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A MATHEMATICIAN's SURVIVAL GUIDE 1. an Algebra Teacher I
A MATHEMATICIAN’S SURVIVAL GUIDE PETER G. CASAZZA 1. An Algebra Teacher I could Understand Emmy award-winning journalist and bestselling author Cokie Roberts once said: As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school. 1.1. An Object of Pride. Mathematician’s relationship with the general public most closely resembles “bipolar” disorder - at the same time they admire us and hate us. Almost everyone has had at least one bad experience with mathematics during some part of their education. Get into any taxi and tell the driver you are a mathematician and the response is predictable. First, there is silence while the driver relives his greatest nightmare - taking algebra. Next, you will hear the immortal words: “I was never any good at mathematics.” My response is: “I was never any good at being a taxi driver so I went into mathematics.” You can learn a lot from taxi drivers if you just don’t tell them you are a mathematician. Why get started on the wrong foot? The mathematician David Mumford put it: “I am accustomed, as a professional mathematician, to living in a sort of vacuum, surrounded by people who declare with an odd sort of pride that they are mathematically illiterate.” 1.2. A Balancing Act. The other most common response we get from the public is: “I can’t even balance my checkbook.” This reflects the fact that the public thinks that mathematics is basically just adding numbers. They have no idea what we really do. Because of the textbooks they studied, they think that all needed mathematics has already been discovered. -
MY UNFORGETTABLE EARLY YEARS at the INSTITUTE Enstitüde Unutulmaz Erken Yıllarım
MY UNFORGETTABLE EARLY YEARS AT THE INSTITUTE Enstitüde Unutulmaz Erken Yıllarım Dinakar Ramakrishnan `And what was it like,’ I asked him, `meeting Eliot?’ `When he looked at you,’ he said, `it was like standing on a quay, watching the prow of the Queen Mary come towards you, very slowly.’ – from `Stern’ by Seamus Heaney in memory of Ted Hughes, about the time he met T.S.Eliot It was a fortunate stroke of serendipity for me to have been at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, twice during the nineteen eighties, first as a Post-doctoral member in 1982-83, and later as a Sloan Fellow in the Fall of 1986. I had the privilege of getting to know Robert Langlands at that time, and, needless to say, he has had a larger than life influence on me. It wasn’t like two ships passing in the night, but more like a rowboat feeling the waves of an oncoming ship. Langlands and I did not have many conversations, but each time we did, he would make a Zen like remark which took me a long time, at times months (or even years), to comprehend. Once or twice it even looked like he was commenting not on the question I posed, but on a tangential one; however, after much reflection, it became apparent that what he had said had an interesting bearing on what I had been wondering about, and it always provided a new take, at least to me, on the matter. Most importantly, to a beginner in the field like I was then, he was generous to a fault, always willing, whenever asked, to explain the subtle aspects of his own work. -
Sir Andrew J. Wiles
ISSN 0002-9920 (print) ISSN 1088-9477 (online) of the American Mathematical Society March 2017 Volume 64, Number 3 Women's History Month Ad Honorem Sir Andrew J. Wiles page 197 2018 Leroy P. Steele Prize: Call for Nominations page 195 Interview with New AMS President Kenneth A. Ribet page 229 New York Meeting page 291 Sir Andrew J. Wiles, 2016 Abel Laureate. “The definition of a good mathematical problem is the mathematics it generates rather Notices than the problem itself.” of the American Mathematical Society March 2017 FEATURES 197 239229 26239 Ad Honorem Sir Andrew J. Interview with New The Graduate Student Wiles AMS President Kenneth Section Interview with Abel Laureate Sir A. Ribet Interview with Ryan Haskett Andrew J. Wiles by Martin Raussen and by Alexander Diaz-Lopez Allyn Jackson Christian Skau WHAT IS...an Elliptic Curve? Andrew Wiles's Marvelous Proof by by Harris B. Daniels and Álvaro Henri Darmon Lozano-Robledo The Mathematical Works of Andrew Wiles by Christopher Skinner In this issue we honor Sir Andrew J. Wiles, prover of Fermat's Last Theorem, recipient of the 2016 Abel Prize, and star of the NOVA video The Proof. We've got the official interview, reprinted from the newsletter of our friends in the European Mathematical Society; "Andrew Wiles's Marvelous Proof" by Henri Darmon; and a collection of articles on "The Mathematical Works of Andrew Wiles" assembled by guest editor Christopher Skinner. We welcome the new AMS president, Ken Ribet (another star of The Proof). Marcelo Viana, Director of IMPA in Rio, describes "Math in Brazil" on the eve of the upcoming IMO and ICM. -
Robert P. Langlands Receives the Abel Prize
Robert P. Langlands receives the Abel Prize The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the Abel Prize for 2018 to Robert P. Langlands of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA “for his visionary program connecting representation theory to number theory.” Robert P. Langlands has been awarded the Abel Prize project in modern mathematics has as wide a scope, has for his work dating back to January 1967. He was then produced so many deep results, and has so many people a 30-year-old associate professor at Princeton, working working on it. Its depth and breadth have grown and during the Christmas break. He wrote a 17-page letter the Langlands program is now frequently described as a to the great French mathematician André Weil, aged 60, grand unified theory of mathematics. outlining some of his new mathematical insights. The President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and “If you are willing to read it as pure speculation I would Letters, Ole M. Sejersted, announced the winner of the appreciate that,” he wrote. “If not – I am sure you have a 2018 Abel Prize at the Academy in Oslo today, 20 March. waste basket handy.” Biography Fortunately, the letter did not end up in a waste basket. His letter introduced a theory that created a completely Robert P. Langlands was born in New Westminster, new way of thinking about mathematics: it suggested British Columbia, in 1936. He graduated from the deep links between two areas, number theory and University of British Columbia with an undergraduate harmonic analysis, which had previously been considered degree in 1957 and an MSc in 1958, and from Yale as unrelated. -
LMS – EPSRC Durham Symposium
LMS – EPSRC Durham Symposium Anthony Byrne Grants and Membership Administrator 12th July 2016, Durham The work of the LMS for mathematics The charitable aims of the Society: Funding the advancement of mathematical knowledge Encouraging mathematical research and collaboration ’, George Legendre Celebrating mathematical 30 Pieces achievements Publishing and disseminating mathematical knowledge Advancing and promoting mathematics The attendees of the Young Researchers in Mathematics Conference 2015, held at Oxford Historical Moments of the London Mathematical Society 1865 Foundation of LMS at University College London George Campbell De Morgan organised the first meeting, and his father, Augustus De Morgan became the 1st President 1865 First minute book list of the 27 original members 1866 LMS moves to Old Burlington House, Piccadilly J.J. Sylvester, 2nd President of the Society. 1866 Julius Plûcker Thomas Hirst Plûcker Collection of boxwood models of quartic surfaces given to Thomas Archer Hirst, Vice- President of LMS, and donated to the Society 1870 Move to Asiatic Society, 22 Albemarle Street William Spottiswoode, President 1874 Donation of £1,000 from John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) Generous donation enabled the Society to publish volumes of the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. J.W. Strutt (Lord Rayleigh), LMS President 1876-78 1881 First women members Charlotte Angas Scott and Christine Ladd 1884 First De Morgan medal awarded to Arthur Cayley 1885 Sophie Bryant First woman to have a paper published in LMS Proceedings 1916 Return to Burlington House the home of LMS until 1998 1937 ACE ’s Automatic Turing LMS Proceedings, 1937 Computing Engine, published Alan Turing’s first paper 1950 On Computable Numbers 1947 Death of G.H. -
TRINITY COLLEGE Cambridge Trinity College Cambridge College Trinity Annual Record Annual
2016 TRINITY COLLEGE cambridge trinity college cambridge annual record annual record 2016 Trinity College Cambridge Annual Record 2015–2016 Trinity College Cambridge CB2 1TQ Telephone: 01223 338400 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.trin.cam.ac.uk Contents 5 Editorial 11 Commemoration 12 Chapel Address 15 The Health of the College 18 The Master’s Response on Behalf of the College 25 Alumni Relations & Development 26 Alumni Relations and Associations 37 Dining Privileges 38 Annual Gatherings 39 Alumni Achievements CONTENTS 44 Donations to the College Library 47 College Activities 48 First & Third Trinity Boat Club 53 Field Clubs 71 Students’ Union and Societies 80 College Choir 83 Features 84 Hermes 86 Inside a Pirate’s Cookbook 93 “… Through a Glass Darkly…” 102 Robert Smith, John Harrison, and a College Clock 109 ‘We need to talk about Erskine’ 117 My time as advisor to the BBC’s War and Peace TRINITY ANNUAL RECORD 2016 | 3 123 Fellows, Staff, and Students 124 The Master and Fellows 139 Appointments and Distinctions 141 In Memoriam 155 A Ninetieth Birthday Speech 158 An Eightieth Birthday Speech 167 College Notes 181 The Register 182 In Memoriam 186 Addresses wanted CONTENTS TRINITY ANNUAL RECORD 2016 | 4 Editorial It is with some trepidation that I step into Boyd Hilton’s shoes and take on the editorship of this journal. He managed the transition to ‘glossy’ with flair and panache. As historian of the College and sometime holder of many of its working offices, he also brought a knowledge of its past and an understanding of its mysteries that I am unable to match. -
LMS Prize Winners
id745843 pdfMachine by Broadgun Software - a great PDF writer! - a great PDF creator! - http://www.pdfmachine.com http://www.broadgun.com De Morgan House 57-58 Russell S quare London WC1B 4HS Media release 22 June 2007 Embargoed until 15:30 hrs Mathematician honoured for his $1 million dollar question The London Mathematical Society has awarded its foremost prize, the De Morgan Medal, to a mathematician who developed a problem which has yet to be solved. The LMS Council announced that Professor Bryan Birch, of the University of Oxford, had been awarded the triennial prize in recognition of his influential contributions to modern number theory. This area of mathematics is used in ensuring the security of Pin numbers and communications generally. In particular, Professor Birch worked with Professor Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, of the University of Cambridge, to create a new area of arithmetic algebraic geometry. Together they formulated the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjectures. Despite the best efforts of some of the greatest mathematical minds these remarkable conjectures are still open after 40 years and are amongst seven classic unsolved mathematical problems identified by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute is offering $1 million prizes for their proofs. Professor John Toland, President of the LMS, said, “These remarkable conjectures are still open and a million dollar prize awaits anyone who comes up with a proof. For these conjectures, and for many other seminal contributions, we honour Professor Birch today.” Professor Toland quoted mathematician Georg Cantor, who, in 1867 said, “In mathematics, the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.” The Council for the LMS announced the De Morgan Medal and other prize winners at the Society Meeting held at University College London on 22 June. -
Linking Together Members of the Mathematical Carlos Rocha, University of Lisbon; Jean Taylor, Cour- Community from the US and Abroad
NEWSLETTER OF THE EUROPEAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Features Epimorphism Theorem Prime Numbers Interview J.-P. Bourguignon Societies European Physical Society Research Centres ESI Vienna December 2013 Issue 90 ISSN 1027-488X S E European M M Mathematical E S Society Cover photo: Jean-François Dars Mathematics and Computer Science from EDP Sciences www.esaim-cocv.org www.mmnp-journal.org www.rairo-ro.org www.esaim-m2an.org www.esaim-ps.org www.rairo-ita.org Contents Editorial Team European Editor-in-Chief Ulf Persson Matematiska Vetenskaper Lucia Di Vizio Chalmers tekniska högskola Université de Versailles- S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden St Quentin e-mail: [email protected] Mathematical Laboratoire de Mathématiques 45 avenue des États-Unis Zdzisław Pogoda 78035 Versailles cedex, France Institute of Mathematicsr e-mail: [email protected] Jagiellonian University Society ul. prof. Stanisława Copy Editor Łojasiewicza 30-348 Kraków, Poland Chris Nunn e-mail: [email protected] Newsletter No. 90, December 2013 119 St Michaels Road, Aldershot, GU12 4JW, UK Themistocles M. Rassias Editorial: Meetings of Presidents – S. Huggett ............................ 3 e-mail: [email protected] (Problem Corner) Department of Mathematics A New Cover for the Newsletter – The Editorial Board ................. 5 Editors National Technical University Jean-Pierre Bourguignon: New President of the ERC .................. 8 of Athens, Zografou Campus Mariolina Bartolini Bussi GR-15780 Athens, Greece Peter Scholze to Receive 2013 Sastra Ramanujan Prize – K. Alladi 9 (Math. Education) e-mail: [email protected] DESU – Universitá di Modena e European Level Organisations for Women Mathematicians – Reggio Emilia Volker R. Remmert C. Series ............................................................................... 11 Via Allegri, 9 (History of Mathematics) Forty Years of the Epimorphism Theorem – I-42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy IZWT, Wuppertal University [email protected] D-42119 Wuppertal, Germany P. -
Jewish National Organizations in the United States
JEWISH NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES INote.—The information given below is as of May 1, 1924.—An askrisk(*) indicates that revised data was not furnished upon request.] ALPHA EPSILON PI FRATERNITY Org. 1913. OFFICE 131 W. 13th, New York City Tenth Annual Convention, Dec. 29-31, 1923, New York City. Chapters, 12. Members, 350. PURPOSE: A national collegiate Greek-letter organization for Jew- ish students. OFFICERS: Pres., Sidney Picker, N. Y. C; Vice-Pres., William Cohen, N. Y. C; Treas., Herman Rolnick, N. Y. C; Sec., Louis S. Amreich, Brooklyn, N. Y. BOARD OF GOVERNORS: The officers and Milton Adler, Brook- lyn, N. Y.; Lewis J. Laventhol, Philadelphia, Pa.; Alfred D. Peltz, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Theodore R. Racoosin, N. Y. C; I. L. Rubin, Phila- delphia, Pa. ALPHA EPSILON PHI SORORITY Org. 1909. OFFICE: 134 E. 43d New York City Convention, Dec. 24, 1920, New York City Members 950. PURPOSE: TO foster close friendship between members, to stimulate the intellectual, social and spiritual life of the members, and to count as a force through service rendered to others. OFFICERS: Dean, Alice Borchard Greene (Mrs. S.), Montclair, N. J.; Sub.-Dean, Rose Oltusky, Waukegan, 111.; Treas., Jeanette Armstrong Slatoff (Mrs. E.), Newark, N. J.; Scribe, Stella Caplin Bloom (Mrs. N.) 338 McDonough, Brooklyn, N. Y. ALPHA OMEGA FRATERNITY Org. 1906, Inc., 1909. OFFICE: Secretary, 2435 N. 17th, Philadelphia, Pa. Sixteenth Annual Convention, Dec. 26-28, 1923. Boston, Mass. Members, 2,000. PURPOSE: Uphold the highest standards of the dental profession, provide for ourselves the pleasures.of universal brotherhood and to promote our general welfare. -
EMMIT 2009 EURO-MEDITERRANEAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS and TELEMEDICINE 5Th International Conference
EMMIT 2009 EURO-MEDITERRANEAN MEDICAL INFORMATICS and TELEMEDICINE th 5 International Conference October 16-18, 2009 Hotel - Dieu de France - Beirut (Lebanon) promoted by HOTEL-DIEU DE FRANCE EEEMMMMMMIIITT@ssociation Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire With the Partecipation off PROGRAMME October 16 h.08.30-09.30: Participants Registration h 09.30 Opening Ceremony and Welcome Addresses Johnny Heubri (Hotel Dieu de France, Beirut - Chairman of Organizing Committee) Francesco Sicurello (Chairman of EMMIT) Joseph Otayek (General Manager of Hotel Dieu de France, Beirut) Representatives of Local and National Authorities h 10.30 Scientific Lectures (chair: Zouheir El Imad – Ain Wazein Hospital Lebanon) - eHealth: a global perspective and responsibility; Najeeb Al Shorbaji (Director of IER/KMS,WHO, Geneva) - Telecom Regulatory Aspects of e-Health; Imad Y. Hoballah (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Republic of Lebanon) - How computers can save patients’ lives: computers in ICU; Bernard Richards (University of Manchester, UK) - Broadband projects and their implication in Health; Fadi Moubarak (General Manager Of Cisco Middle East, Beirut - Lebanon) - Telemedicine and e-Health in Eastern Mediterranean Region ;Digital Gaps and Economic Obstacles; Mohammed Abd-Allah ( Ex.Senior Advisor for ITU, Regional office for Arab States.Cairo) -Integration of Medical Informatics and Telemedicine Systems within and between Mediterranean Countries; Francesco Sicurello (chairman of EMMIT) h 12.45 lunch break h 14.00 – 15.45 The challenges of Today Medicine -
Full History of The
London Mathematical Society Historical Overview Taken from the Introduction to The Book of Presidents 1865-1965 ADRIAN RICE The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is the primary learned society for mathematics in Britain today. It was founded in 1865 for the promotion and extension of mathematical knowledge, and in the 140 years since its foundation this objective has remained unaltered. However, the ways in which it has been attained, and indeed the Society itself, have changed considerably during this time. In the beginning, there were just nine meetings per year, twenty-seven members and a handful of papers printed in the slim first volume of the ’s Society Proceedings. Today, with a worldwide membership in excess of two thousand, the LMS is responsible for numerous books, journals, monographs, lecture notes, and a whole range of meetings, conferences, lectures and symposia. The Society continues to uphold its original remit, but via an increasing variety of activities, ranging from advising the government on higher education, to providing financial support for a wide variety of mathematically-related pursuits. At the head of the Society there is, and always has been, a President, who is elected annually and who may serve up to two years consecutively. As befits a prestigious national organization, these Presidents have often been famous mathematicians, well known and respected by the mathematical community of their day; they include Cayley and Sylvester, Kelvin and Rayleigh, Hardy and Littlewood, Atiyah and Zeeman.1 But among the names on the presidential role of honour are many people who are perhaps not quite so famous today, ’t have theorems named after them, and who are largely forgotten by the majority of who don modern-day mathematicians. -
Birds and Frogs Equation
Notices of the American Mathematical Society ISSN 0002-9920 ABCD springer.com New and Noteworthy from Springer Quadratic Diophantine Multiscale Principles of Equations Finite Harmonic of the American Mathematical Society T. Andreescu, University of Texas at Element Analysis February 2009 Volume 56, Number 2 Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA; D. Andrica, Methods A. Deitmar, University Cluj-Napoca, Romania Theory and University of This text treats the classical theory of Applications Tübingen, quadratic diophantine equations and Germany; guides readers through the last two Y. Efendiev, Texas S. Echterhoff, decades of computational techniques A & M University, University of and progress in the area. The presenta- College Station, Texas, USA; T. Y. Hou, Münster, Germany California Institute of Technology, tion features two basic methods to This gently-paced book includes a full Pasadena, CA, USA investigate and motivate the study of proof of Pontryagin Duality and the quadratic diophantine equations: the This text on the main concepts and Plancherel Theorem. The authors theories of continued fractions and recent advances in multiscale finite emphasize Banach algebras as the quadratic fields. It also discusses Pell’s element methods is written for a broad cleanest way to get many fundamental Birds and Frogs equation. audience. Each chapter contains a results in harmonic analysis. simple introduction, a description of page 212 2009. Approx. 250 p. 20 illus. (Springer proposed methods, and numerical 2009. Approx. 345 p. (Universitext) Monographs in Mathematics) Softcover examples of those methods. Softcover ISBN 978-0-387-35156-8 ISBN 978-0-387-85468-7 $49.95 approx. $59.95 2009. X, 234 p. (Surveys and Tutorials in The Strong Free Will the Applied Mathematical Sciences) Solving Softcover Theorem Introduction to Siegel the Pell Modular Forms and ISBN: 978-0-387-09495-3 $44.95 Equation page 226 Dirichlet Series Intro- M.