THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

Forthcoming WHAT HAPPENS AT Newsletter, will be proposed for approval by the meeting. Society YOUR AGM? Professor Michael Struwe Meetings The Annual General Meeting of (Zürich), the first of two speak- the London Mathematical ers at the Society Meeting, will 2007 Society will take place on Friday give a talk on Geometric energy Friday 23 November 23 November 2007 at 3.15 pm quantization. AGM, London in the Chemistry Auditorium, After the adjournment for M. Struwe University College London. At tea, the scrutineers will declare J.F. Toland the AGM the following events the results of the ballot, and Presidential Address will happen: the newly-elected President will [page 3] Members bringing their bal- take the Chair and invite lot papers will have a last Professor John Toland to give 1 2008 opportunity to vote. his presidential address on Friday 8 February The Society’s Treasurer, Skating on thin ice. Mary Cartwright Professor N.M.J. Woodhouse, The AGM will be followed by Lecture, Oxford will present his report on the a reception at De Morgan R. Peto past year and invite questions. House for those members V. Beral Copies of the Annual Report of attending the Annual Dinner at [page 15] Activities will be available. the Hotel Russell at 7.30 pm. A list of nominations for elec- The cost of the Annual Dinner is Monday 31 March tion to membership to the £42.00 per person and members Northern Regional Society will be submitted for may book places for guests. The Meeting, Manchester approval by the meeting, and booking form, enclosed with any member present who has the October Newsletter, should Monday 9 June paid his or her first subscription be returned together with Midlands Regional and not yet been admitted to payment to the London Meeting, Birmingham the Society will have the oppor- Mathematical Society office by tunity to sign the Membership Monday 13 November. Friday 4 July Book, which dates back to the London origin of the Society in 1865. LMS ANNUAL The LMS President, Professor Monday 15 September J.F. Toland, FRS, FRSE, will pres- SUBSCRIPTION SW & South Wales ent certificates to the 2007 Subscription Regional Meeting Prizewinners. The Society 2007 The Society is appreciative of Swansea Prizewinners were announced those members who have paid at the June Society meeting and their 2007–08 subscriptions. Friday 21 November the names published in the July May we remind those who have AGM, London Newsletter. not yet paid, that subscriptions Changes to the By-Laws, cir- are due on 1 November 2007. culated with the October Prompt payment ensures conti- THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

nuity of publications and avoids the time and LAUNCH OF JOURNAL cost of reminders. If you have misplaced your renewal of subscription form (enclosed with OF TOPOLOGY your September Newsletter) contact the LMS The London Mathematical Society will be LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY office (email: [email protected]; tel: holding a reception and meeting for mem- 020 7637 3686; fax: 020 7323 3656). bers during the Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Diego from 6–9 January 2008. The Donations event will be held from 6:30 pm–7:30 pm on ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Council is grateful to members who respond- Monday 7 January to celebrate the launch of ed to the Treasurer’s request to consider the Society’s new journal, called Journal of making a donation together with payment Topology, which will publish its first issue in Friday 23 November 2007 of their LMS subscription. This will benefit January 2008. the Society in its work in supporting mathe- LMS members who have not already done 3.15 – 3.30 Annual General Meeting (see details on page 1) matics. Every pound makes a vital difference, so will have the opportunity to sign the and the extra income generated by dona- Membership Book which dates back to 1865. 3.30 – 4.30 Professor M. Struwe (Zürich) tions will enable the Society to maintain the Members who wish to attend the recep- level of grant funding it makes through its tion should apply for a free ticket to Susan Geometric energy quantization schemes and committees. By being a donor Oakes, the Administrator of the Society 2 you are helping us to increase the Society’s ([email protected]) no later than Friday 4.30 – 5.00 Tea 3 activities in education, in supporting mathe- 7 December. The Society hopes to entertain matics in universities and fighting for as many as possible of its members, but 5.00 – 6.00 Professor J.F. Toland, FRS, FRSE (Bath) research funding, so we are very grateful for numbers may be limited by the capacity of Presidential Address your support. the room. Skating on thin ice

LMS Newsletter The meeting will be held in the Chemistry Auditorium, Christopher Ingold Building, University College London, General Editor: Dr D.R.J. Chillingworth ([email protected]) 20 Gordon Street, London WC1. Please note the early start. Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected])

Reviews Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of members of the Society or research students Administrative Editor: Miss S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) to attend the meeting. Requests for support, including an Editorial office address: London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square, estimate of expenses, may be addressed to the Programme London WC1B 4HS (tel: 020 7637 3686; fax: 020 7323 3655; email: [email protected], web: www.lms.ac.uk) Secretary at the Society (web: www.lms.ac.uk; Designed by CHP Design (tel: 020 7240 0466, email: [email protected], web: www.chpdesign.com) email: [email protected]). Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August.

Items and advertisements by first day of the month prior to publication. The meeting will be followed by the Annual Dinner. For further details see the announcement in this Newsletter Information in the Newsletter is free to be used elsewhere unless otherwise stated; attribution is requested when reproducing whole articles. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy (page 1). All enquiries may be addressed to Susan Oakes of information in the Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy (tel: 020 7637 3686, email: [email protected]). of the London Mathematical Society.

Charity registration number: 252660. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

ATLE SELBERG Sensationally, his mollification led to a real- analytic proof of the Theorem, Atle Selberg, who was elected an Honorary hitherto accessible to complex methods alone. Member of the London Mathematical Society As Selberg was working on the Prime Number in 1985, died on 6 August 2007, aged 90. Theorem, it seems that an unguarded conversa- M.N. Huxley writes: Research students in the tion led to Erdös completing the argument first. 1960s were assured by Conway that anyone Selberg’s reaction was a disaster. After that he who proved the would published nothing till it was complete with noth- live forever. The death of Atle Selberg was the ing more to say. Later he relented enough to fourth and last falsifying example. He was born give glimpses of his work in conference lectures. in Langesund on the South coast of on But he renounced the stimulus of discussing 14 June 1917. The youngest of three mathemat- ideas, and his discoveries and insights were ical brothers in a large family, he was inspired slow to influence the mathematical community. by the beauty of formulae and the story of Selberg sometimes discouraged young Ramanujan. He went up to the University of by saying ‘I knew that,’ but Oslo in 1935 and won his PhD there in 1943, hav- he inspired great loyalty in his friends. Three ing already been appointed a research fellow. mathematicians joined the family vigil as he He made many of his discoveries and redis- lay dying. He leaves a widow, two children, 4 coveries working in isolation during the war and four grandchildren. 5 years. In 1947 Selberg and his wife Hedvig visited the Institute for Advanced Study at COLIN TRIPP Princeton. By 1949 he was a permanent mem- ber, and became a Fields Medallist in 1950. Colin Tripp, who was elected a member of the Selberg’s interests centred on automorphic London Mathematical Society on 19 November functions, prime numbers, the Riemann zeta 1999, died on 14 March 2007, aged 69. function, and related areas in analysis and Tony Rawlins writes: Colin was a much algebraic groups. admired and respected academic in the He saw the as a ques- Department of Mathematics at Brunel from tion for a general class of functions, and he September 1966 until his retirement in 2002. evidently believed, with Riemann, that it con- He was generally regarded as one of the kind- nected with the real eigenvalues of some self- est, cleverest, but also one of the most mod- adjoint operator. His favourite methods were est people you could wish to meet. Colin was inner products and duality, and to mollify the a problem solver par excellence. He had a very property of being a prime number. He redis- lucid style of lecturing that incorporated this covered the Peterson inner product for modu- problem-solving approach. He took endless lar forms, and interpreted the Rankin series as pains to help even the weakest students to try a convolution. These ideas led to the Trace to understand what he was teaching. He felt Formula, linking the metric geometry of an he had a mission in life to convey the beauty orbifold with the spectrum of its Laplacian. His of mathematics to everyone he encountered. mollifiers were coefficients on the integers, This was a subject he understood so well and often constructed by inner products, which loved so much. emphasised the prime numbers. They were Many students and colleagues will be sad used in his Sieve, and to show that a positive to hear of his death at a time when he was proportion of the zeros of the zeta function still so active. He will live on in the thoughts agreed with the Riemann Hypothesis, quanti- and memories of all those people he helped, fying Riemann’s sehr wahrscheinlich. in his lifetime. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

RICHARD LEWIS 2008 Richard P. Lewis, who was elected a member Call for nominations LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY of the London Mathematical Society on The Norwegian Academy of Science and 20 May 1977, died on 26 July 2007, aged 65. Letters is calling for nominations of candi- Following his first class degree at Queen’s dates for the Abel Prize 2008. Spitalfields Day College, Oxford, in 1963, he studied algebra- The Abel Prize, which was awarded for in association with the Isaac Newton Institute for ic topology under the supervision of Sir the first time in 2003, amounts to NOK 6 Mathematical Sciences programme entitled Phylogenetics and joined the staff of the million (approximately 750,000). It is an University of Sussex in October 1966. international prize for outstanding scientif- James Hirschfeld writes: He was a talented ic work in the field of mathematics, includ- Yggdrasil: Reconstructing the Tree of Life and a willing colleague. He ing mathematical aspects of computer sci- Thursday 6 December 2007, Isaac Newton Institute enjoyed all aspects of mathematics and com- ence, mathematical physics, probability, municated this to the students in the many numerical analysis and scientific computing, different courses that he taught. He was a statistics, and also applications of mathe- 13:00 – 14:00 Professor Peter Lockhart (Massey University, New Zealand) popular supervisor for student essays on matics in the sciences. The prize has previ- Phylogenetic models and the origins of chloroplasts mathematical games, and played the game ously been awarded to Jean-Pierre Serre 14:00 – 15:00 Professor Tandy Warnow (University of Texas at Austin, USA) Go to a respectable standard. (2003), Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer Algorithm design for large-scale phylogenetic analysis During the 1980s, he switched his research (2004), (2005) and Lennart 6 interests to , and completed Carleson (2006). 7 15:00 – 15:30 Tea a Sussex DPhil in 1991. His published output The prize is to recognize contributions to 15:30 – 16:30 Professor John A. Rhodes (University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA) was distinguished by its elegance, even mathematics and its applications of extraor- Phylogenetic models and algebra amongst the generality of papers in that dinary depth and influence. Such work may field, where such a quality is often noted. His have resolved fundamental problems, creat- 16:30 – 17:30 Professor Andreas Dress (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) last paper ‘The generating functions of the ed powerful new techniques, introduced uni- Phylogenetic combinatorics: analysing branching rank and crank modulo 8’ will appear in a fying principles or opened up major new patterns in evolutionary trees forthcoming issue of the Ramanujan Journal. areas. The intent is to award prizes over the 17:30 – 18:30 Wine Reception He retired from Sussex University in 2003, but course of time in a wide range of areas of was tutoring the Open University MSc right mathematics and its applications. The talks are aimed at final year undergraduate/beginning postgraduate students up to the end, as well as continuing with his The Abel Committee will submit a recom- in biology, mathematics, and computer science, and will address the problems and own research. mendation of a candidate for the Abel Prize challenges of reconstructing evolutionary relationships from molecular sequence to the Norwegian Academy of Science and data. The interdisciplinary nature of phylogenetic studies – biological, computa- DAVID EMERY Letters, which will select the Abel laureate tional, and mathematical problems arise naturally – will be highlighted. David John Emery, who was elected a member on the basis of this recommendation. The of the London Mathematical Society on 18 name of the Abel laureate will be Anyone interested is welcome to attend; talks will be aimed at a general June 1970, died on 2 August 2007, aged 62. announced in March 2008. The nomination mathematical audience. Please let Tracey Andrew at the Institute know by David Emery was a pupil of Harry (Professor letter should contain a CV and a description Friday 30 November if you intend to come: telephone (01223) 760992; G.E.H.) Reuter at Imperial College; his PhD, of of the candidate’s works, together with fax: (01223) 330508; email: [email protected]. 1974, was on probability theory. His special names of distinguished specialists in the field interest was fluctuation theory of random of the nominee who can be contacted There are limited funds available to assist research students to attend, please apply walks and Lévy processes, particularly use of for independent opinion. The letter should by Friday 30 November to Tracey Andrew by email ([email protected]) complex-variable (Wiener-Hopf) methods. be sent, no later than 15 November 2007, or post at the Newton Institute, 20 Clarkson Road, Cambridge, CB3 0EH. Both his thesis and the papers that came out to: The Norwegian Academy of Science Scientific enquiries may be addressed to Elizabeth Allman ([email protected]) of it were recognized as excellent, and have and Letters, Drammensveien 78, NO-0271 or Vincent Moulton ([email protected]). been influential. David spent his career at the Oslo, Norway. Polytechnic of Central London, which became It is also possible to nominate candidates the University of Westminster in 1992. by using the www.abelprisen.no. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

RESEARCHERS ing for me to see the students get enthusias- LMS AND IMA DISCUSSIONS INVITED LECTURES 2008 tic about what I was doing with them.” IN RESIDENCE For further information contact Comments sought Inspiring the Next Generation Professor www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk. An LMS and IMA Joint group is devel- Random Surfaces The Researchers in Residence Scheme aims to oping a model that if implemented enrich the experience of school students by LMS DURHAM RESEARCH would lead to the replacement of 7–11 April 2008 placing a cutting-edge researcher in their class- both the Institute of Mathematics room. Research Council-funded early-stage SYMPOSIA and its Applications and the London The 2008 LMS Invited Lectures will be researchers (post-doctoral and PhD students) The LMS Research Meeting Committee is Mathematical Society by a new society. given by Professor Andrei Okounkov from any discipline are eligible to participate. responsible for the planning of the LMS (Princeton) on Random Surfaces. The As this work progresses, members are Ewan Russell, a PhD student in Pure Durham Symposia, which have been running Lectures will take place at the Institute invited to send views directly to the Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, successfully each July/August since 1974, with for Mathematical Sciences, Imperial group and can be assured that all has just completed a placement. He says 86 symposia to date, in a wide range of math- College London from 7–11 April 2008. comments received will be brought “Maths just has a bad reputation, people ematical disciplines. In 2007 there were two to the attention of the group at its There will also be lectures by have a negative perception about it and they Durham Symposia, both supported by EPSRC. next meeting. Although the NSI group Nekrasov, Szendröi and others. think it’s not relevant to their life. I wanted • Recent Developments in Random Walks, does not guarantee to reply to all For further information contact Richard to be a Researcher in Residence to show the 2–12 July (organisers: B. Hambly, L. Saloff- messages it may on occasion choose Thomas ([email protected]) fun side of Maths, explain how it affects our Coste, P. Tarrès) 8 to do so. The email address to use is or visit the website www.ma.ic.ac.uk/ lives and learn more about how people • Twistors, Strings and Scattering Amplitudes, 9 [email protected]. ~rpwt/LMS.html. respond to Maths.” 19–25 August (organisers: Z. Bern, He worked with 11–14 year old students P. Candelas, X. de la Ossa, L. Mason) studying mathematics at Currie High School The Durham website (www.maths.dur.ac.uk/ in Edinburgh. He devised a series of interac- events/Meetings/LMS/) gives information tive talks about mathematics, mathemati- about the above, and all previous symposia cians and university life using popular culture including, in many cases, a list of participants, references, jokes and analogies. “I had to abstracts of talks, a symposium photograph think hard about how I could convey my (the earliest surviving photograph is from research and came up with an analogy about 1976), lecture notes and, for more recent symmetry being like prettiness. This led on to symposia, videos of the talks. a game of shape Blind Date that the students The symposia in 2005 and 2006 were: enjoyed. I also spent some time talking about 2005 movies and TV programmes with a Maths • Conformal Field Theory and String Theory theme, pointing out some of the mathemati- (P. Bowcock, P Dorey, K. Wendland) cal mistakes made in movies.” • Operator Theory and Spectral Analysis After an enthusiastic response from school (B. Davies, Y. Safarov, E. Shargorodsky) students he was convinced that he had made 2006 some progress in getting his message across. • Dynamical Systems and Statistical Mechanics He was also really impressed with the teach- (C. Beck, C. Dettmann and M. Pollicott) ers at the school and the interesting and new • Methods of Integrable Systems in Geometry ways they are teaching Mathematics all year (F. Burstall, S. Dorfmeister, M. Guest, F. Pedit) round. “Researchers in Residence is a great The LMS Research Meetings Committee scheme, things changed for me by getting welcomes ideas for symposia for 2009 and involved and it came at a good time for me later, from potential organisers and others. career-wise. In fact, it helped me get a job as More information about Durham Symposia is a Maths Outreach Officer in Coventry! I found available on the LMS website (www.lms.ac.uk/ it a really fulfilling experience; it was reward- activities/researchmeet com/). THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

INDUSTRIAL MATHEMATICS INTERNSHIPS

The Smith Institute, in its role as manager of gain first-hand experience of the business the Knowledge Transfer Network for environment. Industrial Mathematics (KTN), and the We believe that Industrial Mathematics Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Internships will develop into a major engine Council (EPSRC) are injecting fresh energy for innovation. A pilot phase of the initia- into UK businesses by launching a pro- tive will run between September 2007 and gramme to bring cutting-edge techniques to August 2008 and will establish 6 business innovation and to develop long- Internships. term working relationships between compa- Each Internship will last between three nies and universities. and six months and will be supported by The launch of the Industrial Mathematics one of the KTN’s Technology Translators, Internships was held at the Institute of who will assist in establishing the projects, Engineering and Technology (IET) on the building the relationships, exploiting fol- evening of 18 September 2007. Industrialists, low-on opportunities and disseminating a academics, and representatives from govern- final case study through the Industrial ment and the public sector joined the Mathematics community. 10 Industrial Mathematics KTN at the launch of Further details on Industrial Mathematics 11 this exciting initiative and made it into a Internships can be found on the KTN web- really successful event. site at www.ktn-internships.net. If you An Industrial Mathematics Internship is a would like to apply for an Internships or way for companies and university research simply discuss a project idea, contact Dr groups to promote direct knowledge Claudia Centazzo at the Smith Institute exchange and develop long-term working ([email protected]). relationships, through engaging a dedicated Dr Tim Bradshaw, Head of innovation, postgraduate researcher to work on a specif- Science and Technology, at the CBI, said, ic industrial project over a period of ‘The Industrial Mathematics Internships 3–6 months. programme is an excellent example of how Each Internship is a collaboration between business and universities can collaborate for a host company, an Intern, and a research mutual benefit – helping businesses group within a university. Industrial become more innovative and successful by Mathematics Internships are a new opportu- making effective use of skills and knowl- nity with a threefold benefit: for companies, edge developed in universities while at the university departments and the Interns same time providing extremely valuable themselves. experience for postgraduate researchers. As an industrialist, you will explore new The critical component is that researchers horizons or improve existing operations by will work on finding solutions to real busi- bringing mathematical expertise and cut- ness problems, something for which ting-edge techniques into your innovation the Smith Institute already has an excellent activities. As a university faculty member, reputation.’ you will use Internships as a seed for grow- You can also visit the blog by Trevor ing new industrial collaborations and Maynard from Lloyd’s Exposure relationships. As an Intern, you will Management at http://riskblog.lloyds.com/ demonstrate your knowledge and insight trevormaynard/september2007/mathsphd. in addressing industrial challenges, and htm. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

MATHEMATICS POLICY plans to promote science and mathematics careers and its commitment to improve spe- ROUND-UP cialist teaching. To ensure the UK has a future in the world The LMS responded to a consultation by the knowledge economy, there must be a target- Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education ed campaign to improve the teaching of sci- on benchmarking. The Society’s Education ence, technology, engineering and mathe- Committee was positive about the consultation matics (STEM) subjects at schools, according document saying that mathematics depart- to a report handed to the Government early ments have found the original benchmark in October. Former minister for science and statement generally helpful in clarifying the innovation Lord Sainsbury’s report Race to special nature and circumstances of mathemat- the Top: A review of Government’s Science ics teaching. It said that as the new statement and Innovation Policies called for action in is essentially a fine-tuning of the document for mathematics and science to meet the these purposes, it is fully supported by the LMS. demand for skilled workers of the future. In particular the review advised the Caroline Davis Government to proceed with caution when Mathematics Policy and Promotion Officer introducing the second mathematics GCSE in 12 2010. It states: ‘All pupils who would benefit IMU NEWS 13 should have the option to study the second mathematics GCSE and schools should find ICM 2006 The proceedings and videos are now ways to make it available to them’. available on the International Congress of Lord Sainsbury’s review calls for more to be Mathematicians website (www.icm2006.org). done to increase the supply and quality of mathematics teachers. This includes financial ICM 2010 The International Congress of incentives during their first five years, a men- Mathematicians 2010 Program Committee is toring scheme for newly qualified teachers going to meet in early October to define the and funded conversion courses for teachers cur- program structure of the International Congress rently unqualified in the subjects they teach. He to take place in Hyderabad in August 2010. If also called for more careers advice for those you have suggestions for the PC please write to studying STEM subjects. In response, England’s Hendrik Lenstra, the PC Chair (hwlicm@math. schools’ minister Ed Balls announced an £8 mil- leidenuniv.nl) immediately. See also www.math- lion package to introduce accreditation cours- union.org/Publications/CircularLetters/2007- es in mathematics, physics and chemistry for 03.pdf for further information. teachers wishing to become specialists, plus a £5,000 incentive to encourage teachers to enrol. ICME 11 The International Congress on Other measures called for in the report Mathematical Education is held every four include a co-ordinated effort to ensure there years under the auspices of the International is detailed information on the supply and Commission on Mathematical Instruction demand for STEM skills and stronger ring (ICMI). The 11th International Congress on fencing for Government Departments’ Mathematics Education will be held in research and development budgets, particu- Monterey, Mexico, 6-13 July 2008. For further larly welcome in the wake of the Research information go to http://icme11.org/. Council cuts earlier this year. The above items are taken from the 25th issue of the IMU The Chancellor’s pre-budget report later in electronic newsletter IMU Net (see www.mathunion.org/ the month underlined the Government’s Publications/Newsletter). THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

INTEGRABLE DAY Workshop announcements The following workshops have now been finalized: A half-day workshop on Integrable Systems • Zeros of graph polynomials (21–25 January LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY will be held at Loughborough University, 2008) Room KG 109 on 30 November. The • High dimensional statistics in biology speakers are: (31 March–4 April 2008) MARY CARTWRIGHT MEETING • Roger Bielawski (Leeds) Nahm’s equations Invited participants The Newton Institute Friday 8 February 2008, 4.30 pm in geometry and Lie group theory strongly encourages its long-term partici- • Maciej Dunajski (Cambridge) Metricity of pants from overseas to visit other UK institu- Oxford University Museum of Natural History two-dimensional projective structures tions during their stay. We will pay the travel Parks Road, Oxford OX1 • Clare Dunning (Kent) Recent results in the costs (but not accommodation etc) for such ODE/IM correspondence visits on request. Do please alert the Mathematics of medicine: • Ian Marshall (Loughborough) Poisson-Lie organizers of your local seminar series to groups and Hill’s equation this possibility, and direct them to the web breast cancer treatment and prevention • Maxim Pavlov (Moscow) Integrable hydrody- page listing those participants who are Opening of Meeting namic reductions of nonlocal kinetic equation interested in receiving invitations: www. The meeting is part of a collaborative newton.cam.ac.uk/programmes/Speakers. Sir Richard Peto, FRS (Oxford) workshop series on Classical and Quantum html. Complete lists of invited participants and 14 Integrability, supported by the LMS, involv- can be found on each programme’s own Valerie Beral, FRS (Oxford) Mary Cartwright Lecture 15 ing Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and web page. Loughborough Universities. Funds may be Junior Membership The Institute aims to Valerie Beral and Richard Peto will available to support the attendance of maximize the opportunities it offers to early describe worldwide evidence on the research students. Enquiries should be career researchers, through our Junior causes and treatment of breast can- addressed to the organiser: A.P.Veselov@ Membership scheme. To be eligible for Junior cer. The evidence comes from large- lboro.ac.uk or 01509 222866. Membership you must be a Research Student scale collaborations, where hun- or within five years of having received a PhD dreds of researchers from around (with appropriate allowance for career ISAAC NEWTON INSTITUTE the world meet regularly in Oxford breaks), and you must work or study in a UK and contribute, for central review BULLETIN University, academic institution or R&D and analysis, information on hun- Short visits There is now no need to obtain a group in industry or commerce. Junior mem- dreds of thousands of women with formal invitation to the Institute if you or your bers may apply for special grants to allow breast cancer. The findings from UK colleagues wish to attend a programme for them to attend workshops, conferences and these international collaborations just one or two days. You do not even need to summer schools. have changed clinical practice over warn us in advance that you will be coming, Further details are available at www.newton. the last two decades. Consequently, though a brief email to [email protected] cam.ac.uk. large reductions in mortality from beforehand telling us when you intend to arrive breast cancer are being seen. will help us to provide you with some facilities. VISIT OF PROFESSOR Visits lasting more than two days still require an invitation. Full details can be found on P.I. PLOTNIKOV There will be tea before the meeting from 4 pm. the website. From 1 November 2007 for eight months, A reception and dinner will be held after the meeting. Programme announcements The following Professor P.I. Plotnikov, Corresponding Contact Susan Oakes ([email protected]) for further information. new programmes have now been confirmed: Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, • Non-abelian fundamental groups in arith- will visit the Department of Mathematical There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the expenses metic geometry (20 July–December 2009) Sciences, University of Bath, as Esther Parkin of members of the Society or research students to attend the meeting. • Dynamics of discs and planets (12 August – Visiting Professor. For further information Contact Isabelle Robinson ([email protected]) for further information. 18 December 2009) contact J.F. Toland ([email protected]). THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

NEW SCALING LIMITS PANDA A conference on New scaling limits and other A PANDA (Pattern Formation, recent developments in probability will be Nonlinear Dynamics and held at the University of Warwick from Applications) meeting on Patterns in Optics Monday 31 March to Friday 4 April 2008. This will be held on Thursday 29 November in the conference revives a tradition of approxi- Department of Mathematics, University of mately annual UK probability meetings. Its Surrey. The two invited lectures will be: major theme will be the topic of new scaling • Dmitry Skryabin (Bath) New soliton effects limits in probability including Schramm- in fiber optics Loewner evolution, random matrices, coagu- • Gian-Luca Oppo (Strathclyde) Turing pat- lation and fragmentation, and SPDE. The terns, control, and localised spots in optics highlight of the workshop will be the follow- and chemistry ing four minicourses, each of three lectures: Contributed research talks follow in the • Jean Bertoin (Paris) Coalescence and sto- afternoon. If you would like to speak please chastic flows of bridges email Rebecca Hoyle ([email protected]) • Franco Flandoli (Stockholm) SPDEs in fluid with a title. Preference will be given to contri- dynamics butions in the area of optics, but talks on other • Kurt Johansson (Pisa) Scaling limits in ran- PANDA topics are also welcome. Postdocs and 16 dom matrix theory and related models research students are warmly encouraged to 17 • Scott Sheffield (New York) Random geom- attend, especially as speakers, and will be etry and the Schramm-Loewner evolution given preference in financial support. The scope of the conference will not be Further details, including programme limited to these themes: invited speakers will and travel information will be posted at describe work in other recent developments www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/personal/st/R.Hoyle/ in probability. For further details and regis- panda/ as they become available. For further tration see: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/ information contact Rebecca Hoyle statistics/paw/scaling-workshop. ([email protected]). The meeting is sup- PROBABILITY AND ported by an LMS Scheme 3 grant. GEOMETRY IN HIGH LMS-GRESHAM COLLEGE DIMENSIONS LECTURES The annual workshop of the programme on The LMS and Gresham College have agreed Phenomena in High Dimensions will take to extend their series of annual lectures for a place at the Postgraduate Statistics Centre at further three years. The collaboration has Lancaster University from 14–19 September already resulted in two lectures, aimed at a 2008. The main speakers will include general audience. This year, Professor Professors Keith Ball (UCL), Marianna spoke on Multiplying and Csörnyei (UCL), Imre Leader (Cambridge) and dividing whole numbers: why it is more diffi- Boguslaw Zegarlinski (Imperial). There will cult than you might think. Next year, also be contributions from participants, par- Professor Philip Maini will deliver a lecture ticularly researchers at the start of their entitled Cancer can give you Maths! at careers. The PhD research training network is Gresham College on 1 May 2008. In view supported by EC grant MRTN-CT-2004- of the high demand for the lectures, Philip’s 511953. For further information, please con- lecture will be given twice, at 1 pm and 6 pm tact Dr Bev Abram ([email protected]). (www.gresham.ac.uk). THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

RANDOM MATRIX THEORY Giordano (Ottawa University) on Topological LMS POPULAR LECTURES non-specialist audience a sample of the Knot Orbit Equivalence: New Developments. All theorist’s arsenal, but was even able to give The third Brunel Workshop on Random Matrix details are available on the BFAD website This year’s LMS Popular Lectures were given some of the open problems in the area. Theory will be held at Brunel University, West at www.qub.ac.uk/bfad or from Dr Martin by Dr Hinke Osinga (University of Bristol) and The lectures at Birmingham were attended London from 17–18 December. The workshop Mathieu by sending an e-mail to m.m@ Dr Stephen Huggett (University of Plymouth). by approximately 170 people, the majority provides a venue for regular meetings bring- qub.ac.uk. They were held at the Institute of Education, being formed by groups from local schools. ing together the UK RMT community and The support the meeting receives from the London on 12 July and at the University of A number of positive comments were voiced international guests to discuss new develop- London Mathematical Society is gratefully Birmingham on 18 September. after the lectures with all of the audience ments in RMT and their applications. This acknowledged. Dr Hinke Osinga’s lecture Chaos and seeming to enjoy the lectures. year’s topics will include: Riemann-Hilbert Crochet gave a tour through the weird and Ben Fairbairn Problems and Asymptotics of Orthogonal ECMI 2008 wonderful world of chaotic systems. Starting University of Birmingham Polynomials, Integrability and Spin Chains, from the classic double-pendulum example Large Deviations of Extreme Eigenvalues and The biennial conference of the European and moving on to the more unusual occur- Editorial note: The lectures were recorded for subsequent release on DVD which will be available from the LMS: a useful Matrix Integrals. Invited speakers include: Consortium for Mathematics in Industry rence of chaotic systems in kayaking holidays purchase for school and university mathematics departments (ECMI) which will be held at University the audience were introduced to the concepts seeking resources that will stimulate their students. • Oriol Bohigas (Paris XI) College London from 30 June – 4 July 2008. of stable manifolds and the Lorenz system for • Tom Clays (Brunel) The plenary talks will cover a wide range of weather prediction. These ideas were physical- REVIEWS • David Dean (Toulouse) applied mathematical topics and there will be ly brought to life through the medium of cro- 18 • Thomas Guhr (Duisburg-Essen) a strong industrial presence particularly from chet, Dr Osinga’s own hand-made model of the A history of mathematics: brief edition Victor 19 • Alexander Its (Brunel/Purdue) the financial district in the City of London. two-dimensional stable manifold associated J Katz (ed) Pearson Addison Wesley, 2004, • Romuald Janik (Krakow) Highlighted themes of the meeting are Socio- with the Lorenz system being displayed 560 pp, £49.99. ISBN 0321161939. • Eugene Kanzieper (Holon) economic interactions, Medicine, Sport and throughout the evening. Victor Katz’s A history of mathematics: an • Jon Keating (Bristol) Leisure, Uncertainty and Risk, Optimisation Dr Stephen Huggett’s lecture, simply enti- introduction has been for some years the most • Arno Kuijlaars (Leuven) and Control as well as more traditional indus- tled Knots, gave an introduction to some of comprehensive general textbook in the history • Charlotte Kristjansen (Copenhagen) trial sectors. The keynote speakers are: the techniques of one of topology’s most of mathematics at undergraduate level. Its • Francesco Mezzadri (Bristol) intriguing fields of study. Describing the coverage runs from the mathematics of • Gregory Schehr (Paris XI) • Andrea Bertozzi (University of California basic concepts of the Reidermeister moves, Mesopotamia in 1800 BC to the use of com- • Eugene Strahov (Jerusalem) Los Angeles) crossing numbers and the Jones polynomial, puters in the later twentieth century. It does • Martin Zirnbauer (Cologne) • Benoit Desjardins (Ecole Normale Dr Huggett was able not only to show the not shy away from discussing mathematics as Supérieure, Paris) well as its history in some detail This workshop is supported by the LMS, • Manuel Doblare (Universidad de Zaragoza) and inevitably it is long, with 856 and funding is available to support participa- • Ioannis Karatzas (Columbia University) pages in the second edition (1998). tion by junior researchers. A poster session is • Miguel Moscoso (Universidad Carlos III de The new ‘brief edition’ is stream- open to all participants. For further informa- Madrid) lined, updated, and more clearly tion including contact details of the organis- • Colin Please (University of Southampton) organised, all of which are wel- ers please visit our web page: www.brunel.ac.uk/ • Yongji Tan (Fudan University, Shanghai) come improvements. Obviously about/acad/siscm/maths/events/ranwshop. • Jonathan Tawn (Lancaster University) some material has been cut, but • Nick Trefethen (University of Oxford) this has generally been done by BELFAST FUNCTIONAL shortening rather than removing The Alan Tayler Lecture Mathematical individual topics. Indeed in many ANALYSIS DAY 2007 problems in oil pipelining will be given by ways the new edition offers a wel- Since 1998 there has been an annual meeting Mario Primicerio (Università degli Studi di come expansion. There are now on Functional Analysis at Queen’s University Firenze). The after-dinner speaker will be individual sections or chapters on Belfast. This tenth edition will take place on Jacqueline McGlade (Executive Director, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Saturday 1 December in the usual format. European Environment Agency). For further © Sidney Harris and Indian mathematics and it is The main speaker is Professor Thierry information visit: www.ecmi2008.org. encouraging to see modern schol-

cont’d THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

arship of a high standard on these regions mathematical thinking of the past. I have seen found them clear with inventive asides such The spare and unpretentious character of making its way into a textbook. Similarly, the more than one student who relied on Katz’s as relating ‘phenomena’ to the dull note of the writing in all the poems (and the notes) in twentieth century, notoriously difficult to explanations tumble into the pitfall of believing, the chimes of Saint Mary Woolnoth (Two cul- Uneasy Relations reminds me of Japanese writ- handle in a general book of this kind, has also for example, that the asymptotes of Fermat’s tures/Teaching practice). Many of us who ing and it seems natural that the poet should been given more space. Between these hyperbola (page 291) were x- and y-axes, which don’t know much about mathematics or who have most of the poems in the haiku form. chronological extremes the book is clearly for Fermat they certainly never were. aren’t portfolio-savvy must be glad of expla- This year, A Disappearing Number, a per- organised by century and topic. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to nations of terms such as ‘stagnation’ and formance which is centred around the story Much of the original text, of course, remains eliminate such anachronisms without writing ‘Trust Region’. of the relationship between mathematicians unchanged, which means that certain flaws a completely new text, which would proba- Regarding the poem Two Cultures, which G.H. Hardy and , played from the previous edition have unfortunately bly require several years of work. In the compares poetry and mathematics, it’s curious at The Barbican. Simon McBurney who con- also been retained. One of these is the lack of meantime we can be grateful instead for the that Barthomew-Biggs says, Poets show, don’t ceived and directed it speaks of theatre and a good system of references: foreign titles are enormous labour and distillation of ideas tell. This is holy writ in many poetry workshops mathematics as being ‘acts of the imagina- almost always translated into English (though that Katz has already put into this new and but there are some who find the advice too tion’ and so it is with poetry. Michael Katz is not entirely consistent in this), which useful brief edition. narrow. All through the book there is telling – Bartholomew-Biggs would surely be in makes it difficult at times to seek out the orig- Jackie Stedall there’s Investment Strategy: Equivalent risks:/ agreement with this and familiar too with inals; secondary sources are listed at the end of The Queen’s College, Oxford getting too much profit/or making too much Hardy’s statement, ‘Mathematicians are only each chapter, but, in a disturbing separation of and Limited precision: Near-parallel lines,/ makers of patterns, like poets or painters’. research from author, material that has been Uneasy Relations by Michael Bartholomew- drawn with thick pencil, will cross./But where? Diana Pooley 20 drawn from them within the chapter has not Biggs, Hearing Eye, 24 pp, £3 (available for Exactly. which may be said to bear some rela- 21 been attributed; and quotations lack page ref- £3.50 including postage from Hearing Eye, tion to Dogen’s ‘Waka on Zen Sitting’ in its Michael Bartholomew-Biggs is a research mathematician in the aircraft industry and in higher education and began erences or the name of the translator. It is not Box 1, 99 Torriano Avenue, London NW5 2RX). didactic tone: Scarecrow in the hillock/Paddy- writing poetry in the late 1980s. Diana Pooley is a poet who easy, therefore, to pursue further lines of In his chapbook Uneasy Relations the mathe- field –/How unaware! How useful! lives in London. research using this book as a starting point. matician and poet Michael Bartholomew-Biggs More seriously, Katz has translated much of seems often to relish the insoluble. He poses the mathematics he discusses into modern questions – there are many of them in these mathematical language. This was a common poems – that are within the field of mathemat- enough thing to do even twenty years ago, but ics, questions that are unanswerable, scary and there is now a growing understanding that fascinating, and which have been asked many such translations can too easily obscure the real times, but which he would have us use to con- sider our lives. This is the case in Stagnation: When will it converge?/Each false step, like Poe’s raven,/cackles ‘Nevermore!’ or Trust Region: How far dare I go?/I’ve a hunch what to expect/but I might be wrong; in Auxiliaries when he touches on how we may be able to let ourselves off the hook: Slack Variables and Lagrange multipliers and in Steepest Descent when hill- walking is discussed in scientific terms in the notes and is a metaphor in the poem. Every poem has notes. I THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

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INSTITUT DES HAUTES ÉTUDES SCIENTIFIQUES The Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, located in Bures-sur-Yvette (France), welcomes each year up to 250 mathematicians and theoretical physicists from all over the world for periods ranging from two to three weeks up to one or two years. Created in 1958, IHÉS is an international research institute, registered as a Foundation in the public interest since 1980, the purpose of which is to support and develop theoretical research in the math- ematical sciences, physics and more recently, in molecular biology. IHÉS is financed by different insti- tutions, such as: the French Research Ministry, several European research agencies among which the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the European Commission, the US National Science Foundation, and also some private foundations and companies. The EPSRC has now been supporting IHÉS for a number of years. In doing so, its aim is to foster closer links between British and French mathematical research centres. British mathematicians and theoretical physicists are invited to apply to IHÉS for visits (for more information, consult the website www.ihes.fr). They can use their stay to work with researchers from other research groups in the Paris area. Director: Jean-Pierre Bourguignon Permanent Professors: Thibault Damour, Mikhael Gromov, , 22 , Nikita Nekrasov 23 Honorary Professor: David Ruelle Léon Motchane Chair: Louis Michel Chairs: Michael Douglas, Jürg Fröhlich, Samson Shatashvili Long term CNRS visitors: Christophe Breuil, Ofer Gabber, Dirk Kreimer, Christophe Soulé, Claire Voisin External Members of the Scientific Committee: Curtis Callan, Michael Green, Stanislas Leibler, George Papanicolaou, Marc Mézard,

WILLIAM HODGE FELLOWSHIPS 2008/2009 In 2000 the EPSRC committee reviewing IHÉS suggested that the EPSRC and IHÉS offer each year two one-year fellowships bearing the name of Sir William Hodge, the eminent British mathema- tician. The fellowships enable outstanding young mathematicians and theoretical physicists to spend time at IHÉS. At the last review in 2005, it was suggested that fellows be encouraged to have a UK-based mentor and be involved with the UK mathematics community. Applicants must have a PhD in the Mathematical Sciences or Theoretical Physics obtained in 2006, 2007 or in early 2008. One of the two grants will be awarded to an applicant who has spent at least the preceding nine months at a UK academic institution or has just graduated from a UK institution. Applications will be reviewed and selection made based on the sole criterion of excel- lence in research by the IHÉS Scientific Committee in December 2007. The Committee consists of the Permanent Professors, the Director, and the external members (the list can be found above). Fellowships would start in the autumn of 2008. Applications should be sent through the IHÉS website (www.ihes.fr) and should include: the application form, a cover letter, a CV, a publication list, a research project, two or three letters of recommendation, and a proposal for a UK mentor. Deadline for applications: 22 November 2007. For more information contact: IHÉS – 35, route de Chartres, F-91440 Bures-sur-Yvette (France), tel: +33 1 6092 6605, fax: +33 1 6092 6609, email: [email protected], website: www.ihes.fr. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

ISAAC NEWTON INSTITUTE FOR MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES COMBINATORIAL IDENTITIES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN STATISTICAL MECHANICS 7–11 April 2008 in association with the Newton Institute programme entitled Combinatorics and Statistical Mechanics (14 January to 4 July 2008)

Workshop organisers: Abdelmalek Abdesselam (University of Virginia) and Pierre Leroux (Université du Québec à Montréal). Theme of workshop: The objective is to bring together combinatorialists, computer scientists, mathematical physicists and probabilists, to share their expertise regarding such combinatorial identities, with the hope of fostering progress in the area through cross-fertilization. A preliminary list of topics of interest for the workshop is: • Identities related to classes of 1-2- or 3-connected graphs and their relations 24 with the Mayer or viral expansion and the Legendre transform, applications 25 of the dissymmetry theorem for trees, as well as variants of the exponential formulae with applications to the Potts model • Forest and tree-sum identities in the theory of cluster and Mayer expansions in rigorous statistical mechanics and quantum field theory • Graph invariants arising from Mayer and Ree-Hoover expansions • Functional and differential equations for classes of combinatorial structures, for example maps, permutations, rooted trees, Feynman diagrams, related to physics • Generalizations and applications of Kirchhoff’s matrix-tree theorem, such as the parametric representation of Feynman diagrams in commutative and non- commutative quantum field theory, the Pfaffian-tree theorem, combinatorial applications of Grassmann-Berezin integration Keynote speakers will include: Abdelmalek Abdesselam (UVa, Charlottesville), David Brydges (UBC, Vancouver), Christian Borgs (Microsoft Research, Seattle), Jennifer Chayes (Microsoft Research, Seattle), Roman Kotecky (Warwick and Prague), Christian Krattenthaler (Universität Wien), Pierre Leroux (UQAM, Montréal), Aldo Procacci (UFMG, Belo Horizonte), Vincent Rivasseau (Paris-Sud), Alan Sokal (NYU & UCL), Alexander Varchenko (UNC, Chapel Hill), Xavier Viennot (Bordeaux). Further information and application forms are available from the web at: www.newton.cam.ac.uk/programmes/CSM/csmw03.html. Completed application forms should be sent to Tracey Andrew, Programme & Conference Secretary, Isaac Newton Institute, 20 Clarkson Road, Cambridge CB3 0EH or via email to: [email protected]. Closing date for the receipt of applications is 30 November 2007. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 18-20 Cryptography and Coding ISAAC NEWTON INSTITUTE FOR MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Conference, Cirencester (362) This calendar lists Society meetings and ANDERSON LOCALIZATION TRANSITION other events publicised in the Newsletter. JANUARY 2008 Introductory Training Course Further information can be obtained from the 7-11 Contemporary Frontiers in High- appropriate LMS Newsletter whose number is Dimensional Statistical Data Analysis, INI 14–25 July 2008 given in brackets. A fuller list of meetings and Workshop, Cambridge (359) in association with the Newton Institute programme entitled events is given on the Society’s website 7-11 Algebraic and Symplectic Geometry Mathematics and Physics of Anderson Localization: 50 Years After (14 July to 19 December 2008) (www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/calendar.html). UK-Japan Winter School, Warwick (362) Organiser: Martin Zirnbauer (Cologne) 16 Squaring the Circle and Other NOVEMBER 2007 Impossibilities, Gresham College Lectures, Theme of training course: When a single-particle quantum Hamiltonian system is subjected 1-5 Recent Advances in Functional and London (362) to a disorder potential, it is expected on physical grounds that a transition from localised Delay Differential Equations Workshop, 18 Edinburgh Mathematical Society to extended energy eigenstates takes place as a function of the disorder strength. Such a Halifax, Canada (361) Meeting, Edinburgh (363) transition should be accompanied by a characteristic change in the energy spectrum: if 7 4000 Years of Numbers, Gresham College 21-25 Zeros of Graph Polynomials INI the disorder is large enough for Anderson localisation to occur, the random Schrödinger Lectures, London (362) Workshop, Cambridge (361) operator is known to have dense point spectrum; on the other hand, if the disorder is weak and the space dimension larger than d = 2, then one expects the existence of 9 Edinburgh Mathematical Society absolutely continuous spectrum. Meeting, Glasgow (363) FEBRUARY 2008 26 21-22 Mathematical Thinking Workshop, 6 A Millennium of Mathematical Puzzles, 27 Giving a mathematical proof of this conjectured scenario, and clarifying the nature of the Nottingham (362) Gresham College Lectures, London (362) spectrum and the eigenfunctions at the transition point or in d = 2, remains an important 21-23 COMPUTAT, Cuba (363) 8 LMS Mary Cartwright Lecture, Oxford (364) and outstanding problem of mathematical physics. Many features of the scenario are 23 LMS AGM, London (364) 15 Edinburgh Mathematical Society believed to extend to a broader class of quantum systems including, most prominently, 29 Pattern Formation, Nonlinear Anniversary Meeting, Edinburgh (363) those exhibiting transitions of Quantum Hall type. Dynamics and Applications Meeting, 27 From Hilbert’s Problems to the Future, This training course is mainly directed at researchers in early stages of their careers. Its aim Surrey (364) Gresham College Lectures, London (362) is to provide the participants with an introduction to the subject, by exposing them to 30 Integrable Systems Workshop, ideas, terminology and analytical techniques of the rigorous as well as the heuristic kind. Loughborough (364) MARCH 2008 Methods used in the study of Anderson localisation by mathematicians and by theoretical 9-12 Mathematics and its Applications in Info- physicists will be reviewed by experts from both communities. Reviewing the state of the DECEMBER 2007 rmation Technology, Lahore, Pakistan (362) art for both disciplines will hopefully help to bridge the existing language gap between 1 Belfast Functional Analysis Day, 14 Edinburgh Mathematical Society the communities and create an environment conducive to fruitful collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast (364) Meeting, Dundee (363) physicists and mathematicians during the rest of the program. 6 Yggdrasil: Reconstructing the Tree of Life, 25-28 BMC, York Tentative list of topics to be covered: LMS Spitalfields Day, INI, Cambridge (364) 25-28 Markov-Chain Monte Carlo Methods • phenomenology of Anderson localisation (T. Spencer) 7 Edinburgh Mathematical Society INI Workshop, Cambridge (363) • introduction to the spectral theory of random Schrödinger operators (L. Pastur) Meeting, Strathclyde (363) 31 LMS Northern Regional Meeting, • introduction to supermatrix techniques and the nonlinear j-model (Y. Fyodorov) 10-14 Integrability and the Gauge/ Manchester • rigorous techniques for 1D and quasi 1D systems (I. Goldsheid) String Correspondence INI Workshop, 31-4 Apr BAMC, Manchester • rigorous methods in the statistical mechanics of phase transitions (D. Brydges) Cambridge (358) 31-4 Apr High Dimensional Statistics in • critical phenomena in two-dimensional disordered systems (A. Ludwig) 15-17 Recent Advances in Mathematics and Biology INI Workshop, Cambridge (363) Further information and application forms are available from the web at: its Applications International Symposium, 31-4 Apr New Scaling Limits and Other www.newton.cam.ac.uk/programmes/MPA/mpaw01.html. Completed application forms Calcutta (360) Recent Developments in Probability should be sent to Tracey Andrew, Programme & Conference Secretary, Isaac Newton 17-18 Random Matrix Theory Workshop, Conference, Warwick University (364) Institute, 20 Clarkson Road, Cambridge CB3 0EH or via email to: Brunel University (364) [email protected]. 17-21 Future Directions in Phylogenetic APRIL 2008 Closing date for the receipt of applications is 31 March 2008. Methods and Models INI Workshop, 7-11 LMS Invited Lectures, A. Okounkov, Cambridge (358) Imperial College London (364) W.K. CLIFFORD LMS member 1866-1878 © Tucker Collection © Tucker

William Kingdon Clifford, MA, FRS Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, University College London Clifford studied non-euclidean geometry arguing that energy and matter are simply different types of curvature of space. He introduced what is now called a Clifford algebra which generalises Grassmann’s exterior algebra.