations,Bath(466)24–29HeidelbergLaureateForum(465)

JULY 20173–7ScalableStatisticalInference,INICambridge(466)3–7BSDEs,SPDEsandtheirApplicationsWorkshop,Edinburgh3–7BritishCombinatorialConference,Strathclyde(464)10–12MathematicalModelsinEcologyandEvolutionConference,City,UniversityofLondon(466)10–14Computer-aidedMathematicalProof,INICambridge(466)10–19FoundationsofComputationalMathematicsConference,Barcelona(461)31–5AugInternationalMathematicsCompetition,Blagoevgrad,Bulgaria(466)

APRIL 20173SocietyMeetingatBMC,Durham(467)3–6BMC,Durham(463)4–7NovelMathematicalApproachesforModellingEvolutioninComplexLivingSystems,Leicester(467)10DevelopingEfficientMethodologiesforModellingStochasticDynamicalSystemsinBiology,Bath(465)10–12BAMC,Surrey(463)18–21ResearchStudentsConference,Durham(465)18–22FunctionTheorybyHilbertSpaceMethods,JimAlger,LMSInvitedLecturer,Newcastle(467)25ReformstoMathematicsQualificationsWestminsterEducationForumSeminar,London27–28MathematicalEcologyWorkshop,Swansea(464)

MAY 20172RoughPathsinProbabilityandStatistics,Reading(466)5MaryCartwrightLecture,London(467)8–12Approximation,Deformation,QuasificationINIWorkshop,Cambridge(464)22–24GregynogWelshMathematicsColloquium,GregynogHall,Newtown,Powys(466)

JUNE 20171LMSNorthernRegionalMeeting,York19–23GroupActionsandCohomologyInNon-PositiveCurvature,INICambridge(465)19–23NewTrendsinRepresentationTheoryLMS–CMIResearchSchool,Leicester(467)26–30QuantumTopologyandCategorifiedRepresentationTheory,INICambridge(465)26–30OrthogonalPolynomialsandSpecialFunctionsLMS-CMIResearchSchool,Kent(467)26–30MicrolocalAnalysisandApplicationsLMS–CMIResearchSchool,Cardiff(467)30LMSGraduateStudentMeeting,London30LMSSocietyMeeting,London

LMS-FUNDED MEETING NINTH YOUNG THEORISTS' FORUM CONFERENCE

held at Durham University from 11 to 12 January 2017(seereportonpage19)

YTF9Conferenceparticipants

SamFearn,PhDstudent(DurhamUniversity)

Moonshine: Unexpected Symmetries in String Theory

IsobelNicholson,PhDstudent(UniversityofEdinburgh)

Black Holes and the Double Copy

AzariaCoupe,PhDstudent(UniversityofSouthampton)

Hunting for Minimal Walking Technicolor using Z’/Z’’ searches at the LHC

RonaldRogers,PhDstudent(UniversityofSouthampton)

A First Law for Entanglement Rates

Documents

MATHEMATICIAN RECEIVES TOP HONOUR P · ganisations, and public service ... Ostrowski Prize 2017 ... Letters. The chair of the Abel committee John