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NEWSLETTER No. 454 January 2016 LMS 150TH ANNIVERSARY Mathematics Festival at THE LONDON SCIENCE MUSEUM What's your Angle? Uncovering Maths See report on page 3 SOCIETY MEETINGS AND EVENTS • 26 February: Mary Cartwright Lecture, London page 12 • 21 July: Society Meeting at the 7ECM, Berlin • 21 March: Society Meeting at the BMC, Bristol page 21 • 11 November: Graduate Student Meeting, London • 21–25 March: LMS Invited Lectures, Loughborough • 11 November: Annual General Meeting, London • 8 July: Graduate Student Meeting, London • 20 December: South West & South Wales Regional • 8 July: Society Meeting, London Meeting, Bath NEWSLETTER ONLINE: newsletter.lms.ac.uk @LondMathSoc LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk Contents No. 454 January 2016 22 32 150th Anniversary Events Heidelberg Laureate Forum..................41 Departmental Celebrations....................18 Integrable Systems..................................45 What's Your Angle? Uncovering Maths...3 Mathematics Emerging..........................44 Awards Modern Topics in Nonlinear PDE and Geometric Analysis...............................31 2 Christopher Zeeman Medal 2016...........13 Singularities and Applications...............43 Louis Bachelier Prize 2016........................39 Why be Noncommutative?.....................44 LMS Honorary Membership.....................7 ICME-13 Bursaries....................................19 News Ramanujan Prize 2016............................37 European News.......................................25 Royal Society Medals and Awards 2016...37 Mathematics Policy Round-up...............23 Undergraduate Essay Prize.....................37 The Lost Library of John Dee .................22 Calendar of Events 55 Obituaries Cooper, Barry...........................................49 LMS Items Humphreys, John.....................................49 Caring Supplementary Grants.................8 Roth, Klaus...............................................46 Council 2015-16.......................................15 Council Diary............................................8 Records of Proceedings Grant Schemes.........................................9 Annual General Meeting and Invited Lecture Series 2017.....................27 Society Meeting....................................28 LMS-CMI Research Schools......................20 Reports Longstanding Members..........................15 LMS Annual General Meeting..............32 Prizes 2016...............................................38 LMS Graduate Student Meeting............34 Retiring Members of Council...................6 The Science of Beauty............................35 LMS Meetings Reviews BMC 2016 – Society Meeting...................21 Inside Interesting Integrals.....................53 Mary Cartwright Lecture.........................12 The Theory That Would Not Die...........51 Special General Meeting.........................7 Understanding Mathematical Proofs....52 Meetings Visits Dynamics of Complex Systems................43 Jacob, Birgit.............................................42 From the Grain to the Continuum........40 Malyutov, Mikhail...................................42 Groups in Galway 2016.........................45 Rozikov, Utkir..........................................42 [email protected] No. 454 January 2016 t the end of November, the London nalist and navigating a range of real-world AMathematical Society collaborated with scenarios to discover the many fascinating the Science Museum, the interactive theatre ways in which mathematics relates to everyday company non zero one, and a number of UK uni- modern life. The scenarios were brought to versity research groups to create an immersive life by mathematics researchers from a variety mathematics Festival titled What's Your Angle? of UK universities and actors dressed as track Uncovering Maths. athletes, oceanographers, archaeologists, gov- The Festival took place between 25 and ernment intelligence officers and dairy farmers 29 November 2015 in the Science Museum’s – all talking about how they use mathematics in Wellcome Wing Basement Gallery. The four-day their lines of work. event comprised an adults-only (Calcu)Lates Following an induction from the NEWS-A- event – featuring a talk by Sir Roger Penrose RAMA! boss in the ‘Briefing Room’, each under- and a screening of a documentary by Heidi cover journalist was sent on four fact-finding Morstang – a schools day, and two public days. missions, during which they had to gather as Over 1,600 people in total visited. much mathematical information as they could Visitors were tasked with assuming the role from the actors and researchers and record it of a fictional undercover NEWS-A-RAMA! jour- all in their notebooks. They then had to take their notes to an editors’ desk, flesh out a news story, and at the end give a news interview – in a convincing- ly-styled newsroom – based 3 on what they’d learnt. The news interviews were streamed live into a media station at the centre of the room for all to see. The Festival’s principal aim was to demonstrate that mathematics is eve- rywhere and for everyone, and therein challenge the Simon Tavaré introducing Roger Penrose common perception of Editorial team Publication dates and deadlines http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk Editorial office General Editor Published monthly, except August. Items and adver- London Mathematical Society, Mr A.J.S. Mann tisements by the first day of the month prior to publi- De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell ([email protected]) cation, or the closest preceding working day. Notices Square, London WC1B 4HS and advertisements are not accepted for events that Reports Editor occur in the first week of the publication month. (t: 020 7637 3686; Professor I. A. Stewart f: 020 7323 3655) ([email protected]) News items and notices in the Newsletter may be freely used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, al- Events calendar Reviews Editor though attribution is requested when reproducing Updates and corrections to Professor D. Singerman whole articles. Contributions to the Newsletter are [email protected] ([email protected]) made under a non-exclusive licence; please contact Articles Administrative Editor the author or photographer for the rights to repro- Send articles to S.M. Oakes duce. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the [email protected] ([email protected]) accuracy of information in the Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or Advertising Typeset by the LMS at De policy of the London Mathematical Society. For rates and guidelines see Morgan House; printed by newsletter.lms.ac.uk/rate-card Holbrooks Printers Ltd. Charity registration number: 252660. LMS Items LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk mathematics as esoteric. Above all, the Society school students to academics. It was fascinating and museum wanted each visitor to leave with to see the broad spectrum of research presented the knowledge that mathematics is relevant, at the Festival. We were also very impressed by fun, and with a particular nod to the visiting the smooth organisation of such a major event school students, capable of opening doors to a and the helpfulness and enthusiasm of everyone wide range of fulfilling careers. involved. The combination of art and math- Postgraduate mathematicians from across the ematics gave it a new twist, bringing maths to UK provided the content through the event in life in an engaging way’. the form of eight research groups that demon- Philip Aston, from the University of Surrey, strated the mathematics behind each undercov- expressed a similar view, saying, ‘As a mathema- er scenario. The Society would like to extend its tician I thought that the Mathematics Festival at particular thanks and gratitude to those teams: the Science Museum was a great opportunity from the University of Brighton, the University to showcase some of the work that mathemati- of Cambridge, University College London, the cians do and how their work can have an impact University of Essex, the University of Kent, King's on all our lives. College London, the University of Liverpool, the ‘Our exhibit allowed participants to see their Open University and the University of Surrey. dynamic cardiomorph that we generated and Speaking to the LMS after the event, Mareika displayed on the TV screens from their own Haberichter, from the University of Kent, said, cardiac data. The cardiomorph is a bit like a ‘We had an amazing weekend at the immersive ‘selfie of the heart’, which uses all the data (in LMS Festival at the Science Museum. We contrast to many other methods) and has the 4 designed interactive activities to engage the potential for diagnosing a range of heart con- public with our research in solitons as they went ditions, including septic shock which currently undercover at Coral Beach Surf School. Solitons results in 37,000 deaths in the UK each year. are a unique type of wave and a specialism of ‘There was a real buzz down in the basement many mathematics lecturers at Kent. These and we certainly enjoyed talking about our waves can travel for great distances without work. It was fascinating to see some of the slowing down or changing their shape. feedback in the TV interviews at the end as well’. ‘We appreciated the opportunity to pitch our The NEWS-A-RAMA! theme was particularly research to such a broad audience ranging from popular, both with the research groups and the visitors. Anonymous comments left by members of the public were unanimously positive, including ‘It was great