JPBM Communications Award Is Given to He Takes a Particular Interest in Problems That Lie Ian Stewart of the University of Warwick

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JPBM Awards Presented in San Antonio

The Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) The sheer volume of this work is staggering, but Communications Award was established in 1988 the quality is spectacular as well. With clarity and to reward and encourage journalists and other humor, Ian Stewart explains everything from num- communicators who, on a sustained basis, bring ber theory to fractals, from Euclidean geometry to accurate mathematical information to nonmathe- fluid dynamics, from game theory to foundations. matical audiences. Any person is eligible as long He conveys both the beauty and the utility of math- as that person’s work communicates primarily ematics in a way seldom achieved by a single au- with nonmathematical audiences. The lifetime thor, and he does so with charm and eloquence. award recognizes a significant contribution or ac- cumulated contributions to public understanding Biographical Sketch of mathematics. Ian Stewart was born in 1945, did his undergrad- At the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San An- uate degree at Cambridge, and his Ph.D. at Warwick. tonio in January 1999, the 1999 JPBM Communi- He is now a professor at Warwick University and cations Award was presented to IAN STEWART. Below director of the Mathematics Awareness Centre at is the award citation, a biographical sketch, and Warwick. He has held visiting positions in Ger- Stewart’s response upon receiving the award. This many, New Zealand, Connecticut, and Texas. He has is followed by information about a JPBM Special published over 120 papers. His present field is Communications Award presented to JOHN LYNCH the effects of symmetry on nonlinear dynamics, and SIMON SINGH. with applications to animal locomotion, fluid dynamics, mathematical biology, electronic circuits, Citation and intelligent control of spring coiling machines. The 1999 JPBM Communications Award is given to He takes a particular interest in problems that lie Ian Stewart of the University of Warwick. For more in the gaps between pure and applied mathemat- than twenty years Ian Stewart has communicated ics. He is the author of several research texts, in- the excitement of science and mathematics to mil- cluding Singularities and Groups in Bifurcation lions of people around the world. Theory (with Martin Golubitsky and David He has written more than a dozen expository Schaeffer) and Catastrophe Theory and Its Appli- and popular books on mathematics, including The cations (with Tim Poston). Problems of Mathematics, Does God Play Dice?, Among the general public he is well known for Fearful Symmetry (with M. his popular science writing on mathematical Golubitsky), Nature’s Num- themes and for frequent appearances on UK radio bers, The Magical Maze, and and television. In 1995 he was awarded the Royal Life’s Other Secret. (One of Society’s Michael Faraday Medal for furthering the these has been translated into public understanding of science. He has written nu- at least fourteen different lan- merous popular books on mathematics, one of guages, and all of them have which, Nature’s Numbers, was shortlisted for the been translated into several.) 1996 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books. He He has written more than two delivered the 1997 Royal Institution Christmas hundred expository articles, Lectures in the UK, televised by the BBC. He is the appeared in more than two mathematics consultant for New Scientist and hundred television and radio writes the monthly “Mathematical Recreations” shows, delivered dozens of column in Scientific American. popular lectures (including the BBC-TV Christmas Lec- Response tures in 1997), and written Ever since I was an undergraduate I have found my- hundreds of columns on self involved in various aspects of the communi- mathematics in Scientific cation of mathematics. It all began with student

Photograph courtesy of The Royal Society. American, Pour La Science, mathematical society magazines, and it grew from Ian Stewart and Nature. there. I did it because I enjoyed mathematics and

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because I thought other people might enjoy the ognize the exceptional contributions subject too—if only somebody would bother to tell to public understanding of mathe- them what was happening in an accessible man- matics by John Lynch and Simon ner. When I started it never occurred to me that Singh for their documentary on An- such activities could ever become more than a drew Wiles and the Fermat Conjec- hobby, but they seem to have taken on a life of their ture, entitled “Fermat’s Last Theo- own, to such an extent that Warwick University has rem” (shown on NOVA as “The formalized them with the creation of a small cen- Proof”). tre, the Mathematics Awareness Centre at War- The citation for the award says: wick (MAC@W). “The achievement of Andrew Wiles in

I feel extremely honored to receive the JPBM settling a 300-year-old conjecture Photograph by Sarah Ainslie, courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Communications Award for mathematics. It is es- captured the public’s imagination. John Lynch pecially gratifying that the award comes from my Nonetheless, while many people un- peers—from an alliance of mathematicians of all derstood the statement of the Fermat kinds, be they teachers, researchers, or both. Conjecture, few understood the Rightly or wrongly, I take this as a sign that com- process by which it was settled. For municating mathematics to the public is now most people, what mathematicians viewed as an acceptable activity for an academic do remains a mystery. In a remark- rather than as a feeble substitute for serious re- able documentary, John Lynch and search, and I am sure that trend will continue. Of Simon Singh used Wiles and his proof course, it is important that enough communicators to explain the mystery of mathe- should know from personal experience what it is maticians. Their work conveys the like to do serious research and stay in contact excitement, the disappointments, with the research frontiers. That way, they have and the passion of research mathe- something valuable to communicate. matics. It helps to explain the depth A number of friends and colleagues have exerted of mathematics research and at the a substantial influence on my career, and this is a same time shows its human side. It is an engaging account of the process Simon Singh good opportunity to thank a few of them. My ex- of mathematical research that is both boss, Sir Christopher Zeeman, actively encouraged accurate and illuminating. The importance of this and promoted my extracurricular activities for work on the public is best explained by a phrase thirty years—and still does. Tim Poston awoke my mathematicians often heard from friends and fam- dormant interest in the applications of mathe- ily after viewing the documentary: ‘At last, I un- matics, and Marty Golubitsky caused a major derstand what makes mathematics so exciting.’” change in my research area by opening my eyes to John Lynch joined BBC Science Television in the attractive combination of classical symmetry 1976 as the researcher for James Burke’s classic and modern nonlinear dynamics, a field we have series on the history of technology, Connections. both been milking assiduously ever since. Jack As a BBC Science producer and director he co-pro- Cohen, the other member of MAC@W and a re- duced Burke’s next series, The Day the Universe productive biologist, walked into my office one Changed, and made fourteen Horizon documen- day with fascinating questions about the nature of taries. In 1994 he was appointed editor of the Hori- physical laws, how living organisms could function zon series, which is regarded as a world leader in in a chaotic world, and the workings of the human science documentary. At the beginning of 1998 he mind, completely changing my view of the relations also became deputy head of BBC Science and is re- between science, mathematics, nature, and hu- sponsible for all BBC Science documentary pro- manity. Three successive vice-chancellors at grams. Warwick University had the imagination to see the Simon Singh completed his Ph.D. in particle advantages of communicating mathematics to the physics at the University of Cambridge, conduct- public, long before most other institutions did, ing much of his research at the European Center and in various ways made my life a lot easier than for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva. In 1990 he they might have done. In particular, Sir Brian Follett, joined the BBC’s science department. In 1997 he the present vice-chancellor, has gone out of his wrote a popular account of Fermat’s Last Theorem, way to smooth the path for me on many occasions. entitled Fermat’s Enigma. Since then he has been Above all, I want to thank my wife, Avril, and working as a freelance journalist, writing for news- my sons, James and Christopher, for their toler- papers and magazines such as The New York Times ance, understanding, and support when I kept dis- and Scientific American. He is currently working appearing into the study to pound the keyboard. on his second book, a history of codes and ciphers from Julius Caesar to quantum cryptography. Special Communications Award The selection committee of the JPBM Communi- cations Award made a special award in 1999 to rec-

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