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NEWSLETTER No. 448 June 2015 SIR CHRISTOPHER ZEEMAN ARCHIVE n 19 March 2015 the London Mathematical Society launched the Sir Christopher Zeeman Archive Otogether with Sir Christopher’s family at a small ceremony at Hertford College, University of Oxford. The online archive represents a lifetime of his work, including letters he wrote, papers and books he published and interviews he gave. Sir Christopher Zeeman is widely considered an icon of modern mathematics and the LMS is delighted to be hosting the archive on its website, particularly as he is a Past President of the Society. His contributions to mathematics range from geometric topology to dynamical systems, with appli- cations across the sciences. He is known among the wider scientific public for his contribution to, and spreading awareness of Catastrophe Theory, and for the 1978 televised Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution, from which grew the Mathematics Masterclasses for primary and secondary school children that now flourish around the United Kingdom. Professor Terry Lyons, current President of the LMS, paid tribute to Sir Christopher at the ceremony, saying, “Christopher Zeeman’s contribution to mathematical sciences is distinctive for its range, excellence and enormous achievement. It is a real pleasure to congratulate him on his 90th birthday and launch of the archive of his work”. The ceremony was attended by a number of Sir Christopher’s family and friends – including Will Hutton and Walter Bodmer – and to especially mark the occasion a commemorative book was presented to him containing scores of messages and birthday wishes. To access the archive, please visit www.lms.ac.uk/2015/zeeman_archive. SOCIETY MEETINGS AND EVENTS • 25 June: Popular Lectures, London page 29 • 18-20 September: LMS-EMS Anniversary Weekend, Birmingham page 30 • 3 July: Graduate Student Meeting, London page 21 • 23 September: Popular Lectures, Birmingham page 28 • 3 July: Society Meeting, Hardy Lecture, London page 20 • 21 October: Popular Lectures, Glasgow page 28 • 7 July: Midlands Regional Meeting, Warwick page 9 • 11 November: Popular Lectures, Leeds page 28 NEWSLETTER ONLINE: newsletter.lms.ac.uk @LondMathSoc LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk Contents No. 448 June 2015 14 23 150th Anniversary Events Moduli Spaces and their Applications.........34 Anniversary Celebrations Events.................10 Non-Combinatorial Combinatorics.............33 LMS-EMS Mathematical Meeting................30 Topological Data Analysis..........................35 LMS History in The Guardian.......................24 News Awards Ada Lovelace................................................23 Adams Prize..................................................27 Chalkdust.....................................................25 2 Ferran Sunyer i Balaguer Prize....................25 Clarification.................................................24 Rollo Davidson Trust...................................25 European News............................................28 Royal Society Fellows.................................. 3 Mathematics Policy Round-up....................4 SET for Britain.............................................. Wolf Prize 2015...........................................25 5 Turing Gateway............................................26 Calendar of Events 42 Obituary LMS Items Philip Higgins...............................................37 General Meeting..........................................4 Records of Proceedings Sir Christopher Zeeman Archive.................1 De Morgan Day............................................13 LMS Meetings Meeting at B(A)MC.......................................12 Graduate Student Meeting.........................21 Northern Regional Meeting.........................12 Hardy Lecture Tour......................................8 Reports Midlands Meeting........................................9 B(A)MC and LMS Meeting..........................11 Popular Lecture London.............................29 De Morgan Day............................................6 Popular Lectures..........................................28 Limit Theorems in Probability.....................22 Society Meeting and Hardy Lecture, LMS Invited Lectures 2015..........................16 London.....................................................20 Northern Regional Meeting 2015..............14 Meetings Statistical Properties of Dynamical Systems....18 A Posteriori Error Control...........................36 Reviews Approximate Dynamic Programming........33 Birth of a Theorem.......................................37 British Logic Colloquium............................32 Mathematics, Poetry and Beauty................40 Challenges in Nonlinear Systems................34 Proportions of the Heart...........................41 Finiteness Conditions in Topology and X+Y - the movie............................................39 Algebra.....................................................35 Scholarship and Funding Fractal Geometry and Dimension LMS-CMI Research Schools Call for Theory.......................................................33 Proposals..................................................31 George Boole Bicentenary...........................32 IMA – Upcoming Conferences....................35 Visit INI Cell Mechanics........................................36 Jim Agler.......................................................32 [email protected] No. 448 June 2015 SIX MATHEMATICIANS AMONG NEW ROYAL SOCIETY FELLOWS On 1 May 2015 the Royal Society released The mathematicians details of its newly-appointed Fellows, • Clifford Cocks is the chief cryptographer among whom were six mathematicians: at GCHQ who first discovered the widely- Clifford Cocks, Alison Etheridge, Philip used RSA encryption algorithm in 1973. Maini, Jens Marklof, Jonathan Pila and His discovery was not declassified until Richard Thomas. 1997 by which time the algorithm was Appointed annually, Royal Society Fellow- assumed to have been discovered by Ron ships are awarded to the most eminent sci- Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman. entists, engineers and technologists from or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Cocks living and working in the UK and Common- • Alison Etheridge is a professor of statistics wealth. 47 new Fellows were announced at Oxford University whose recent work this year, bringing the total number of living has focussed on population genetics. In Fellows to over 1,400. 2011 she gave the London Mathemati- Professor Terry Lyons, President of the cal Society’s Mary Cartwright lecture on London Mathematical Society and himself Evolution in a spatial continuum. a Fellow of the Royal Society, said of the www.stats.ox.ac.uk/people/academic_staff/ announcement, “This year’s election makes alison_etheridge me proud to be a mathematician and to see • Philip Maini is head of the Centre for how profoundly mathematics permeates our Mathematical Biology at Oxford’s Math- 3 society. The diversity of the contributions ematical Institute where he constructs spans from the most fundamental work on mathematical models of spatiotemporal encryption to the understanding of blood processes in biology such as self-organ- flow, from the special behaviour of biologi- isation during embryonic development, cal organisms and from the foundations of normal and abnormal wound healing and logic through to the wonders of geometry, cancer growth. In 2009 he was awarded topology and mathematical physics.” the London Mathematical Society’s Naylor Professor Lyons congrated the new fellows Prize and Lectureship in Applied Math- on their election on behalf of the London ematics. Mathematical Society. https://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/maini/ For the full list of new Royal Society • Jens Marklof is a German professor of Fellows visit www.royalsociety.org/about-us/ mathematical physics at the University of fellowship/new-fellows-2015/. Bristol with interests in quantum chaos, Editorial team Publication dates and deadlines http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk Editorial office General Editor Published monthly, except August. Items and advertise- London Mathematical Society, Mr A.J.S. Mann ments by the first day of the month prior to publication, De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell ([email protected]) or the closest preceding working day. Notices and adver- Square, London WC1B 4HS Reports Editor tisements are not accepted for events that occur in the (t: 020 7637 3686; Professor I. Stewart first week of the publication month. f: 020 7323 3655) ([email protected]) News items and notices in the Newsletter may be freely Events calendar Reviews Editor used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, although attribu- Updates and corrections to Professor D. Singerman tion is requested when reproducing whole articles. Contri- [email protected] ([email protected]) butions to the Newsletter are made under a non-exclusive licence; please contact the author or photographer for Articles Administrative Editor the rights to reproduce. The LMS cannot accept respon- Send articles to S.M. Oakes sibility for the accuracy of information in the Newsletter. [email protected] ([email protected]) Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or Advertising Typeset by the LMS at De policy of the London Mathematical Society. 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