October 2004
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THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 330 October 2004 Forthcoming LMS 2004 ELECTIONS SUBSCRIPTIONS Society AND OFFICERS AND PERIODICALS Meetings The ballot papers for the The annual subscription to the November elections to Council London Mathematical Society 2004 and Nominating Committee are for the 2004-05 session shall be: Friday 19 November being circulated with this copy Ordinary Members £33.00; London of the Newsletter. Nine candi- Reciprocity Members £16.50; Annual General dates for Members-at-Large of Associate Members £8.25. The Meeting Council were proposed by the prices of the Society’s periodi- D. Olive Nominating Committee. In cals to Ordinary, Reciprocity and P. Goddard addition, H.G. Dales was nomi- Associate Members for the (Presidential Address) nated directly by D. Salinger, 2004-05 session shall be: 1 [page 3] seconded by J.R. Partington, Proceedings £66; Journal J.K. Truss and R.B.J.T. Allenby, in £66.00; Bulletin £33.00; 2005 accordance with By-Law II.2. Nonlinearity £47.00; Journal of Friday 25 February Tony Scholl has completed his Computation and Mathematics London term as a Vice-President and Martin remains free. S. Lauritzen Bridson is nominated in his place. E. Thompson Please note that completed ANNUAL (Mary Cartwright ballot papers must be returned Lecture) by Thursday 11 November 2004. SUBSCRIPTION Norman Biggs The LMS annual subscription, Wednesday 18 May General Secretary including payment for publica- Birmingham tions, for the session Midlands Regional ANNUAL DINNER November 2004–October 2005 Meeting is due on 1 November 2004. The Annual Dinner will be held Together with this Newsletter after the Annual General is a renewal form to be com- Meeting on Friday 19 November pleted and returned with your at 7.30pm at the Bonnington remittance in the enclosed Hotel, London WC1. The cost is envelope. £35.00 per person and members No action is required if you may book places for guests. are already paying by direct The booking form, enclosed debit, and do not wish to with this Newsletter, should be change your choice of publica- returned together with pay- tions. Fully complete and return ment to the London the form if you are paying by Mathematical Society office by direct debit but wish to change Monday 15 November. your choice of publications or THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 330 October 2004 add/delete a subscription to the European library, common room or other public Mathematical Society. Bank accounts of room, and members paying by direct debit will be deb- (b) are accessible to other mathematicians ited with the appropriate amount on 17 (or to students) only with the mem- LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY January 2005. Other members should either ber's permission, given individually in enclose a cheque (£ sterling or US$) with each case. Annual General Meeting their form or, if they have a UK bank account Issues are the personal property of and wish to take advantage of this conven- members, who would be able, without Friday 19 November 2004 ient form of payment, request a direct debit negotiation with authorities, to take the mandate. Although the facility to pay by issues with them if they left their present University College London credit card is open to all members of the institution or to give them to another indi- Society, it is our preference that members vidual who is willing to abide by these continue to pay by direct debit. terms. 3.15 – 3.30 Annual General Meeting PUBLICATIONS PRICING ISAAC NEWTON INSTITUTE 3.30 – 4.30 Professor D.I. Olive (Swansea) Unified theories and the increasing synergy POLICY Sir John Kingman, the current Director of the between mathematics and physics The LMS has a pricing structure that allows Isaac Newton Institute, retires in 2006 and 2 individual members to purchase its journals, the University of Cambridge has started the 4.30 – 5.00 Tea 3 for personal use only, at a substantial dis- process of seeking a successor. Details are at count. In common with other mathematical www.newton.cam.ac.uk/director.html; appli- societies, the Society regards a subscription as cations should reach the Academic Secretary 5.00 – 6.00 Professor P. Goddard (IAS) for personal use only if: no later than 30 November 2004. Informal Presidential Address (a) issues are either destroyed or held on enquiries may be made to Peter Landshoff, Infinite dimensional symmetry a continuing basis among the mem- Chair of the Management Committee of the ber's personal belongings, and are Institute, (tel: +44 (0)1223 337880; email: not deposited even temporarily in a [email protected]). The meeting will be held in the Chemistry Auditorium, Christopher Ingold Building, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1. Please note early start. LMS Newsletter There are limited funds available to contribute in part to General Editor: Dr D.R.J. Chillingworth ([email protected]) the expenses of members of the Society or research students Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) to attend the meeting. Requests for support, including an Reviews Editor: Professor M.P.F. du Sautoy ([email protected]) Administrative Editor: Miss S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) estimate of expenses, may be addressed to the Programme Editorial office address: London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, Secretary at the Society (web: www.lms.ac.uk; email: 57-58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (tel: 020 7637 3686; fax: 020 7323 3655; [email protected]). email: [email protected], web: www.lms.ac.uk) Designed by CHP Design (tel: 020 7240 0466, email: [email protected], web:www.chpdesign.com) The meeting will be followed by the Annual Dinner. For Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. further details see the announcement in this Newsletter. Items and advertisements by first day of the month prior to publication. All enquiries may be addressed to Susan Oakes (tel: 020 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 7637 3686, e-mail: [email protected]). of information in the Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of the London Mathematical Society. Charity registration number: 252660. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 330 October 2004 GENDER AND RESEARCH sciences as to lovers of Turner, the exhibition adds a new dimension to our appreciation of ACTIVITY IN THE 2001 RAE Britain’s greatest painter. The exhibition is at You may recall an item in the LMS Newsletter the Clore Watercolour Galleries, Tate Britain, a few months ago in which an analysis of the London until 7 November (www.tate.org.uk/ gender differences in the numbers of UK aca- home/news/vanishingpoint_ 23-04-04.htm) demics in mathematics and in those submitted to the 2001 RAE was carried out. The overall ERRATUM conclusion was that a smaller percentage of female mathematicians were submitted as In the notice of the Twistor String Theory research active than male mathematicians. Workshop in the last issue the name Jolliffe Interestingly, a similar analysis has now was spelt incorrectly. The email address been carried out by the AUT across all RAE should be [email protected] (and the Units of Assessment. The study found that web address is www.maths.ox.ac.uk/~lma- ‘across the sector, among academics engaged son/Tws.html). Our apologies. in both teaching and research activities, males were 1.6 times more likely than their IMU PRIZES female colleagues to be counted as research- 4 active and to have had their work submitted Nominations for the following 5 in the 2001 RAE.’ This ratio varies between International Mathematical Union prizes, subjects, and it turns out that in Mathematics which will be awarded at the opening cer- the ratio is almost exactly 1.6. We could com- emony of the ICM 2006 Congress, should fort ourselves with this – we are no worse be sent to the Chairs of the corresponding than many other disciplines – but overall the Prize Committees. The prizes being result is a disturbing one for UK research. awarded are Fields Medals, the Rolf The article may be found at Nevanlinna Prize and the Carl Friedrich www.aut.org.uk/ under News for July 2004. Gauss Prize. The relevant Committee Rachel Camina Chairs are as follows: Cathy Hobbs Fields Medals: Professor John Ball, Mathematical Institute, UP AND COMING 24-29 St Giles’, Oxford OX1 3LB, UK ([email protected]) Vanishing Point: The Perspective Drawings Rolf Nevanlinna Prize: of Turner Professor Margaret Wright, Computer As Professor of Perspective at the Royal Science Department, New York University, Academy for thirty years (1807-37), Turner Warren Weaver Hall, 251 Mercer Street, produced a number of remarkable drawings New York, NY 10012, USA demonstrating both the theory and practice ([email protected]) of linear and atmospheric perspective. Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize: Featuring about thirty-five of these rarely Professor Dr Martin Groetschel, Konrad- exhibited lecture diagrams, this special dis- Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik play highlights the diagrams he used to illus- Berlin (ZIB), Takustr. 7, D-14195 Berlin- trate such subjects as colour theory, the Dahlem, Germany ([email protected]) nature of reflection and refraction, and the Nominations should ideally be sent by 15 basic theorems of standard perspective. Of December 2004. Winners of each prize are equal fascination to students of the arts and not eligible for the others. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 330 October 2004 ICM2006 well as for young Spanish mathematicians.