THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 356 February 2007 Forthcoming NEXT STEPS a problem with any transfer- ence of the existing two such Society INITIATIVE grades within the IMA (Fellow Meetings The second meeting of the and Member) into a new Joint Planning Group to body. This problem needs to 2007 develop the framework for a be resolved and it was agreed Friday 9 February possible unification of the to ask two individuals to draft London IMA and LMS took place on opposing papers as a basis for P. Maini 6 December 2006. Verbal further and fuller discussion. A. Stevens reports from Council meet- The Group went on to con- (Mary Cartwright ings of both bodies were sider proposals for a Lecture) given. The LMS Council had Constitution. Good progress [page 3] been the less satisfied of the was made on matters of rep- 1 two with the three papers – resentation: the future Friday 20 April Vision and Mission, Council, elections to it, co- Midlands Regional Constitution and Membership option, constituencies, its Meeting – that the Group had pro- Boards, Committees and serv- Loughborough duced for them. They asked ice areas. There was general Y. Colin de Verdière for improvements to the agreement on the principles F. Kirwan Vision and Mission paper and that would underlie the draft- O. Viro expressed concerns over the ing of a Charter, By-Laws and proposed membership struc- Regulations and on the ring- Tuesday 24 April ture. By contrast the IMA fencing and protection of the David Crighton Council was reported to LMS research funds. Lecture be broadly content with the It was agreed that the London draft papers. Constitution document E.C. Zeeman Vision and Mission did not should be redrafted to reflect [page 8] detain the Group too long. It the views expressed. became clear, at least in out- The final substantive item Wednesday 30 May line, how the paper could be for discussion was the name SW and South Wales improved to suit all parties. It of the proposed merged Regional Meeting, sufficed therefore to ask society, where a number of Cardiff some willing volunteers to possibilities was considered. redraft it. The Joint Planning Group’s Friday 22 June Membership is giving the next meeting, on 24 January, London Group more trouble. The will be reported on in future problem centres on a propos- issues of the LMS Newsletter Thursday 25 October al to allow more than one and Mathematics Today. Northern Regional grade of full voting member- Charles Evans, IMA Meeting, Sheffield ship. Without that, there is Charles M. Goldie, LMS THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 356 February 2007 2007 ROYAL SOCIETY ics and engineering. For details of this award please see www.royalsoc.ac.uk/microsoft. MEDALS AND AWARDS The deadline for receipt of nominations Call for Nominations is 21 February 2007. Further inquiries about The Royal Society has issued a call for nomi- the awards or the nominations process should LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY nations for its medals, prize lectures and be directed to Chloë Sykes at chloe.sykes@ awards to be made in 2007, full details of royalsoc.ac.uk or on 020 7451 2575. which can be found online at www.royal- MARY CARTWRIGHT LECTURE soc.ac.uk/ awards. SYLVIA DALY Awards that may be of interest to LMS 10th Anniversary members include The Sylvester Medal, which Friday 9 February 2007 is awarded triennially for the encouragement Sylvia Daly, who supports the Programme of mathematical research, and awards made Committee, celebrated her 10th anniversary Chemistry Lecture Theatre, Christopher Ingold Building, for achievement in any branch of science of joining the staff of the LMS on 2 January. University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1 including the Copley Medal, the Michael When she joined the Society was still in Faraday Prize (for science communication) Burlington House and Sylvia worked part- and the Kohn Award for Excellence in time with Susan Oakes in the Society’s office. 3.30 – 4.30 P. Maini (Oxford) Engaging the Public with Science. Sylvia assisted in the move to De Morgan Emergent Phenomena – Fact or Fiction? 2 The Royal Society and Académie des House in 1998. 3 Sciences Microsoft European Science Award is Sylvia is known by the many mathemati- 4.30 – 5.00 Tea designed to recognise scientists working in cians who apply for grants from the Europe who have made a major contribution Programme Committee. She is responsible 5.00 – 6.00 A. Stevens (Leipzig) to the advancement of science through the use for the efficient handling of the applications Mary Cartwright Lecture of computational methods. The 2007 award and, over her time, has managed the pay- will focus on the intersection of computing ment of many hundreds of thousands of Interacting Cell Systems: An Example for and the physical sciences, including mathemat- pounds of grants. Mathematical Modelling in the Life-Sciences A reception will be held at De Morgan House at 6.15 pm with a LMS Newsletter dinner afterwards at the Il Fornello Restaurant, 150 Southampton General Editor: Dr D.R.J. Chillingworth ([email protected]) Row, London WC1 at 7.00 pm. The cost will be £23.00 per person, Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) inclusive of wine. Those wishing to attend should inform Susan Reviews Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) Oakes, London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57-58 Administrative Editor: Miss S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) Editorial office address: London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS, enclosing a cheque payable 57-58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (tel: 020 7637 3686; fax: 020 7323 3655; to the ‘London Mathematical Society’ to arrive no later than email: [email protected], web: www.lms.ac.uk) Monday 5 February. Designed by CHP Design (tel: 020 7240 0466, email: [email protected], web: www.chpdesign.com) Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the Items and advertisements by first day of the month prior to publication. expenses of members of the Society or research students to attend Information in the Newsletter is free to be used elsewhere unless otherwise stated; attribution is the meeting. Contact Isabelle Robinson ([email protected]) for requested when reproducing whole articles. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy further information. 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. 356 February 2007 MATHEMATICS POLICY aim is to develop a picture of how many stu- dents and staff there are in UK mathematical ROUNDUP science departments. All responses will be The London Research Councils UK is running a consulta- anonymised to enable respondents to be as JOURNAL OF TOPOLOGY Mathematical tion on a set of proposals to increase the effi- open as they see fit. Society ciency and effectiveness of the peer review Helen Orr has been appointed as project process. David Larman co-ordinated a manager for the moremathsgrads project. It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of a new journal, to be response from the Council for the The £3.3 million project is funded by the called the Journal of Topology, that will publish its first issue in January 2008. Mathematical Sciences. It argued that many Higher Education Funding Council for The Board of the Journal will be: of the proposals would disadvantage the England and is scheduled to run over the mathematical sciences and called for a more next three years. Its ultimate aim is to get • Michael Atiyah • Marc Lackenby discipline-specific approach. The submission more students studying mathematics. Ms Orr • Martin Bridson • Wolfgang Lück can be found on the CMS website is familiar with widening participation work, • Ralph Cohen • Jean Lannes www.cms.ac.uk/submissions.html. working previously as area co-ordinator for • Simon Donaldson • John Roe In December, the government published its the government’s AimHigher project in • Nigel Hitchin • Graeme Segal report on a metrics based Research Coventry and Warwickshire. She took up her • Frances Kirwan • Ulrike Tillmann Assessment Exercise. This proved to be good position at moremathsgrads at the end Ulrike Tillmann will be the Managing Editor. news for mathematics and statistics, as these of January. 4 disciplines will not be subject to the metrics Mathematicians have won £7.4 million in Aims and scope: 5 based assessment process applied to other the Engineering and Physical Sciences The Journal of Topology will publish papers science subjects. The new process for the Research Council innovation awards. The of high quality and significance in topology, mathematical sciences promises a much University of Oxford will establish a £3.3 mil- geometry and adjacent areas of mathematics. reduced, light-touch peer review process lion world-class research centre focused on Interesting, important and often unexpected informed by discipline-specific indicators. analysis of non-linear partial differential links connect topology and geometry with many The House of Commons Education and equations. A similar centre will be set up other parts of mathematics, and the editors welcome submissions on exciting Skills Select Committee is running an inquiry between the University of Edinburgh and new advances concerning such links, as well as those in the core subject areas into the Bologna Process, whereby degree Herriot-Watt University at Edinburgh in a of the journal. The Journal of Topology will appear in quarterly issues with structures will be harmonised across Europe.