LONDONLONDON MATHEMATICALMATHEMATICAL SOCIETYSOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 430 November 2013

Society MeetingsSociety ONE THOUSAND to publicise LMS activities and Meetings AND COUNTING mathematics more generally, and Events and leave with a range of pub- and Events Three hundred people visited De lications including the Annual 2013 Morgan House on Sunday 22 Sep- Review and information about tember 2013 as part of the an- membership, grants and Women Friday 15 November nual London Open House event. in Mathematics. LMS Graduate Student Since first participating in Open The feedback from visitors Meeting, London House three years ago over 1,000 was again very positive. The LMS page 4 people have visited De Morgan will continue to develop its pres- Friday 15 November House, learning about the Society ence at the event and is already LMS AGM, London and mathematics more generally. discussing a more comprehen- page 5 sive programme for next year. 1 Monday 16 December SW & South Wales 2013 ELECTIONS Regional Meeting, TO COUNCIL AND Swansea page 13 NOMINATING 18-20 December COMMITTEE LMS Prospects in Members should now have re- Mathematics, Durham ceived a communication from the page 14 Electoral Reform Society (ERS) for both e-voting and paper ballot. 2014 For online voting, members may cast a vote by going to www.vote- Friday 28 February byinternet.com/LMS2013 and us- Mary Cartwright ing the two part security code on Lecture, York the email sent by the ERS and also Monday 31 March on their ballot paper. Northern Regional All members are asked to look Meeting, Durham out for communication from page 19 At this year’s event visitors the ERS. We hope that as many were given a short tour of se- members as possible will cast their lected rooms in the building vote. If you have not received bal- by LMS staff and Open House lot material, please contact dun volunteers. As well as discuss- [email protected], confirming NEWSLETTER ing the architectural features of the address (post or email) you ONLINE:NEWSLETTER De Morgan House and its place would like material sent to. newsletter.lms.ac.ukONLINE: in the history of Bloomsbury, With respect to the election it- newsletter.lms.ac.uk the event is an opportunity self, there are seven candidates LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

proposed for five vacancies for Member-at- Committee. The slates and candidate biog- Large. One candidate has been nominated for raphies for the election can be found on the the new role of Member-at-Large (Librarian). LMS website at www.lms.ac.uk/about/council/ Four candidates have been proposed for two lms-election-2013. vacancies in the membership of Nominating For both electronic and postal voting the deadline for receipt of votes is 7 November 2013. Members may still cast a vote in person LMS Newsletter at the AGM. http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk Members may like to note that the LMS Election blog, moderated by the Scrutineers, Editorial office: London Mathematical Society, can be found at http://discussions.lms.ac.uk/ De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, Lon- elections2013. don WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655) Future Elections Articles: send articles to [email protected] Members are invited to make suggestions for Events calendar: updates and corrections to nominees for future election to Council. These [email protected] should be addressed to the Nominating Com- Advertising: for rates and guidelines see mittee ([email protected]). Members www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/ratecard.html may also make direct nominations: details will General Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann be published in the April 2014 Newsletter or ([email protected]) are available from Duncan Turton at the LMS Reports Editor: Professor R.A. Wilson 2 ([email protected]). 3 ([email protected]) Reviews Editor: Professor D. Singerman ([email protected]) ANNUAL GENERAL Administrative Editor: S.M. Oakes MEETING ([email protected]) The Annual General Meeting of the Society Typeset by the LMS at De Morgan House; will be held at 3.00 pm on Friday 15 November printed by Holbrooks Printers Ltd. 2013 in the Jeffrey Hall at the Institute of Edu- Publication dates and deadlines: published cation, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL. monthly, except August. Items and advertise- The business shall be: ments by the first day of the month prior to 1. Elections to Council and Nominating publication, or the closest preceding working Committee day. Notices and advertisements are not ac- 2. Report of the President cepted for events that occur in the first week of 3. Report of the Treasurer: the publication month. a. adoption of the Trustees Report for News items and notices in the Newsletter may 2012/13 be freely used elsewhere unless otherwise b. appointment of Auditors stated, although attribution is requested when 4. Presentation of De Morgan medal and reproducing whole articles. Contributions to certificates to LMS Prize winners the Newsletter are made under a non-exclusive It is hoped that as many members as possi- licence; please contact the author or photog- ble will be able to attend. The Annual General rapher for the rights to reproduce. The LMS Meeting will be followed by a Society meet- cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of ing, with the Presidential address given by information in the Newsletter. Views expressed Graeme Segal and a lecture by Simon Donald- do not necessarily represent the views or policy son (see page 5). of the London Mathematical Society. Fiona Nixon Charity registration number: 252660. Executive Secretary LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY GRADUATE STUDENT MEETING Annual General Meeting Friday 15 November 2013 Friday 15 November 2013 Russell Room, CIPR, 52-53 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HP 3.00 – 6.00 pm (Nearest tube: Russell Square) Jeffrey Hall, Institute of Education

This meeting is intended as an introduction to the Society Meeting later in the day. (20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL. Nearest tube: Russell Square) All graduate students (and indeed any other mathematicians) will be very welcome. Programme Annual General Meeting Preliminary Programme The meeting will include the presentation of certificates to the LMS 09.30 Coffee and Registration 10.00 Richard Thomas (Imperial College) Simon Donaldson (Imperial College) 11.00 Coffee/Tea Geometry of Kahler metrics 11.15 Graduate student talks Abstract: A Kahler metric is a particular kind of Riemannian metric, adapted to a complex structure 12.45 Lunch on a manifold. The title of the talk is meant to be bear to different interpretations. In one direction, 13.40 Award prizes the infinite dimensional space of all Kahler metrics on a given complex manifold has the structure of 13.45 David Evans (Cardiff) an infinite-dimensional symmetric space, related to the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms, and 4 14.45 Close of Meeting there are certain important convex functionals on this space. By arguments related to geometric 5 15.00 LMS Annual General Meeting and Society Meeting at the Institute of Education quantisation these spaces and functionals can be "approximated" by finite dimensional ones (in the case when the complex manifold is algebraic). In another direction, the Kahler condition allows Registration a more detailed undertanding of certain questions in Riemannian geometry involving Gromov- To register, please email Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]) by email by 8 Novem- Hausdorff limits. In this lecture we will give an overview of this general area, and say something about recent work with Chen and Song, on an algebro-geometric criterion for the existence of ber. Places are free and all refreshments including lunch will be provided. Kahler-Einstein metrics, which involves many of the ideas.

Student talks Tea/Coffee Students are invited to give short talks (15 minutes) aimed at a general mathematical audience. Prizes will be awarded for the best two talks. If you would like to give a talk, Announcement of Election Results please email Richard Thomas ([email protected]). Graeme Segal (Oxford) Travel Presidential Address: Space and spaces The lectures will be held in the Russell Room, CIPR, 52-53 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HP. For directions, see: http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/venue-and-room-hire/location. Abstract: The idea of space is central to the way we think. It is the technology we have evolved for interpreting our experience of the world. But space is presumably a human creation, and even in- side mathematics it plays a variety of different roles, some modelling our intuition very closely and Travel grants of up to £50 are available for students who attend both the Graduate Stu- some seeming almost magical. I shall point out how the homotopy category in particular breaks dent Meeting and the Annual General Meeting. away from its own roots. Then I shall describe how quantum theory leads us beyond the well-estab- lished notion of a topological space into the realm of noncommutative geometry. One might think LMS Annual General Meeting and Society Meeting that noncommutative spaces are not very space-like, and yet it is noncommutativity that makes the The LMS Annual General Meeting is a Society Meeting, which is open to all. Simon world look as it does to us - as a collection of point-particles. Donaldson (Imperial College) will give the first lecture on Geometry of Kahler Metrics and Graeme Segal (Oxford) will give the Presidential Address. The meeting will be held The meeting will be followed by a reception at De Morgan House, Russell Square, and the Society’s Annual Dinner at the Montague Hotel, 15 Montague Street, London, in the Jeffrey Hall at the Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1B 4HP. WC1B 5BJ. The cost to attend the dinner will be £53 per person. Those wishing to at- tend the dinner should contact Leanne Marshall ([email protected]) by After the AGM, there will be a reception at De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square. Monday 4 November.

For further details see: www.lms.ac.uk/content/society-meetings. For further details about the AGM contact Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]). LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

A WARM RECEPTION LMS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FOR FRANK KELLY BURSARIES IN MATHEMATICS 2014 The Council for the Mathemati- cal Sciences (CMS) held a recep- Nature of Awards tion on Thursday 19 September The purpose of the awards is to give experience of research to undergraduates with research potential and to encourage them to consider a career in scientific research. 2013 at the Royal Society to celebrate the achievements of The awards provide support for the student at a rate of £180 per week (or £190 per week in London), outgoing CMS Chair Professor for a period of between six and eight weeks. Frank Kelly. The reception was attended by over 50 friends The scheme will open to applications in mid-November 2013. and colleagues from govern- The closing date for receipt of applications is 5 pm Friday 7 February 2014. ment, academia, the mathemat- ics community and other STEM Eligibility organisations. • Open to Undergraduate Students in the intermediate years (i.e. 2/3, 2/4 or 3/4) of their undergradu- David Youdan (IMA), Paul Golby (EPSRC), Frank Kelly (CMS), Fiona Nixon Professor Robert McKay, Presi- (LMS), Adrian Smith (CMS), Hetan Shah (RSS), Paul Glendinning (IMA), Ken ate degree to undertake the project during the summer vacation between their intermediate years. dent, Institute of Mathemat- Brown (LMS) Students in the final year of their degree intending to undertake ataught Masters degree may ics and its Applications (IMA) apply. (Applications on behalf of first-year undergraduates will not be considered.) praised Professor Kelly’s contri- • Mature students are eligible to apply, but must not have a previous degree in any subject. bution in uniting the five con- • Students must be registered at a UK institution for the majority of their undergraduate degree. stituent bodies of CMS on many 6 • Bursaries will not be awarded for projects that are a part of degree work, or that take place over- of the major issues in math- 7 seas for more than 50% of the project time. ematical sciences over the past • Researchers in Mathematics at universities and research institutions within the UK are eligible to three years. He went on to high- apply. Interdisciplinary projects will be considered providing the project has significant mathemati- light Professor Kelly’s quiet au- cal content. thority and the evident respect • Postdoctoral researchers and new lecturers, early in their careers are also encouraged to apply, and from all corners of the math- should note this on the application form. ematics community, which had • Only one application should be submitted by a supervisor. been instrumental in his success- • Normally no more than four awards will be made to an individual department or subject area ful term. Professor McKay ended within multidisciplinary departments or schools. Please bear in mind that this is a national scheme by thanking Professor Kelly for John Pullinger (RSS), Celia Hoyles (IMA), Terry Lyons (LMS), Frank Kelly (CMS), with a limited number of bursaries. helping to shape the future di- Geoff Royston (ORS), Lindsay Walsh (CMS), Robert McKay (IMA) • Bursaries will only be granted for the student named on the application form; awards are not trans- rection of the mathematical sciences and Professor Kelly replied by thanking the ferable between students. his enduring legacy in bringing the math- individual society presidents and chief ex- ematical bodies together as one voice. ecutives, past and present, for their support How to apply and advice. He also thanked the many • Application forms can be downloaded from the Society’s website: www.lms.ac.uk/content/grants. staff and officers who supported CMS • Applications must be made by the project supervisor on behalf of the student, and not by the activities over the past three years. The student. groundbreaking Deloitte report was • Applications should be discussed with the nominated student, who should also contribute to the a particular highlight along with the project design. round-table meeting with David Willetts, • Applications should include the student’s academic record and a supporting statement from his/her which brought together a wide range of academic tutor. mathematicians and those from industry • Applications must be signed by the Head of Department to confirm his/her approval for the award with a particular interest in the mathe- to be administered by the department. (Awards are not offered directly to individual researchers matical sciences. Professor Kelly had en- but to the institutions to which they belong). joyed his time as CMS Chair and felt sure that the new Chair, Professor Sir Adrian Further information including the guidelines on How to Apply are available from the Society website: Smith, would consolidate a powerful and www.lms.ac.uk/content/grants. Queries may also be addressed to Katy Henderson ([email protected]). Professor Frank Kelly and Professor Robert McKay coordinated voice through the CMS. LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

MATHEMATICS script of the speech is available at http://tiny free membership of the Society for a year. INSTITUT DES HAUTES POLICY ROUND-UP url.com/lk6a2gd. Essays in submission for the prize should be ÉTUDES SCIENTIFIQUES OTHER sent via email attachment to Dr Mark McCa- October 2013 rtney ([email protected]). Applicants The Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques Open access report should also give details of their place and year (IHÉS), located in Bures-sur-Yvette, France, HIGHER EDUCATION The Business, Innovation and Skills Select of study and the title of the degree programme welcomes each year up to 200 mathemati- New Year start for HEFCE Chief Executive Committee has published a report on the is- on which they are enrolled. The deadline for cians and theoretical physicists from all over Professor Madeleine Atkins CBE, Vice-Chan- sue of open access. The Report calls on the receipt of submissions is 1 May 2014. the world for research periods ranging from cellor of Coventry University, will take up government and RCUK to reconsider their two to three weeks up to one or two years. her post as Chief Executive of the Higher preference for Gold open access during the SET STUDENT OF THE Created in 1958, IHÉS is an international Education Funding Council for England on 1 five year transition period, and give due re- research institute, registered as a foundation January 2014. Professor Atkins was appoint- gard to the evidence of the vital role that YEAR AWARD in the public interest since 1981. Its mission is ed to the position in July 2013. Further in- Green open access and repositories have to The winners of the 2013 SET Awards were an- to support and develop theoretical research formation is available at http://tinyurl.com/ play as the UK moves towards full open ac- nounced at a ceremony in Kensington Town in mathematical sciences, physics and more pqkgbca. cess. The report is available at http://tinyurl. Hall attended by students, academics and busi- recently, at the interface with biology and HEFCE’s outgoing Chief Executive, Sir Alan com/ohzc5vd. ness leaders. A record number of entries were medicine. Support for IHÉS comes from sev- Langlands, will take up the post of Vice- received for the 2013 awards. eral sources: the French Ministry of Research, Chancellor of the University of Leeds on 1 New President for Society of Biology The Award for the Best Mathematics Student, several European research agencies among October 2013. Pending Professor Atkins’ ar- Professor Dame Jean Thomas Hon FSB will judged by the Institute of Mathematics and its which the Engineering and Physical Sciences rival at HEFCE, Deputy Chief Executive Steve succeed Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell Hon Applications and the London Mathematical So- Research Council (EPSRC), the US National Egan will act as interim Chief Executive FSB as the Society’s president. Dame Jean has ciety, went to William Perry, University of Ox- Science Foundation, the Max-Planck Gesells- 8 9 SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES been master of St Catharine’s College, Cam- ford for his work on spin two-dimensional local chaft, the Swiss National Science Founda- bridge, since 2007 and is emeritus profes- field theories. According to the judges the en- tion, and also some private foundations and A-level and GCSE reform timetable sor of macromolecular biochemistry at the tries for this year’s mathematics category were companies. Ofqual has published an exchange of letters university. More information is available at of an extremely high standard. EPSRC has been supporting IHÉS for a num- with the Secretary of State about the next http://tinyurl.com/qe8gbzr. Professor Alice Rogers, Education Secretary ber of years, fostering closer links between steps for A-level and GCSE reform. Ofqual of the London Mathematical Society, and one British and French mathematical research has stated that it is apparent that math- New President for the Institute of Physics of the judging panel was particularly impressed centres. British mathematicians and theoreti- ematics and further mathematics are going Dr Frances Saunders became president of with Perry’s creativity and technical ability. ‘He cal physicists are invited to apply to IHÉS for to require more work than other subjects. It the Institute of Physics (IOP) on 1 October was able to express some complex ideas very visits (for more information visit the website is now planned that the reformed A-levels 2013. She takes over from Professor Sir Peter well to non-specialist mathematicians and at www.ihes.fr). Their visit can be an oppor- in these two subjects should be in place for Knight, and will be the IOP’s president until there is no doubt that he was an outstanding tunity to work with researchers from other teaching from September 2016. The corre- 30 September 2015. candidate with great potential’. research groups in the Paris area. spondence is available at http://ofqual.gov. Information about the SET Student of the uk/news/publication-notice/. Dr John Johnston Year Awards is available at http://tinyurl.com/ Director: Emmanuel Ullmo Joint Promotion of Mathematics p3p7t2t. Permanent Professors: Thibault Damour, Launch of 2014 National Curriculum Mikhael Gromov, Maxim Kontsevich, The national curriculum framework has BSHM UNDERGRADUATE Laurent Lafforgue, Nikita Nekrasov been published and is available at http:// Honorary Professor: David Ruelle tinyurl.com/oh9swhp. It includes pro- ESSAY PRIZE Léon Motchane Chair: Alain Connes grammes of study and attainment targets The British Society for the History of Mathemat- Louis Michel Chairs: Ali Chamseddine, Samson for key stages 1 to 4. ics (BSHM) is pleased to invite submissions for Shatashvili its 2013-14 undergraduate essay prize. The es- Long term CNRS visitors: Ahmed Abbes, Fran- Elizabeth Truss speech on curriculum reform say, which may be on any topic within the his- cis Brown, Ofer Gabber, Christophe Soulé The Parliamentary under Secretary of State tory of mathematics, should be between 2,000 External Members of the Scientific Council: for Education and Childcare spoke to the CBI - 2,500 words. The prize is open to any person Costas Bachas, Robert Bryant, Emmanuel Can- about improving education and the impor- who is enrolled as an undergraduate in a UK or dès, Bertrand Duplantier, Raymond E. Gold- tance of curriculum reform. Mathematics is Irish university during the academic year 2013- stein, Gabriele Veneziano William Perry (University of Oxford) receives his award one of the key areas covered. The full tran- 14. The value of the prize will be £100, plus from Malcolm Turner (President, The SET Awards) continued LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

William Hodge Fellowships 2014 / 2015 Women in Mathematics (EWM) (www.eu achievements of women mathematicians. It on Apollonian Packings to be In 2000 the EPSRC committee reviewing IHÉS ropeanwomeninmaths.org). acts largely as a liaison body between the EMS, held in Institut Mittag Lef- suggested that the EPSRC and IHÉS offer each Founded in 1986, EWM has several hun- EWM and other similar organisations on these fler in June 2014 (www.math. year two one-year or two-year fellowships dred members and coordinators in over 30 issues. Past activities have included gathering ucsd.edu/~alina/ewm). bearing the name of Sir William Hodge, the European countries. Its executive consists of statistics on the numbers of women mathema- There is currently no in- eminent British mathematician. The fellowships a convenor, currently Susanna Terracini (To- ticians in different European countries, setting ternational organisation for enable outstanding young mathematicians and rino, Italy), and a standing committee. Every up a blog (now incorporated into the EWM women mathematicians. However under the theoretical physicists to spend time at IHÉS. other year, EWM has a general meeting which website), and organising panel discussions at direction of Ingrid Daubechies, current presi- Fellows are encouraged to have a UK-based this year took place in the Hausdorff Center, European Congresses. dent of the IMU, progress towards further mentor and to be in contact with the UK math- Bonn. It has an email network and publishes Finally, in 2008, EWM and the EMS Women international coordination is being made. Fol- ematics community. an electronic newsletter. It also runs a bien- in Maths Committee jointly set up the EWM/ lowing the first International Conference for Applicants must have a PhD in Mathemati- nial summer school: the 2013 school was held EMS Scientific Committee (www.euro-math- Women Mathematicians (ICWM) which took cal Sciences or Theoretical Physics obtained in at ICTP Trieste as part of the Mathematics for soc.eu/comm-women2.html). Its members are place just before the 2010 ICM in Hyderabad, a 2012, 2013 or in early 2014. One of the two Planet Earth programme. EWM also organises twelve distinguished women mathematicians, second ICWM will be held in Seoul immediate- grants will be awarded to an applicant who has or supports other women in maths activities: among them Dusa McDuff, Ursula Hamen- ly before the ICM in August 2014 (sites.google. spent at least the preceding nine months at a this year in France there will be a meeting staedt and Ragni Piene. Currently chaired by com/site/icwm2014/). UK academic institution or has just graduated Women in Numbers in Luminy this October Cornelia Drutu (Oxford), the main function of The ICWM is an opportunity to meet other from a UK institution Applications will be re- and in November a forum for young women in this committee is to advise EMS and EWM on ICM participants in a relaxed atmosphere and viewed and selection made based on the sole mathematics in Lyon. EWM has produced sev- scientific programmes and speakers for events hear talks by prominent female mathemati- criterion of excellence in research by the IHÉS eral videos which can be found on its website; aimed at emphasizing women’s scientific con- cians, and we encourage any interested read- Scientific Council in December 2013. The Com- watching them is a good way to get a taste tributions, such as those organised separately ers to consider taking part. 10 mittee consists of the Permanent Professors, of the unique atmosphere of EWM meetings. or jointly by EWM and the EMS. Together the 11 the Director, and the external members (the list To join in the UK, either go to the EWM web- three groups have recently been instrumental Caroline Series can be found on page 9). The fellowship would site or contact the UK coordinator Jennifer in setting up a majority female summer school Chair, EMS Women in Maths Committee start in Autumn 2014. Scott ([email protected]). British readers Applications should be made on the IHÉS may also be interested in the Proceedings of website (www.ihes.fr) and should include: the the 2007 Cambridge meeting (www.worldsci- application form, a cover letter, a CV, a publica- books.com/mathematics/7352.html), whose tion list, a research project, two or three letters final section comprises several interesting arti- of recommendation, and a proposal for a UK cles, biographical and otherwise, about wom- mentor. Deadline for applications: 14 Novem- en mathematicians in Cambridge. ber 2013. EWM is independent from, but has links For more information contact: IHÉS, 35 route to, its sister organisation the Association for de Chartres, F-91440 Bures-sur-Yvette, France. Women in Mathematics (AWM) based in the (tel: +33 1 6092 6605, fax: +33 1 6092 6609, United States. It also works closely with vari- email: [email protected]). ous national level organisations, for example the LMS Women in Mathematics Commit- EUROPEAN LEVEL tee and femmes et mathématiques in France. A variety of links can be found on the EWM ORGANISATIONS FOR website. WOMEN MATHEMATICIANS The second organisation for women math- ematicians in Europe is the European Math- There are several organi- ematical Society’s Women and Mathematics sations and committees Committee (www.euro-math-soc.eu/comm- supporting women math- women2.html), currently chaired by Caroline ematicians in Europe. Series (Warwick). The committee’s remit is to The first and best known address issues relating to the involvement and is the membership or- progression of women in mathematics, and to ganisation European support and promote the recognition of the LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

EUROPEAN NEWS Mathematical Formula Search EMS Newsletter September 2013, pp 56-57. New ERC Advanced Grant results Have you ever in a paper you are reading LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY In its sixth and last Advanced Grant com- encountered an unfamiliar symbol and imme- petition under the EU's Seventh Research diately wanted to know more about the object SOUTH WEST & SOUTH WALES REGIONAL MEETING Framework Programme (FP7), the Euro- it denotes? Or an expression in a calculation for pean Research Council (ERC) is awarding which you would like to analyse relevant lit- over 660 million to 284 senior research erature? Or have you gotten stuck in a proof Monday 16 December 2013 leaders, among them 11 mathematicians. and wanted to know which identities are ap- They will carry out their research in 18 plicable so that you can progress? A traditional Robert Recorde Room, Faraday Building, Swansea University different countries across the European approach to such situations would be to consult Research Area. Funding is up to 3.5 mil- an expert in the field,and this is certainly still a 2 pm Opening of the meeting lion per grant. The next Advanced Grants good idea in many cases. But you may not know call will fall under the 'excellence pillar' of the right person, and even with an expert of the new Framework Programme 'Hori- available one can hardly be sure that they will 2:10 pm Shahn Majid (Queen Mary, University of London) zon 2020'. cover the vast complexity of modern develop- Reconstruction and quantisation of Riemannian manifolds [Source: http://euro-math-soc.eu/news.html] ment in mathematics. In particular, the retrieval of non-English literature remains a real diffi- 3:15 pm Toby Stafford (University of Manchester) ERC joins arXiv culty here. You could also post your question on Classifying noncommutative projective surfaces The European Research Council (ERC) an- a forum like mathoverflow.net but, again, you nounced that it has joined an interna- have to hold to luck that the right person comes 12 tional partnership supporting arXiv, one across this. 4:20 pm Tea/Coffee 13 of the major scientific repositories in the Maybe you would not even be desperate areas of physics and mathematics which enough to try to employ a search engine like 4:50 pm Stefaan Caenepeel (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) is operated by Cornell University Library Google or Bing even though you know that Bicategories, two-dimensional cohomology, Galois coobjects, (New York, US). The ERC is the first Eu- they are optimised for finding word occurrences ropean research funding organisation to in documents. But formulae are not words and pseudomonoids and the Brauer group join the arXiv initiative. By doing so, the so results from traditional search engines are er- ERC reaffirms its commitment to open ac- ratic. What we really need in the situations de- 7 pm Dinner at Fulton House cess and to ensuring that the fruits of the scribed above is a formula search engine. research it funds can be freely accessed, To remedy this lack and to support math- These lectures are aimed at a general mathematical audience. All interested, read and used, both by scientists working ematics research, the German Leibniz Associa- in relevant areas and by the public. tion has funded a collaborative research project whether LMS members or not, are most welcome to attend this event. To [Source: http://euro-math-soc.eu/news.html] by ZentralblattMATH(zbMATH) and a group register and to reserve a place at the dinner, please contact the organisers Newsletter readers might also like to of computer scientists from Jacobs University ([email protected]). The cost of the dinner will be approximately note that the EMS website has direct links Bremen. The goal of the three year MathSearch £30. to several preprint archives and digital li- project, which started in March 2012, is to de- braries: see http://tinyurl.com/kxes7jc . velop tools for information retrieval and litera- ture access for mathematics. A first prototype is The meeting is a part of and is followed by a workshop on Categorical and International Commission on already available at zbmath.org and is ready to Homological Methods in Hopf Algebras (17-19 December 2013). For further Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) be explored by mathematicians; later, improved details contact the organizers ([email protected]) or visit www.lms. From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2016 versions will be permanently integrated into ac.uk/events/meeting/South-West-and-South-Wales the ICMI has a new President: Ferdinando the new zbMATH interface as an additional Arzarello, a full professor at the Depart- facet. ment of Mathematics, University of Turin, For the complete article see http://tinyurl. There are funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of members Italy. An interview with the new presi- com/ljefx3s. of the Society or research students to attend the meeting and workshop. dent, to capture his feelings and plans for Requests estimate of expenses, may be addressed to the organisers. the ICMI, can be seen in EMS Newsletter David Chillingworth September 2013, pp. 48-49. LMS/EMS Correpsondent LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

FROM SPECTRAL GAPS operators. For the non-specialist it was very interesting to see how the action of posi- TO PARTICLE FILTERS tive operators to cones (suitable subsets of Report more general spaces) can have an analogue of the spectral gap and this can guarantee The talks at our workshop, held from 17 a geometric norm convergence to an eigen- to 18 September 2013 at the University vector. The restriction of the operators on of Reading, varied from very theoretical cones often suffices for applications. This to very applied topics. However, the main was extremely well demonstrated by the line of the meeting, namely pectral theory talks of D. Steinsaltz, G.L. Magno and J. was represented in different proportions in Broecker. The first focused on population most of them. In fact, it was even surprising growth rates in random environments, and how many connections between different some new theoretical results on the evolu- areas have been become apparent. tion of diapause and migration whereas the There were three talks on the spectral latter two focused on random maps and properties of semigroups related to diffu- their invariant measures. Thus, the applica- sions, affine processes, particle systems and tions varied from biology to meteorology self-similar Markov processes. The presenta- and this spurred huge interest. The topic of tions focused on the fundamental questions particle filters was covered in the talks of related to the description of eigenfunc- G.L. Magno and J. Broecker. tions, spectral expansions and spectral D. Crisan spoke about stochastic filtering 14 gaps, and open problems and challenges in and his latest contributions to the area of 15 this area. From these talks it became clear approximating the semigroup of perturbed that these questions are of a high impor- diffusion. There were more statistical talks tance for the understanding of the behav- at our workshop too. T. Kypriaos and R. iour of many stochastic processes, e.g. the Everitt presented their results and methods first eigenfunction and the spectral gap related to approximations in various statis- between the smallest eigenvalue and the tical models, including particle systems. rest describe the quasistationary distribu- There were also several talks that added tion and the speed of convergence towards to the content of the workshop. G. Fort it of the stochastic process conditioned to spoke about latest developments in MCMC stay within a certain region or the particle (Markov chain Monte Carlo) and M. Hol- system assumed to obey certain behaviour land introduced to us the problems aris- as a depiction of real world phenomena. ing in the extreme value theory, whereas These talks attracted several questions and K. Law made a presentation about recent discussions. progress in the area of filtering the Navier- There was a special talk by E.B. Davies, Stokes equation. FRS, who spoke on general difficulties aris- In general the workshop presented a very ing from the spectral study of seemingly wide range of topics, the speakers comple- simple non-self-adjoint finite matrices. The mented the talks of each other and there message was clear – one must not expect were many interesting questions and dis- the generality of results that we have for cussions. We would like to thank very much self-adjoint operators in the field of non- the London Mathematical Society as well as self-adjoint operators. The talk was very the Department of Mathematics and Statis- illuminative especially for the young re- tics of the University of Reading for their searchers dealing with spectral theory. strong support of this workshop. A theoretical basis for a couple of applied talks was provided by the presentation of B. Richard Everitt Lemmens on Hilbert's metrics and positive University of Reading LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

MATHEMATICAL sign of the liquid fuel pumps in the Space Shut- the effect of dimensionality on clustering of vertebrate embryo, showing how another el- tle, and footage of his exploits on the ‘vomit model microorganisms; Dr Rachel Bearon (Uni- ementary formula accurately describes the de- CHALLENGES IN BUBBLES comet’ zero gravity aircraft! Dr Georges Cha- versity of Liverpool), described how the popu- pendence of the earliest left-right asymmetric AND BIOLOGICAL hine (Dynaflow Inc., Maryland, USA), followed, lar concept of plankton as Passive Drifters does flows on cilia geometry. with a talk on Material Pitting from Collapsing not do justice to the complex dynamics of ac- Bringing the friendly and informal meeting FLUID DYNAMICS Bubbles. A Boundary Integral technique was tive suspensions, presenting new predictions on to a close, John Blake thanked each speaker Report used to model the dynamics throughout most the role of helical swimming behaviour. individually, all of the attendees, and LMS and of the bubble's lifetime, with a Finite Element The final session continued the theme of IMA, before paying tribute to absent friends. In On Thursday 19 September 2013, the School of method used to model the final stage of the biological flow, with Dr Eric Lauga (University particular John mentioned the major influenc- Mathematics, University of Birmingham hosted bubble collapse and the interaction with the of Cambridge), returning to John Blake’s 1971 es of the late Professors James Lighthill and Er- a conference to celebrate the career of Profes- underlying solid surface. Professor Andrea work on the method of images for elemen- nie Tuck, and Dr Don Gibson. Reflecting on his sor John Blake, titled Mathematical Challeng- Prosperetti (John Hopkins University, USA), tary Stokes flows near a plane boundary, and career so far, John remarked, ‘I’ve had a lot of es in Bubbles and Biological Fluid Dynamics, then discussed how combining classical mathe- the continuing influence this method has on fun!’ reminding everyone that academic work bringing together thirteen internationally-dis- matical solutions (Lamb’s solution of the Stokes biological fluid dynamics. Professor Xiaoyu should always be a pleasure and a privilege. tinguished speakers, plus 36 participants. The flow equations) with finite difference solution Luo brought in the theme of physiological meeting included many of John’s current and of Navier-Stokes, implemented on state of the mechanics, and the role of fibre orientation Dave Smith former colleagues and students, representing art GPU technology, can be used to provided ef- in abdominal arteries, via nonlinear elasticity University of Birmingham

16 academic institutions and five companies. ficient and accurate computation of flow with modelling. This talk was followed by Professor © David Smith The meeting was generously supported by the suspended particles. The final talk in the session Tim Pedley FRS, who returned to John Blake’s London Mathematical Society and the Institute was given by Dr Steve Otto (Royal and Ancient earliest research study on squirming spheres, of Mathematics and its Applications. Golf Club of St. Andrew’s), on the mathemat- and its continuing influence today, for exam- 16 The first session of the meeting focused on ics of golf. Steve traced the recent history of ple in modelling Volvox colony dynamics. Pro- 17 mathematical modelling of bubbles and par- modelling and experiment applied to control fessor Ray Goldstein FRS was unable to be at ticulate flows. The opening speaker was Pro- technical developments in the sport, originat- the meeting in person, but instead sent slides fessor Werner Lauterborn (Third Institute of ing from work initiated by John Blake in Bir- and an audio recording, titled A Short Story in Physics, Germany), focusing on ultra high speed mingham. An informal buffet lunch followed Honour of John Blake. Though not present in imaging and the use of finite volume codes for the first session, including posters by early ca- person, Ray nevertheless captivated the audi- approximating solutions to the Navier-Stokes reer attendees working on bubble dynamics ence with his audio description and images, equations, simulating the jetting process, and and free surface problems. closing by explaining, via the Blake method of taking into effects such as fluid compressibil- The second session of the meeting began images, the dependence of Volvox bound-state ity. This presentation was followed by Profes- with a talk on experiments and lubrication dynamics on colony size. Dr Dave Smith then sor Chris Brennen (CALTECH, USA), who gave theory models of geometry-induced bubble gave a talk on John Blake’s contributions to the a very entertaining talk titled Bubbles I Have instability by Professor Anne Juel (University of problem of left-right symmetry breaking in the Commemorative beer glass Known and Loved, with highlights including Manchester), followed by a discussion of a di- the role of mathematical modelling in the de- verse set of Industrial Free Boundary Problems, including glass manufac- ture, chocolate, semicon- ductors, injection moulding and shipbuilding, given by Professor John Ockendon, FRS. The remainder of the session addressed the other major topic of the meet- ing and John Blake’s career, biological flow. Dr Suzanne Fielding (University of Dur- ham), discussed Hydrody- namics and Phase Behaviour Mathematical Challenges in Bubbles and Biological Fluid Dynamics Conference held at the University of Birmingham on 19 September 2013 of Active Fluids, including LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

18 19 LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

MATHEMATICS AT THE and, together with Katie Steckles, a colleague BRITISH MATHEMATICAL COLLOQUIUM 2014 of Matt Parker’s, represented Maths at a ‘Sec- BRITISH SCIENCE FESTIVAL tions Evening’ on Tuesday where the different The 66th British Mathematical Colloquium will take place at Queen Mary University of London from Newcastle, 6-12 September 2013 disciplines could entertain the public. Everyone 7 to 10 April 2014. I spoke to agreed that the ‘Maths Table’ was Report the best. Plenary speakers: The British Science Festival has been run- The main thrust of the Festival is presenta- • Michael Atiyah (University of Edinburgh) ning, under a variety of names, since 1831. tion of exciting new science to an audience • Persi Diaconis (Stanford University) The Mathematical Sciences of interested members of • Robert Guralnick (University of Southern California) Section of the Festival is a the public, schoolchildren • Ngô B�o Châu (University of Chicago) small committee which so- and the press. There are • Endre Szemerédi (Rutgers University) licits ideas for events from always well-known scien- • Cédric Villani (Université Lyon 1) the mathematical sciences tists giving ‘star lectures’ • Claire Voisin (École Polytechnique) community and aims to put but the majority of the • Don Zagier (MPIM Bonn) on a programme covering programme is, like the a wide range of interests contribution from math- Professor Perise Diaconis will give a public lecture on the life and work of Martin Gardner on the within the discipline, includ- ematical sciences, less occasion of the centenary of his birth. ing statistics and aspects of sensational but no less Morning speakers will include: computer science. Each authoritative for that. year they choose a Presi- Climate Change: Does it Add Up? There are also intermedi- • Christine Bachoc (Bordeaux) dent from among those well-known for their ate examples; one is the extraordinary Festival 20 • Alexandre Borovik (Manchester) ability to communicate to a wide audience; of the Spoken Nerd in which the irrepressible 21 • Martin Bridson (Oxford) recent Presidents have included Simon Singh, Matt Parker also participates, combining real • Toby Gee (Imperial College) David Spiegelhalter, Caroline Series and John science with songs and stand-up comedy. An- • Daniela Kühn (Birmingham) Barrow; this year’s President is Celia Hoyles other very different example was provided • Vladimir Markovic (Cambridge) OBE, of the Institute of Education and Presi- by the European Mathematical Society, in a • Corinna Ulcigrai (Bristol) dent-Elect of the IMA. For 2014, when the Fes- session Be a Maths Millionaire given by Sara • Andrei Yafaev (University College London) tival will be in Birmingham, the President will Santos, Ehrhard Behrends (Berlin) and Jorge be Professor Peter McOwan, a Vice-Principal Buescu (Lisbon). This was a rapid tour of the Afternoon workshops: at QMUL and author with Matt Parker of The maths underlying Google Search, the Clay Mil- • Combinatorics Magic of Computer Science. Matt, the Standup lennium Prizes (principally boundedness of • Ergodic Theory Mathematician, regularly presents their joint solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations and • Geometry show The Maths and Computing Magic Show including the famous film of the collapse of • Group Theory at the Festival and this year there were two the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940) and the • Number Theory performances during the Family Weekend, on early history of the solution of cubic equa- Saturday, attracting audiences tions, where the issue was not Scientific Advisory Committee: of adults and children to the so much winning large sums as • Peter Cameron (Queen Mary University of London) Discovery Museum in Newcas- preserving your reputation or • Ben Green (Cambridge) tle. On a similar theme, Steve avoiding being killed in a duel. • Minhyong Kim (Oxford) Humble, Dr Maths and now Iain Bethune (EPCC, Edinburgh) • Angus Macintyre (Queen Mary University of London) based at Newcastle University, talked about the hunt for ever • Richard Thomas (Imperial College London) presented his Randomness Show larger explicit primes, and the on the Sunday. Maths Busking involvement of huge numbers Registration opens on 1 November 2013 through the conference website: in the City Centre was organ- of personal computers through www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/bmc2014. ized by Sara Santos. Sara also in- the PrimeGrid initiative. Contact: Ivan Tomašić or Behrang Noohi at [email protected]. troduced the public to the idea Celia Hoyles in her Math Sci- of a Museum of Mathematics ences Presidential Lecture, Do The conference is supported by an LMS Conference Grant, by the Clay Mathematics Institute (MathsWorldUK) at sessions in The Maths: Potential and Chal- and by Google. the International Centre for Life Ehrhard Behrends lenges of the Digital Age, made LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

the case for judicious introduction of digital LMS Popular Lectures number theory and for mathematics, Dr Neale ment of Applied Mathematics, University of technology into the classroom. She started leaves us with at least one comforting thought Leeds. For further information contact A. V. King Edward’s School Birmingham with altogether alarming archive footage of which I personally shall never forget “If it Mikhailov ([email protected]). The B.F. Skinner’s 26 September 2013 looks difficult, approximate”. visit is supported by an LMS Scheme 2 grant. Teaching Ma- Two talks, two tales of dedication and love Report chines from of maths, two intriguing subjects. What more VISIT OF FRANÇOISE the 1950s Dimmed lights. The hubbub of a chattering could a mathematician want? but moved audience. Anticipation tangible in the air. Clement Chan DAL'BO through to The lectures begin. First up, Professor Ray Year 12 Professor Françoise Dal'Bo (University of video games, Hill on how maths is used in the courtroom. Rennes 1) will visit the UK from 8 to 13 Decem- computer pro- After explaining the intricacies of DNA evi- VISIT OF RUSTEM ber 2013. Professor Dal'Bo's research interests gramming dence, Profiling Evidence, Salt Poisoning and include topological and metrical dynamical and anima- his own area of expertise ‘Cot Deaths’, Profes- GARIFULLIN systems in negative curvature, with applica- Celia Hoyles tion, suggest- sor Hill leads us down the many small roads Dr Rustem Garifullin (Department of Differ- tions to number theory. Her text Geodesic and ing that even though these could not be fully and alleyways that illustrate the deceiving ential Equations, Institute of Mathematics of Horocyclic Trajectories has recently been pub- explained, there was considerable value in powers of statistics in the courtroom, cover- RAS, Ufa Branch, Russia) will be visiting the lished in English by Springer. She will lecture at digging down a little of the way below the ing many cases and showing many potential UK from 26 November to 14 December 2013. the following institutions: surface to show how they work, allowing fallacies that can mislead the jury (such as His expertise is in the discrete and continuous • University of York, Monday 9 December at school students, for example, to design their confusing the probability of a match in a DNA integrable systems and their symmetries, as- 14.00 own simple mobile games. Celia’s lecture was turning up with the chance that the defend- ymptotic expansions for the solutions of non- • University of Warwick, Tuesday 10 Decem- followed by a wine and sandwiches reception ant were guilty). With many different formu- linear equations and resonances in non-linear ber at 14.00 22 generously sponsored by the IMA. lae and probabilities floating around in our equations. During his visit Dr Garifullin will • Open University, Thursday 12 December at 23 Chris Budd, together with Peter Cox from heads, each new case presented and each new give lectures at: 16.00 Exeter and Vicky Pope from the Met Office, concept explained adds a layer of truth to our • Loughborough University, School of Math- Further details about the visit can be ob- gave a presentation, followed by lively dis- perception of use of evidence in the court- ematical Sciences, Wednesday 27 Novem- tained from Ian Short ([email protected]). cussion, on Climate Change: Does it Add Up? room and how we, as mathematicians, should ber, Generalized symmetry classification of The visit is supported by an LMS Scheme 2 They took the large audience through simple view this evidence as weak or strong while discrete equations of a class depending on grant. climate models based on physical laws; uncer- constantly avoiding dangerous fallacies that twelve parameters (Contact: V. S. Novikov - tainty, caused both by nature’s randomness could lead to a miscarriage of justice. [email protected]) NUMERICAL ANALYSIS and by human ignorance; calibration of mod- After an hour of thought-provoking ma- • University of Kent at Canterbury, School of els using historical data; and the new weather- terial, and half an hour of light-hearted re- Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Sci- AND COMPUTATIONAL forecasting and climate predication models freshments, the second lecture commences: ence, Tuesday 3 December, Quad equation STATISTICS being used at the Met Office using smaller Dr Vicky Neale on ‘addictive number theory’, with a non-standard generalized sym- grids and increased computing power. These a subject title humorously inspired by a typ- metry structure (Contact: Jing Ping Wang A half day event, Interfaces between Numeri- can take into account such seasonal variation ing error. After considering some squares and - [email protected]) cal Analysis and Computational Statistics, will as the movement of the jet stream, the El Niño some prime numbers, Dr Neale moves the sub- • University of Leeds, School of Mathemat- be held at the University of Southampton. phenomenon, ice retreat in the Arctic and the ject onto some of the great unsolved problems ics, Friday 13 December, Affine and finite The meeting will take place in the Mathemat- solar cycle, though not as yet the melting of in number theory, such as the Goldbach Con- Lie algebras and integrable Toda field ics Building at Highfield campus on Wednes- the permafrost for which the science is not yet jecture and the problem of the twin primes. equations on discrete spacetime (Contact: day 15 January 2014, with the talks starting in understood. Chris and his team had a success- After giving a fleeting view of these famous A. V. Mikhailov - A.V.Mikhailov@leeds. the early afternoon and followed by a recep- ful news conference after their event. problems, she shifts onto a seemingly more ac.uk) tion and dinner. Speakers will be: The Mathematical Sciences Section is active- complicated problem of how many nth pow- Dr Garifullin will also attend the Integra- • Mark Girolami (University College London) ly seeking proposals for the 2014 Festival and ers of numbers are needed to make any num- ble Systems Day at Loughborough University, • Andrew Stuart (University of Warwick) ideas and offers of help should be sent to Peter ber. And suddenly in one slide of mathematics, Friday 29 November and the workshop Alge- • Konstantinos Zygalakis (University of Giblin ([email protected]) Chair of the Section. the presentation gets more complicated with braic Methods in Theory of Differential and Southampton) lines of error terms and complex sigma nota- Difference Equations which will be held at If you are interested in attending this event Peter Giblin FIMA tion. But the audience are not left completely University of Kent at Canterbury from 6 to 7 or would like further information send an Recorder (i.e. Chair) stranded: after explaining her deep love for December 2013. email to Konstantinos Zygalakis (k.zygalakis@ Mathematical Sciences Section Dr Garifullin will be based at the Depart- soton.ac.uk). There is a registration fee of LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

£15 while a small amount of funding to sup- • Mireille Bousquet-Mélou (Bordeaux) presentation into context, it will be preceded ference will be: port travel (by rail) for graduate students and • Luigi Cantini (Cergy-Pontoise) by an introduction to the topic by Professor • Urania Berlin e. V., An der Urania 17, 10787 young researchers might be available. Fur- • Mark Dukes (Strathclyde) Steve Abel. Berlin ther details can be obtained at the webpage • Ilse Fischer (Vienna) Admission is by (free) ticket, allocated on a • College of Engineering, Mathematics and www.personal.soton.ac.uk/kz1e11/workshop. • Paul Martin (Leeds) first-come-first-served basis: register at www.. Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, North htm. The meeting is supported by an LMS • Paul Zinn-Justin (UPMC, Paris) dur.ac.uk/conference.booking/details/?id=251 Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QF Conference grant to celebrate new appoint- Anyone interested is welcome to attend. Fur- This annual lecture series was established • Department of Mathematics, Faculty of ments and the University of Southampton. ther information can be obtained from http:// in memory of Sir Edward Collingwood, Presi- Science, University of Zagreb, Bijenička 30, mathsevents.cf.ac.uk/combphys2013/ or from dent of the London Mathematical Society 10000 Zagreb GRAPHS, GROUPS Roger Behrend ([email protected]). The (1969-70). The lectures are given by math- The local organisers are as follows: workshop is supported by an LMS Conference ematicians of international renown, and are Ehrhard Behrends ([email protected]. AND PROBABILITY grant, the Mathematical and Theoretical Phys- suitable for a general audience. More details de); Iva Kavčič ([email protected]) and A meeting on Graphs, Groups and Probability ics Group of the Institute of Physics, and the may be found at www.dur.ac.uk/mathemati Margriet Groenendijk (M.Groenendijk@ex will be held at the University of Warwick on Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computa- cal.sciences/events/collingwood. eter.ac.uk); Marko Vrdoljak ([email protected]) Thursday 28 November 2013 in celebration of tional Sciences. Limited funds are available to and Goran Igaly ([email protected]). the recent appointment of Agelos Georgako- support research students who wish to attend. 6th Diderot In each of the cities several talks on applica- poulos. It will consist of talks given by the fol- Mathematical Forum tions of mathematics to various topics related lowing speakers: NETWORK CODING, to planet Earth (meteorology and climate, • Nathanael Berestycki (University of The cycle of conferences 'Diderot Mathematical oceanology, ecology, crystallography, etc.) will Cambridge) Condensation of random walks PARTITIONS AND SECURITY Forum' was introduced by the EMS in 1996. Each be given, and the conference will end with a and Wulff crystal The Network Coding, Partitions and Security meet- conference takes place simultaneously in three round table discussion held simultaneously in 24 • Imre Leader (University of Cambridge) ing will be held at the School of Engineering and European cities exchanging information by tel- all the three cities. All the talks will be broad- 25 Euclidean Ramsey theory Computing Sciences, Durham University on 20 No- ecommunication, addresses a specific topic, and cast over the Internet, as well as recorded to • Agelos Georgakopoulos (University of vember 2013 in celebration of the recent appoint- has both a research and a public component. So be available online later. The tentative list of Warwick) Discrete Riemann mapping and ment of Maximilien Gadouleau. It will consist of far, there have been five Diderot Mathemati- speakers is as follows: the Poisson boundary talks given by the following speakers: cal Forums: Mathematics and finance (London, • Berlin : Rupert Klein, Björn Stevens, Carlo If you are interested in attending • Rosemary A. Bailey (St Andrews and Queen Moscow, Zürich, 1996), Mathematics and envi- Jäger please contact Agelos Georgakopoulos Mary) ronment: Problems related to water (Amster- • Exeter: Mark Baldwin, Robert Beare (to be ([email protected]). The • Simon Blackburn (Royal Holloway) dam, Madrid, Venice, 1997), Mathematics as confirmed), Matthew Collins, Peter Cox, meeting is supported by an LMS Conference • Maximilien Gadouleau (Durham) a force of cultural evolution (Berlin, Florence, David Stephenson grant to celebrate new appointments. For The meeting is free of charge, though if you are Krakow, 1998), Mathematics and music (Lisbon, • Zagreb: Eduard Marušić-Paloka, Branko further information visit the website at http:// interested in attending please register by contact- Paris, Vienna, 1999, Mathematics and telecom- Grisogono, Senka Maćešić & Nelida Črnjarić- homepages.warwick.ac.uk/~maslar/Nov28. ing Maximilien Gadouleau (m.r.gadouleau@dur- munications (Eindhoven, Helsinki, Lausanne, Žic (joint talk), Franka Miriam Brueckler & html. ham.ac.uk). The meeting is supported by an LMS 2001). Vladimir Stilinović (joint talk). Conference grant to celebrate new appointments. As 2013 is the International year of Math- All information can be found at mathemat COMBINATORIAL PHYSICS For further information visit the website at www. ematics of planet Earth (MPE2013, http:// ics-in-europe.eu, at the EMS webpage, and on dur.ac.uk/m.r.gadouleau/networkcoding.html. mpe2013.org/), the Committee for Raising the local pages of the organising institutions. To A workshop on Combinatorial Physics will be Public Awareness of Mathematics of the EMS register please email dmf_fmb_mcm@yahoo. held at the School of Mathematics, Cardiff Uni- 2013 COLLINGWOOD initiated the renewal of the cycle for 2013, with com or contact a local organiser. versity from Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 Decem- LECTURE the topic Mathematics of Planet Earth. ber 2013. Combinatorial physics refers to both Professors Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel (UFR INTEGRABLE DAY AT the use of combinatorial theory to interpret or Professor Peter Higgs (Nobel Prize in Phys- Mathématique et Informatique, Université Paris understand phenomena in physics, and con- ics 2013) will deliver this year's Collingwood Descartes, Paris) and Franka Miriam Brueckler LOUGHBOROUGH versely the use of techniques from physics to Lecture at 4.15 pm on Tuesday 5 November, (Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sci- A half-day workshop on Integrable Systems and solve purely combinatorial problems. The work- in the Calman Learning Centre at Durham ence, Zagreb) have been chosen as coordinators Quantum Geometry will be held at Loughbor- shop will aim to bring together mathematical University. He will give an overview of his of the event. ough University on 29 November 2013, Room physicists and pure mathematicians working on insightful theoretical prediction of the so- The conference is to be held on 17 December KG107 from 1.30 pm. The speakers are: a range of topics within combinatorial physics. called Higgs boson, an elementary particle 2013 in Berlin (Germany), Exeter (United King- • Leonid Chekhov (Loughborough) Speakers will include: recently observed at CERN. In order to put his dom) and Zagreb (Croatia). The sites of the con- Quantum Riemann surfaces LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

• Kirill Krasnov (Nottingham) Anyone interested is welcome to attend. which was ironic as his research achievements troduction to Fermat's Last Theorem Fearless Quantization of geometric structures Some funds are available to contribute to lay in applied mathematics, as is emphasized Symmetry. • Alexander Molev (Sydney) travel expenses of external participants. Fur- below. During the 1960s John spent a year as a If you don't know the BSD conjecture, here Commutative subalgebras in Lie-Poisson ther details can be obtained from the webpage visitor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in is a quick idea of it. Plane conics, the circle y^2 algebras and their quantization at www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~cvoigt/ncgglasgow. Troy, New York, where he pursued his research = 1 - x^2 for example, can be solved by rational • Konstanze Rietsch (King's College London) html. The meeting is supported by an LMS Con- and commenced teaching of mathematics. . numbers x,y. There are either no solutions at all, Grassmannians through the mirror ference grant and the Glasgow Mathematical In his research John was primarily distin- or infinitely many that you can reasonably treat The meeting is part of a collaborative work- Journal Trust. guished for his work on nonlinear instability as being a copy of the rationals and then enu- shop series on Classical and Quantum Integra- waves in fluid flows, as one possible precursor merate. The answer is algorithmic in either case, bility, supported by an LMS Scheme 3 grant, obituaries to turbulence; in this he followed in the tradi- and in this example you know x=3/5, y=4/5 and involving Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and tion of the theoretical physicist L.D. Landau in all their Pythagorean buddies. One might think JOHN WATSON Loughborough Universities. Funds may the early 1940s and the present writer in the late of plane cubics, y^2 = x^3 + 1 for example, as be- be available to support the attendance Dr John Waton, who was 1950s. They had outlined the way in which non- ing just one degree harder, but the truth is a lot of research students. Enquiries should be elected a member of the Lon- linear waves might be studied by means of an more fun. The rational solutions form a group, addressed to the organiser: A.P.Veselov@ don Mathematical Society on amplitude equation. Details were left to other the Mordell—Weil group, and its rank, the lboro.ac.uk or 01509 222866. 17 February 1995, died on 16 mathematicians to study and to clarify, one of number of independent copies of the integers July 2013, aged 83. whom was John, who took up the challenge and in it, is an invariant of the cubic; the rank of the BSHM CHRISTMAS Trevor Stuart writes: John was, I believe, the first to calculate higher-order example above is zero. There is no known algo- Watson was born in 1930 in the Scottish County terms beyond the cubic term in an equation of rithm to calculate this rank in general (although MEETING of Fife, living as a child in Cellardyke, which is the form dA[t]/dt = aA + higher powers of A in many practical cases it is possible). The BSD This year’s British Society for the History of close to Anstruther on the Firth of Forth. His and |A| for the amplitude A of the wave, where conjecture includes a formula that relates this 26 Mathematics (BSHM) Christmas Meeting also father was the captain of a fishing boat from a is a known parameter. This was a fine achieve- rank in a very precise way to a range of other 27 celebrates its President Robin Wilson’s 70th Anstruther. His mother, whom I met in 1958 in ment, which is regularly quoted today (much to arithmetic data, in particular to the order of birthday. The meeting takes place from 10.00 Cellardyke during a break from the Internation- the astonishment of John, who was so modest). pole at s=1 of and L-function constructed from – 17.00 on Saturday 7 December 2013 in the al Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh, John was such a likeable, albeit modest, man, the number of solutions of the very same plane Birmingham and Midland Institute, Margaret was very hospitable. He had two brothers. Af- who was respected by all who met him and who cubic over all finite fields. Street, Birmingham B3 3BS. Speakers include: ter attending a primary school in Fife, John will be long remembered for his personal quali- The book does a far better job of explain- • Allan Chapman (Oxford) entered Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen ties as well as for his research achievements. ing the BSD conjecture, of course, and in some • Gareth Roberts (Bangor) for his secondary education and followed this technical detail. It tells the story in 15 chapters, • Jane Wess (London) by joining the University of Aberdeen to study reviews the `tales' of the title, under three broad head- • Leo Rogers (Oxford) mathematics, which was by far his major love ings. First some background algebra: fields and Robin Wilson (OU and Oxford) will give his academically. It was in Aberdeen that he met his ELLIPTIC TALES by Avner Ash and Robert Gross, their closures, curves and projective geometry, Presidential Address: In the footsteps of Major future wife, Eve, who hailed from the Orkneys Princeton University Press, 2012, 280 pp, £19.95, and intersection theory and Bézout's theorem. MacMahon: the combinatorics that counts. For and whom he married in 1955. After graduation ISBN: 978-0-691-15119-9. Then the basic arithmetic theory of elliptic further details see the BSHM website www. from Aberdeen he was awarded a scholarship to This book aims to explain, to a beginning curves: adding points as a group law, singulari- bshm.ac.uk. study for a post graduate degree in Aeronauti- mathematics student, confident in ties, and the group structure over cal Engineering in the University of Cambridge, calculus and prepared to engage the rationals. Thirdly a ground-up NONCOMMUTATIVE following which he joined the National Physical with formulas, the ideas and math- account of generating functions, Laboratory (NPL) in its Aerodynamics Division, ematical terms that appear in the Dirichlet series, Zeta-functions, GEOMETRY which was natural in view of his studies in Cam- celebrated Birch--Swinnerton-Dyer analytic continuation, L-functions, A one-day meeting on Noncommutative Ge- bridge. It was there that I first met John in 1954, conjecture, or the `BSD conjecture' all finally tied together in the stte- ometry will be held in Glasgow on Friday 29 as he and I worked in the same Theoretical Sec- as we are encouraged to call it. The ment of the BSD conjecture. November 2013. The meeting will take place tion. From 1966 until his retirement in 1995 he BSD conjecture is one of the million- This is certainly not a text book. in the School of Mathematics and Statistics of was a member of the Faculty of the School of dollar Clay problems, so this is a not Although you might recognise the the University of Glasgow, with talks starting at Mathematics (initially the school of Mathemat- a walk in the park. The authors, outline of a senior undergraduate 2:30 pm. The speakers are: ics and Physics) at the University of East Anglia, who are practising number theorists coursein elliptic curves from the list • Jacek Brodzki (Southampton) where he was a dedicated teacher who was rather than primarily mathemat- of subjects above, this book does • Ryszard Nest (Copenhagen) well-liked by all his students; there he showed a ics popularisers, have form — this not teach that material. But it does • Christian Voigt (Glasgow) preference for the purer aspects of mathematics, book follows their elementary in- give a real flavour of all of those LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

topics, and it goes out of its way to motivate year undergraduates trying to navigate courses us that at first he found the maths he learned wrote his PhD thesis under Joseph Bernstein. We them in elementary terms, and to explain what in elliptic curves or algebraic geometry, or to at school was boring, but he was fascinated by are now in the era of Gorbachev and Perestroika benefits come from the various abstract ma- read casually in advance, might follow the ideas quantum physics. A professor at a local college which resulted in many Russian mathematicians chines it introduces. And ultimately it succeeds here as a companion to conventional lecture in the small town where he lived told him that to finding employment in the USA, many of whom in exposing the workings of the BSD conjecture. notes or textbooks. understand quantum physics he needed to un- Frenkel made contact with such as Vladmir Drin- What about the claim that a beginner, with This book is a lot of fun, and easy to recom- derstand group theory and feld. Chapter 15, is written in the form of only basic calculus and algebra, and some nerve mend; indeed Swinnerton-Dyer himself does began teaching it to him. a screenplay. It starts in Drinfeld’s office in for formulas, could read this book? Can they se- just that on the dust jacket. Then he understood what Harvard. Drinfeld: "so the Shimura-Tani- riously learn what a torsion point is? I think yes real maths was about and yama-Weil conjecture gives us a link be- (although I didn't manage to test drive it). There Gavin Brown became hooked. He writes tween cubic equations and modular forms, are no proofs, but there are precise statements, Loughborough University "the deeper I delved into but Langlands went much further than and honesty about tricky points where some maths, the more my fas- this. He envisioned a more general rela- things are swept under the rug. There are even LOVE & MATH The Heart of Hidden Reality cination began, the more tion in which the role of a modular form is a few simple exercises. by Edward Frenkel, Basic Books, 2013, 292 pp, I wanted to know. This is played by automorphic representations of The book certainly gets tougher towards the £18.99, ISBN: 978-0-4650-5074-1. what happens when you a Lie group" Edward. "What’s an automor- end, and the target reader would have to be de- This is a remarkable book. It has three; fall in love." He was ad- phic representation?" and so it goes on. termined to get through. But the authors have strands; firstly it is about Edward Frenkel’s strug- vised to apply to Moscow You don’t get to understand the Langlands done a remarkable job, and even if one doesn't gle, as a young Jew in the in the Soviet Union State University (MGU) and program but you are led to believe that quite finish, there are dozens of great ideas and in the early 1980s to become a mathematician, then his problems began. something exciting is going on. results and stories to read throughout the text. secondly about the author’s love affair with Frenkel’s father was Jewish While telling his story, various ideas It may also have a good market at a slightly mathematics and thirdly, about explaining to and all sorts of obstacles were put in his way. It of mathematics are introduced: symmetry 28 more advanced level. First-year undergraduates the layperson some of the ideas about his re- seems shocking that in 1984, only 30 years ago, groups, braid groups, Galois theory, Fermat’s 29 wanting to see abstract ideas being used for search leading eventually to the Langland’s anti-semitism was prevalent in many aspects of last theorem, (elliptic curves, modular forms concrete purposes might enjoy the style. Final- programme. In the first chapter Edward tells Soviet life, in particular at MGU. He did extreme- and Riemann surfaces), Lie groups, Kac-Moody ly well in his entrance exams but restrictions algebras, the Langland’s programme and its were put in his way. For example, he was asked connections to physics. Throughout, the essen- in his oral exam to define a circle. He answered tial unity of mathematics is emphasised. A crucial "a circle is the set of points in a plane equidistant chapter is Chapter 9, Rosetta Stone. This is based from a single point. Wrong, said the examiner on a letter Andé Weil wrote to his sister while in cheerfully. It is the set of all points in the plane prison during the second world war. Here Weil equidistant from a given point.” (This anti-Jew- tells us about the role of analogy in mathemat- ish discrimination is now well-documented, see ics, in particular between number theory and for example "You failed your Math test, com- geometry. The Rosetta stone tells us how to rade Einstein", by M. Shifman.) Needless to say, translate between, number theory, curves over Edward failed to get into MGU. finite fields and Riemann surfaces. Frenkel sees He was advised to attend the applied math- the Langlands program as being an extension of ematics programme at the institute for oil and this; relating representations of Galois groups of gas, where there was no anti-Jewish discrimina- number fields, (number theory) to automorphic tion. There Mathematics was taught at a high functions, (harmonic analysis.) level, but there was no really pure maths, so Ed- The final chapter is Searching for the Formula ward found a sneaky way of attending seminars of Love. It is about a film the author wrote with at MGU, and there he met many mathemati- Reine Graves (the director) and in which he plays cians. One of them, Dmitri Fuchs suggested he one of the two characters. This has already been work on the problem of computing the Betti reviewed in the Newsletter (September 2010.) numbers of the commutator subgroup of the In this short and rather beautiful film, inspired nth Braid group Bn. At the same time he at- by the Japanese film The Rite of love and Death tended the seminars of Gelfand, and worked by Yukio Mishima, a mathematician tattoos a with Boris Fegin on Kac-Moody algebras. As a re- mathematical formula on the body of his lover. sult he was invited to Harvard in 1990 and later In the words of the author LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 430 November 2013

“I wanted to show the intensity and passion reader will want to see the formal definition CALENDAR OF EVENTS Topics, INI, Cambridge (428) involved in mathematical research. People tend of a limit), but it is nice to see them included. 13-15 British Postgraduate Model Theory This calendar lists Society meetings and oth- to think of math as a stale, boring subject, and of The majority of the details are in the main con- Conference, Leeds (429) er mathematical events. Further informa- mathematicians as bookworms‚ which couldn't tent however, and a good job is done of mixing 13-17 Inference for Change-point and tion may be obtained from the appropriate be further from the truth. When you try to dis- them with examples and analogies. This allows Related Processes INI Workshop, cover something new, something that no one the insightful reader to infer more than is writ- LMS Newsletter whose number is given in Cambridge (428) has ever seen or understood before, you have ten, whilst the content is still understandable brackets. A fuller list is given on the Socie- 15 Interfaces between Numerical Analysis to be very passionate about it, you have to be to everyone. ty’s website (www.lms.ac.uk/content/calen- and Computational Statistics Meeting, in love with it. It is a war with the unknown, a There is an ongoing social commentary, dar). Please send updates and corrections to Southampton (430) struggle unto death and the formulas you dis- especially in terms of historical context, mak- [email protected]. cover really get under your skin, that's how the ing the equations and the mathematics more 17-19 Cryptography and Coding IMA Con- idea of tattooing a formula came about.” memorable. A particular highlight of this is the ference, St Anne's College, Oxford Throughout the book the author write with final chapter, which discusses the Black-Scholes NOVEMBER 2013 passion about his subject. All mathematicians equation. Great care is taken to show the very 5 Collingwood Lecture 2013, Durham (430) FEBRUARY 2014 15 LMS Graduate Student Meeting, Lon- should be inspired by it. real effects that one equation can have on our 10-21 Higher Structures in Algebraic Analy- This book has a facebook page www.face world (no matter how abstract it may be). Ian don (430) sis Winter School and Workshop, Padova, book.com/loveandmath. Stewart points out that the current global fi- 15 LMS AGM, London (430) Italy (428) nancial problems were predicted in the math- 16 Early Career Mathematicians' IMA 24-28 Foams and Minimal Surfaces - David Singerman ematics community, and were contributed to Autumn Conference, University of Strath- University of Southampton by the misuse and misunderstanding of a sim- 12 Years On, INI Cambridge (429) clyde, Glasgow ple mathematical equation. He takes the time 28 Mary Cartwright Lecture, York 20 Network Coding, Partitions and Security, 30 SEVENTEEN EQUATIONS THAT SAVED THE to explain that whilst one can blindly use an 31 Durham (430) WORLD by Ian Stewart, Profile Books, 2012, pp equation and get a meaningful result, a lack of MARCH 2014 352, £8.99, ISBN 9781846685316 understanding and context will almost invari- 28 Graphs, Groups and Probability Meet- 31 LMS Northern Regional Meeting, This book takes an historical tour of the most ably lead to the result being misused. ing, Warwick (430) Durham (430) fundamental, influential and important equa- In conclusion, this book gives a well rounded 29 Integrable Systems and Quantum Ge- tions in mathematics. The book ranges from history of mathematics in a novel and interest- ometry, Loughborough (430) APRIL 2014 pure geometry in the form of Pythagoras' the- ing manner. By giving himself the broad topic 29 Noncommutative Geometry, Glasgow (430) orem, to physics via relativity and Schrödinger's of equations, Stewart has managed to present 1-5 Ischia Group Theory 2014, Naples, Italy equation, and even the world of finance, a medley of different (428) december 2013 7-10 British Mathematical Colloquium, ending with the Black-Scholes equation. fields and areas, yet still 7 BSHM Christmas Meeting, Birmingham Queen Mary, University of London (430) Each chapter builds on what has gone link them to each other (430) before. The chapters on thermodynamics and to the real world. 16 Interfaces between Numerical Analysis and gravity, for example, make clear that This also limits the detail july 2014 and Computational Statistics, Southampton they fundamentally rely on the previously with which any one topic 16 LMS South West & South Wales 13-15 Modelling in Industrial Maintenance discussed concepts of Fourier transforms can be considered. Thus and Reliability IMA Conference, St Cath- and calculus. Especially for the lay reader, the book is probably best Regional Meeting, Swansea (430) erine's College, Oxford this helps stress that even the most ab- suited to mathematical 16-19 Categorical and Homological Meth- stract ideas are used in day-to-day life enthusiasts. Such a reader ods in Hopf Algebras Workshop, Swansea (albeit often indirectly). Mentioning ideas will have a chance to see (430) AUGUST 2014 more than once also adds a feeling of the beauty in mathematics 17 6th Diderot Mathematical Forum 2013, 13-21 ICM 2014, Seoul, Republic of Korea continuity – rather than an endless string that can be discovered in a Berlin, Exeter, Zagreb (430) (427) of facts, one thinks of a web of ideas. The short time by considering 17-19 Combinatorial Physics Workshop, 17-19 Mathematical Cultures Conference, further one progresses through the book the right ideas. However, Cardiff (430) De Morgan House, London (417) the more one can place these ideas in a larger even the seasoned academic should appreciate 18-20 LMS Prospects in Mathematics, context. this reminder of the breadth of his or her field. SEPTEMBER 2014 Stewart does not shy away from going into Durham University (430) 3-5 International Workshop on Operator details. Some of these are relegated to the Joe Tait JANUARY 2014 Theory, Queen's University Belfast appendices (I can appreciate that not every Southampton 6-10 Free Boundary Problems and Related LMS-FUNDED MEETINGS

From Spectral Gaps to Particle Filters Workshop held at the University of Reading from 17 to 18 September 2013 (report on page 15)

© Richard Everitt © Richard Everitt

Dan Crisan (Imperial College London) Mark Holland (University of Exeter)

Mathematical Challenges in Bubbles and Biological Fluid Dynamics Conference held at the University of Birmingham on 19 September 2013 (report on pages 16-17)

© David Smith © David Smith

Professor Tim Pedley, FRS (University of Cambridge) Professor John Blake (University of Birmingham)