LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 411 February 2012

Society NEW YEAR (www.pugwash.org/) and ‘his Meetings role from the 1960s onward in HONOURS LIST 2012 rebuilding the mathematical ties and Events Congratulations to the following between European countries, who have been recognised in the particularly via the European 2012 New Year Honours list: Mathematical Society (EMS)’. Friday 24 February The ambassador went on to say, Mary Cartwright Knight Bachelor (KB) ‘[and] many people remember Lecture, London Simon Donaldson, FRS, Profes- the care you took when you [page 7] sor of , Imperial were President of the Royal So- College London, for services to ciety, to cultivate closer ties with 26–30 March mathematics. [our] Académie des Sciences’. LMS Invited Lectures, Glasgow [page 11]  Commander of the Order of the MATHEMATICS Friday 27 April British Empire (CBE) POLICY ROUND-UP Women in Ursula Martin, Professor of Com- Mathematics Day, puter Science and Vice-Principal January 2012 of Science and Engineering, London [page 13] RESEARCH Queen Mary, University of Lon- Saturday 19 May don, for services to computer CMS registers ongoing concerns Poincaré Meeting, science. over EPSRC Fellowships London The Council for the Mathemati- Wednesday 6 June FRENCH HONOUR cal Sciences (CMS) has written Northern Regional to EPSRC to register its major Meeting, Newcastle FOR SIR MICHAEL continuing concerns about the [page 5] ATIYAH scope and operation of EPSRC Fellowships and other schemes Friday 29 June Former LMS President Sir Michael to support early-career research- Meeting and Hardy Atiyah, OM, FRS, FRSE has been ers in the mathematical sciences. Lecture, London presented with the insignia of The letter is available at http:// Monday 3 September the Grand Officier de la Légion tinyurl.com/6qsalub. Midlands Regional d’Honneur by His Excellency Meeting, Aberystwyth Bernard Emié, French Ambassa- Response to EPSRC action plan dor to the UK. This is the high- on IRM 2010 est recognition awarded by the The CMS has responded to the French Republic. EPSRC action plan on the Inter- NEWSLETTER At a ceremony in London the national Review of Mathemati- French Ambassador referred to cal Sciences 2010 (http://tinyurl. ONLINE: Atiyah’s international activi- com/c8zd3ag). The full response Go to www.lms.ac.uk/ ties including his presidency of is available at http://tinyurl. newsletter Pugwash from 1997 to 2000 com/7yvrt6v. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

HIGHER EDUCATION url.com/6qf2tqs); in particular, how to ensure National Curriculum Review update two-year GCSE courses in September 2012 that all 16–19 year olds study coherent, well An update on the National Curriculum review will have to sit their exams at the end of Higher Education in STEM subjects thought-out programmes that offer breadth has been released by the Department for Edu- the course in summer 2014. Students will The CMS has responded to the House of and depth and do not limit their options for cation together with a set of reports on the no longer be able to re-sit individual unit Lords Science and Technology sub-commit- future study or work. The LMS response will work undertaken so far. An update of the re- exams to boost their marks – although they tee inquiry into Higher Education in STEM be publicly available once it has been consid- view is available at http://tinyurl.com/6mxl8sf. may retake the whole GCSE exam. However, subjects. The inquiry in particular asked ered by the Education Select Committee. Michael Gove’s statement on the update is students will be given an early opportunity ‘how the UK builds the educational founda- available at http://tinyurl.com/7nld7n6. The to re-sit mathematics, English and English tions it needs to face the challenges of the LMS responds to consultation on the 16–19 final report from the Expert Panel is available Language GCSEs every November because future’. The CMS evidence will be publicly Funding Formula Review at http://tinyurl.com/7j7ezap. ‘these are key subjects needed to progress available once it has been considered by the The LMS also responded to the above con- A set of related reports has also been to further study or employment’. sub-committee. sultation in early January 2012. Proposals in published: the consultation included moving away from • A summary of the call for evidence is avail- World Maths Day SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES the current complex system of funding on able at http://tinyurl.com/7ns62q8. World Maths Day takes place on Wednesday the basis of ‘payment per qualification’ to • A report on what we can learn about sci- 7 March 2012. Students play at home and LMS responds to consultation on Study Pro- introduce a much simpler system of funding ence, English and mathematics from other at school against other students around the grammes for 16–19 year olds at the level of the learner. Such a change is jurisdictions is available at http://tinyurl. world in live games of mental arithmetic. For The LMS responded to the consultation in essential to realise the proposals in Professor com/829fgzw. more information visit www.worldmathsday.  early January 2012. The consultation was Alison Wolf’s report on vocational education. • A report on subject breadth in other juris- com.  seeking views on how to implement key rec- The LMS response will be publicly available dictions is available at http://tinyurl.com/ Dr John Johnston ommendations from Professor Alison Wolf’s once it has been considered by the Education 83q6pze. Mathematics Promotion Unit report on vocational education (http://tiny- Select Committee. ACME announces new chair GIVING MATHEMATICS Professor Stephen Sparks CBE FRS, Professor of Geology at the University of Bristol, has A VOICE LMS Newsletter www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter been appointed as the new chair of ACME. Library has acquired a col- Editorial office: [email protected]; London Mathematical Society, Professor Sparks began his three-year term as lection of interviews of mathematicians con- De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655) chair on 13 January 2012 and takes over from ducted by Eugene Dynkin, Cornell’s Emeritus Events calendar: please send updates and corrections to [email protected] Professor Dame Julia Higgins FRS. A.R. Bullis Professor of Mathematics. Dynkin worked with the Library’s Division General Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) Reports Editor: Professor R.A. Wilson ([email protected]) Supporting STEM in schools and colleges in of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) and Reviews Editor: Dr C.M. Roney-Dougal ([email protected]) England: The role of research Digital Scholarship Services to organize and Administrative Editor: S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) This report, researched and written by the In- digitize his revolutionary conversations, many Typeset by the London Mathematical Society at De Morgan House; printed by Holbrooks Printers Ltd. stitute of Education, University of London, of which are interviews with Russian mathe- demonstrates the role of social science research maticians. They are now available online at Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. Items and advertisements by the – and specifically education research – in sus- http://dynkincollection.library.cornell.edu. first day of the month prior to publication, or the closest preceding working day. Notices and advertisements are not accepted for events that occur in the first week of the publication month. taining and developing the STEM skills base in The interviews, which Dynkin recorded for England. It presents case studies of research un- more than half a century, serve as a rich source Advertising: for rates and guidelines, see www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/ratecard.html dertaken within education departments, schools of information not only about mathematics News items and notices in the Newsletter may be freely used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, and faculties in English higher-education institu- but history as well, providing insight into aca- although attribution is requested when reproducing whole articles. Contributions to the Newsletter tions, and offers a number of recommendations demic life under the Soviet regime. The collection are made under a non-exclusive licence; please contact the author or photographer for the rights to for future progress. The full report is available at contains nearly 150 audio and video recordings, reproduce. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of information in the Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of the London Mathematical Society. http://tinyurl.com/843uzfm. plus biographical information about each math- ematician and a select group of photographs. Charity registration number: 252660. End for GCSE modules Professor Dynkin was the LMS Hardy Under new proposals, students starting Lecturer in 1979. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NORTHERN REGIONAL MEETING Wednesday 6 June 2012 CCE-1 002 Lecture Theatre, Business School Building, Northumbria University Programme: 2.00 Opening of the Meeting Michael Mackey (McGill University) A mathematical modeling study of neutrophil dynamics in response to chemotherapy and G-CSF  3.15 Anthony Shannon (University of Technology, Sydney)  Empirical approaches to the application of mathematical techniques in health technologies 4.30 Tea/Coffee 5.00 Eytan Domany (Weizmann Institute of Science) Complex dynamics of cellular transcriptional response: how do cells get on the fast lane? 7.00 Dinner at The Assembly Rooms These lectures are aimed at a general mathematical audience. All interested, whether LMS members or not, are most welcome to attend this event. For further details, to register or to reserve a place at the dinner, email the organisers ([email protected]). The cost of the dinner will be approximately £30, including drinks. The meeting forms part of a workshop on Mathematics of Human Biology from 6 to 8 June. For further details visit http://group28.northumbria.ac.uk/biomath or contact the organisers. There are funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of members of the Society or research students to attend the meeting and workshop. Requests for support, including an estimate of expenses, may be addressed to the organisers. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

ALEXANDER LOSKUTOV We will keep fond memories of Alexander Yu. Loskutov in our hearts. Professor Alexander Yu. Loskutov died on 5 Alexey Ryabov LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY November 2011, aged 52. All his life Alexander University of Oldenburg Loskutov was closely related to the Moscow MARY CARTWRIGHT LECTURE (M.V. Lomonosov) State University. He gradu- JOHN DERRICK ated from the Department of Physics in 1982 and received a PhD in the area of Nonlinear John Derrick, former Lecturer in the Department AND SOCIETY MEETING Dynamics in 1987. He became a Lecturer in of Pure Mathematics at the University of Leeds, 1987, then an Associate Professor, and finally died on 8 December 2011. John was born in Paris Friday 24 February 2012 was promoted to a full professorship in 1998. in 1935, left for England at the outbreak of war Since 2000 he was the leader of the Nonlinear with his family on ‘the last boat out of Biarritz’, Black Suite, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP Dynamics and Chaos Group at the Department and later attended Caterham School in Surrey as of Physics of . The re- a boarder. He read Mathematics at University Col- sults on Nonlinear Dynamics developed in his lege London, and, after graduating in 1956, com- Programme: group found applications in medicine, biology, pleted teacher-training at the London University economics and astrophysics. Institute of Education. He taught at Ottershaw 3.30 Opening of the meeting In recognition of his research achieve- School, where he was given responsibility for the  ments, Alexander was awarded the prestig- whole of mathematics teaching in the Sixth Form. Tom Lenagan (Edinburgh)  ious Shuvalov medal for outstanding results At the beginning of 1963, John took up in Mathematical Physics. He was among the a lectureship at Leeds. He was a lively mem- Totally nonnegative matrices first recipients of this award. ber of the growing group of mathematical Alexander worked hard to make modern logicians led by M.H. Löb. His interest in Set 4.30 Tea science more accessible to a wider audience. Theory led him into fruitful collaboration with

His reviews and books were clearly written colleagues in mathematics and in philoso- 5.00 Mary Cartwright Lecture and manifested a wide spectrum of the latest phy. Later, his interests focused on computer- Agata Smoktunowicz (Edinburgh) topics in Nonlinear Dynamics. His monograph assisted proof, and he became Deputy Director Foundations of Synergetics II (co-authored of the Leeds Centre for Theoretical Computer Old and new questions in

with Professor A.S. Mikhailov) became a hand- Science in 1992. John was a dedicated teacher, noncommutative Post Evening Wales South the of Courtesy book for many researchers. spending much time with students. Alexander always liked new challenging John was involved in a wide range of extra- Mary Cartwright giving a lecture topics and encouraged his students to ap- mural activities, serving as President of the York- at Swansea University proach difficult problems. During the last shire Branch of the Mathematical Association 15 years Alexander supervised more than 40 1968–69. He travelled extensively to logic con- A reception will be held after the meeting at BMA House followed by a diploma projects and 13 PhD students. Many of ferences and made many friends, revelling es- dinner at the Number Twelve Restaurant, Ambassador Hotel, at a cost of his former students continued their research at pecially in ‘adventures’ to Eastern Europe during universities and research centers all around the the 1960s and 1970s. Between October 1970 and £32 per person, inclusive of wine. If you would like to attend the dinner, world. Supervising students, Alexander was al- March 1972 he was an Associate Professor at the please contact Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]) by 17 February. ways happy to share his ideas and to stimulate University of Orléans. their independent research. He always helped Following some years of ill-health, John took There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of them with their further scientific career. early retirement in July 1998. He is survived by his Beyond science, Alexander had many inter- wife Margaret, daughter Cathy, son John (now members of the Society or research students to attend the meeting. ests: music, photography, sport, travelling and Professor of Computer Science in Sheffield), and Contact Duncan Turton/Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]) for ancient history – in each of these subjects he three grandchildren. further information. tried to reach the level of an expert, which Garth Dales made him a very bright and attractive person. University of Leeds LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

YOUNG RESEARCHERS accommodation are available. For further information and to register, visit the website LMS INVITED LECTURER 2012 IN MATHEMATICS at www.maths.bris.ac.uk/~maxsb/yrm or email The third Young Researchers in Mathematics [email protected]. Thanks to the generous Professor Alexei Borodin (MIT) conference will be held at the University of support of an LMS Postgraduate Research Bristol from 2 to 4 April 2012. This conference Conference Scheme 8 grant the organizers Determinantal point processes and is aimed at all postgraduate students and are able to further subsidise graduate stu- postdoctoral researchers in mathematics, and dents who also attend the British Mathemati- representation theory hosts over 200 participants. A unique oppor- cal Colloquium. tunity is provided to meet potential collabora- 26–30 March 2012 tors and other graduate students, and learn University of Glasgow about the latest research in other branches YOUNG FUNCTIONAL of mathematics. All participants are encour- ANALYSTS’ WORKSHOP Alexei Borodin will give a ten-lecture minicourse on Determinantal point processes aged to give a talk about their research, and representation theory. Participants will explore recently discovered remarkable whether partial or complete. The confer- The next Young Functional Analysts’ Work- interactions between probability theory and algebra as well as connections to ence is divided into thirteen broad subject shop (YFAW) will be held at the University analysis and combinatorics. Despite the novelty and the variety of methods the tracks, and participants are encouraged to of Oxford from 21 to 22 March 2012. The level of the lecture course is suitable to postgraduate students and other attend talks from a variety of tracks. Each event is aimed at postgraduate and post-  mathematicians interested in the topic. track will be led by a keynote talk given by doctoral researchers in functional analysis  a leading researcher in that area. and related areas, but anybody interested The following topics will be covered at different level of details: • Algebra – Jan Saxl in participating is welcome. The programme • The Young graph and classification of characters of the infinite symmetricgroup. (University of Cambridge) on each of the two days will consist of talks • The Gelfand–Tsetlin graph and classification of characters of the infinite- • Analysis and PDEs – Gui-Qiang Chen given by participants as well as our four dimensional unitary group. (University of Oxford) invited speakers: • Other examples of branching graphs. Connections to random matrices and • Applied Mathematics – Dimitris Drikakis • Charles Batty (Oxford, UK) Macdonald polynomials. (Cranfield University) • Matthew Daws (Leeds, UK) • Non-ergodic Gibbs measures and the problem of noncommutative harmonic • Combinatorics – Julia Wolf • Olga Maleva (Birmingham, UK) analysis. (École Polytechnique) • Wilhelm Winter (Münster, Germany) • Determinantal point processes. Determinantal structure of the ergodic measures • Cryptography and Quantum Information – There will be a registration fee of £20. For on the Gelfand–Tsetlin graph and of the Schur measures. Renato Renner (ETH Zürich) further information, and in order to register, • Examples of asymptotic analysis of determinantal processes. Applications to • Dynamical Systems – Viviane Baladi visit the YFAW website at https://sites.google. random matrices and last passage percolation. (École Normale Supérieure) com/site/yfawuk. The event is supported by • Markov dynamics on Gibbs measures. Applications to one-dimensional exclusion • Financial Mathematics – TBC an LMS Postgraduate Research Conference processes and random directed polymers. • Geometry and Topology – Frances Kirwan Scheme 8 grant. (University of Oxford) There will also be supplementary lectures by: • Logic and Set Theory – Angus Macintyre NBFAS Seminar • Ivan Corwin (Microsoft Research and MIT) (Queen Mary, University of London) • Patrik Ferrari (Bonn) • Mathematical Biology – Reidun Twarock The workshop will be followed by a meeting • Neil O’Connell (Warwick) (University of York) of the North British Functional Analysis Semi- Local B&B accommodation will be available. Limited financial support is available • Number Theory – Henryk Iwaniec nar (NBFAS) in Oxford from 23 to 24 March with preference given to UK research students. The registration deadline is (Rutgers University) 2012, with Gilles Pisier (Université Paris VI, 18 February 2012. • Probability and Statistics – Wilfrid Kendall France, and Texas A&M University, USA) and () Mikael R�rdam (University of Copenhagen, For further details contact Misha Feigin at [email protected] or • Quantum Physics – Jon Keating Denmark) as speakers. For further informa- visit www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~mf/LMSLectures2012/index.htm. (University of Bristol) tion visit the website at www1.maths.leeds. The conference fee is £30, and subsidies for ac.uk/nbfas. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

The social programme will include a wel- come cocktail on Monday late afternoon, a recital of Classical Neapolitan songs on Cecil King Tuesday evening, a social trip on Wednes- day morning and the conference dinner Travel Scholarship on Thursday evening. For information visit the website at www.dipmat.unisa. it/ischiagrouptheory. The London Mathematical Society annually awards a £5,000 Cecil King Travel Scholarship in Mathematics to a young mathematician of outstanding MODERN MATHEMATICAL promise. The Scholarship is awarded to support a period of study or research METHODS IN SCIENCE abroad, typically for a period of three months. Study or research in all AND TECHNOLOGY areas of mathematics is eligible for the award. The award is competitive and based on a written proposal describing the “... but here in the outside world, I need A conference on Modern Mathematical intended programme of study or research abroad and the benefits to be Methods in Science and Technology (M3ST) more time and I need more space.” gained from such a visit. A shortlist of applicants will be selected for an will take place from 26 to 28 August 2012 © ScienceCartoonsPlus.com in Kalamata, Greece. This international interview during which they will be expected to make a short presentation on their proposal. 10 conference organised by the Department 11 of Mathematics, University of Athens takes ISCHIA GROUP THEORY 2012 Applicants should normally be nationals of the UK or Republic of Ireland, place every three years in various locations in A conference on Group Theory will be held Greece. The conference themes are: either registered for or having recently completed a doctoral degree at a in Ischia, Naples, Italy from 26 to 29 March • Differential equations and mathematical UK University. 2012. The meeting will consist of talks given models Applications should be made using the form available on the Society’s by invited speakers and a permanent poster • Numerical analysis session. The scientific programme will be ded- • Applications of mathematics in finance website (www.lms.ac.uk/content/cecil-king-travel-scholarship) or by icated to the memory of Narain D. Gupta and • Stochastic analysis, Modelling contacting [email protected]. The closing date for applications is James Wiegold. The main speakers are: • Optimization, Control theory Friday 2 March 2012. It is expected that interviews will take place in • A. Abdollahi (Iran) • Image and Signal processing London in late April or early May. • M. Dixon (USA) • Mathematics of computation • M. Evans (USA) The Cecil King Travel Scholarship was established in 2001 by the Cecil The Invited Speakers are: • A. Giambruno (Italy) • José Arrieta (Universidad Complutense de King Memorial Fund. The award is made by the Council of the London • C.K. Gupta (Canada) Madrid) Mathematical Society on the recommendation of the Cecil King Prize • M. Herzog (Israel) • Giorgio Fusco (Universit� dell’Aquila) Committee, nominated by the Society’s Education Committee. • A. Jaikin-Zapirain (Spain) • Gerhard Kristensson (Lund University) • M. Kuzucuoglu (Turkey) • Charalambos Makridakis (University of Crete) • L-C. Kappe (USA) • Rainer Picard (University of Dresden) • A. Lucchini (Italy) • Athanasios Tzavaras (University of Crete) • A. Mann (Israel) • Glenn Vinnicombe (University of Cambridge) LMS PUBLICATIONS CATALOGUE • A. Moreto (Spain) Correction • A. Ol’shanskii (USA) Presentations are welcome on any of the • D.J.S. Robinson (USA) conference themes. Potential speakers should The Publications Catalogue for 2012, which The catalogue with the blue-grey cover is in- • P. Shumyatsky (Brazil) submit an extended abstract, not exceeding was distributed to readers with the January deed the 2012 catalogue, and contains the • G. Trastauson (UK) two pages in PDF format by 31 March 2012. Newsletter, contains an error: the year latest information and prices. The corrected • N. Vavilov (Russia) For further information visit the website at appears as ‘2011’ on the front cover of the catalogue can be viewed online via www.lms. • A. Zalesski (UK) http://noether.math.uoa.gr/m3st. printed copies. We apologize for this mistake. ac.uk/content/pubcat. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS DAY 2012 The next Women in Mathematics Day will be held on Friday 27 April 2012 at De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London. Sessions will include talks by women mathematicians in a variety of appointments and at different career stages. The organisers would be very grateful if all members could encourage women mathematicians, particularly students (including final-year undergraduates) and those at an early stage in their career, to attend this meeting. The Women in Mathematics Day provides a valuable opportunity to meet and talk with women who are active and successful in mathematics. Participants from previous meetings have found this opportunity useful and beneficial. While women are especially encouraged to attend this day, men are certainly not excluded. Any postgraduates, postdocs or research assistants wishing to give a talk during the after- noon session or present a poster should contact Susan Pitts ([email protected]) by 9 March 2012. To encourage high-quality posters, a £50 book token will be awarded for the poster that is judged to be the best Women in Mathematics Day Poster 2012. 12 Programme 13 10.30–11.00 Registration and Coffee 11.00–13.00 Morning Session Jennifer Scott (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) Challenges from a large sparse world Rachel Camina (Cambridge) The influence of conjugacy class sizes Christina Goldschmidt (Oxford) The scaling limit of the critical random graph 13.00–14.00 Lunch and Poster Session

14.15–16.00 Afternoon Session Tickner Jonathan © Postgraduate/Postdoc speakers 2011 Poster Competition Winner: 16.00–16.30 Tea Ndifreke Udosen, Reading University Participants are invited to join us for dinner at a local restaurant after the event. If you would like to attend, please email Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]). Please note that the dinner will not be paid for by the Society. Limited funds are available to help with the travel costs of students attending the event. Further details are available from Elizabeth Fisher at the Society (contact details below). To register contact Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]) by Friday 20 April. Late registrations for places may still be accepted, subject to availability. The day is free for students and £5 for all others – payable on the day. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

ASYMPTOTIC GROUP • to act as a forum for young researchers to present their work and to become known THEORY AND and integrated into the community. MODEL THEORY Speakers are: • James Drummond (Annecy/CERN) A two day workshop on Asymptotic Group • Benoit Vicedo (DESY, Hamburg/York) Theory and Model Theory will be held from • Christian Hagendorf (Geneva) 26 to 27 March 2012 at Royal Holloway, Uni- • Ben Hoare (student; Imperial) versity of London. The speakers will include: • Adam Nahum (student; Oxford) • R. Cluckers (Université de Lille and K.U. Leuven) There will be an informal poster session. • H. Helfgott (CNRS/École Normale Supérieure, All participants, especially students and post- Paris) docs, are encouraged to present a poster. For • J. Howie (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh) further information contact Niall MacKay • I. Kazachkov (University of Oxford) ([email protected]). The meeting is • F. Loeser (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, supported by an LMS Conference grant and Paris) the Institute of Physics. • H.D. Macpherson (University of Leeds) • U. Onn (Ben Gurion University of the Negev) BIOLOGICAL FLOW 14 • A. Ould Houcine (Universités de Lyon and 15 de Mons) A conference to celebrate the 70th birthday of The workshop forms part of the ‘South Professor T.J. Pedley, FRS, will take place at the England Profinite Groups Meetings’ which Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University are supported by an LMS Scheme 3 grant. The of Cambridge from 2 to 3 April 2012. Professor workshop is also funded by Royal Holloway, Pedley, Emeritus G.I. Taylor Professor of Fluid University of London. Applications for finan- Mechanics at the University of Cambridge, has cial support can be made on the registration played a leading role in the development of form. For more details see www.ma.rhul.ac.uk/ biological fluid mechanics. His 70th birthday model-theory or contact Benjamin Klopsch provides an excellent opportunity to bring and Christopher Voll at rhulworkshop2012@ leading figures in biological and biomedical googlemail.com. fluid mechanics to the UK as participants in this two-day conference. The conference will INTEGRABLE MODELS, address recent research across the discipline including: CONFORMAL FIELD THEORY • Cardiovascular and Respiratory Dynamics The 16th UK meeting on Integrable Models, • Cellular and Micro-Organism Dynamics Conformal Field Theory and Related Topics • Flow-Structure Interaction will take place at the University of York from • Swimming, Flying and Other Locomotion 13 to 14 April 2012. The main aims of the Contributed talks and posters are very wel- meeting are: come. Potential participants are strongly en- • the dissemination, explanation and discus- couraged to pre-register for the conference LMS MEMBERS: sion of recent exciting results in this field and dinner at http://biofluids.info/pre-regis- • to promote communication and collabora- ter. Enquiries should be directed to TJP-Fest@ see page 23 tion within the UK Integrable Models and biofluids.info. More information is available Conformal Field Theory community, and on the conference website www.biofluids. to bring together mathematicians and info. The conference is supported by an LMS physicists working in this area Conference grant. LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

LMS GRADUATE categorical in all uncountable powers). The meeting was followed by the LMS STUDENT MEETING Annual General Meeting in the Institute of Report Education, London, with a reception at De Morgan House afterwards. (See LMS Newslet- An LMS Graduate Student Meeting took place ter no. 410, January 2012, for a report.) at Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London on Shitao Wang STRING PHENOMENOLOGY Friday 18 November 2011. The meeting was at- University of York tended by approximately 20 graduate students 25–29 June 2012 and members. LMS PROSPECTS OF in association with the Newton Institute programme The first lecture was An introduction to Mathematics and Applications of Branes in Strong and M-Theory o-minimality by Dr Gareth Jones from the MATHEMATICS (3 January – 29 June 2012) University of Manchester who is conducting re- Report search on Pfaffian functions and o-minimality. After a brief coffee break, five PhD students How sexy is a PhD in Mathematics? Sixty Organisers: Joseph Conlon (University of Oxford), Fernando Quevedo (Cambridge/ from universities all over the country presented final-year undergraduates from across the ICTP, Trieste), Daniel Baumann (University of Cambridge) and Steve Abel (Durham). their research, as follows: UK dropped their Christmas shopping and There exist two Standard Models in physics, both of which are known to be inadequate. • Jakub Sliacan (London School of Economics) came to Bristol to find out. The event, which 16 The Standard Model of particle physics is accommodated but not explained by the Some motivations for perfect exponentiation took place from 16 to 17 December 2011, fully 17 formalism of quantum field theory. A deeper theoretical toolkit is needed to under- • Karin Valencia (Imperial College) funded by the London Mathematical Society, stand inter alia the quantum instability in the Higgs field, the apparent unification An application of topology: investigating comprised introductory lectures by senior aca- of gauge couplings at high energies, the presence of multiple generations and the programmed genome-wide rearrangements demics in pure and applied mathematics, presen- hierarchical structure of fermionic masses. in ciliates tations by the doctoral training centres in Bristol, • Stuart Murray (University of Edinburgh) Cambridge, Lancaster and Warwick and, most The Standard Model of cosmology provides a beautiful fit to precision data but is Quasimodes in a dispersive Lamb model importantly, ample opportunity for the students built around the idea of inflation, with no detailed microscopic understanding of the • Rachel Newton (University of Cambridge) to mingle with the professionals. The programme physics responsible for inflation. Cosmology furthermore tells us that a quarter of the Concrete cup product was packed with stimulating, brilliantly pre- Universe’s energy density is in an unknown form of dark matter. • Soma Purkait (University of Warwick) sented lectures. Each lecturer gave an overview String theory is a consistent theory of quantum gravity and provides a candidate theory On Shimura decomposition and Tunnell-like of her/his research field, discussed a few specific of fundamental interactions. String phenomenology is the branch of string theory that formulae open questions and concluded with a survey of aims to connect this subject to particle physics and cosmology. The ultraviolet consist- For their outstanding talks, Jakub Sliacan and the relevant research groups in the UK. ency of string theory motivates new ideas for low-energy physics and provides a rich Soma Purkait received prizes in recognition and The most exciting breakthroughs in science structure of constraints on low-energy theories, going beyond the requirements of encouragement of their efforts. often occur at the interface of different areas, low-energy effective field theory.String Phenomenology 2012 will be the 11th annual The LMS Publisher, Susan Hezlet, gave a short or by the transfer of techniques from one field String Phenomenology conference, following on from the successful 2011 conference talk on How to get your papers published. to another. The meeting kicked off with a in Madison, Wisconsin. It also marks ten years since the original String Phenomenology Vincenzo Mantova from Scuola Normale striking illustration of this fact in Tom Ward’s Conference in Oxford in 2002. The conference brings together researchers aiming to Superiore di Pisa, who was visiting the Uni- (UEA) lecture: from the analogy between prime connect fundamental and observable physics, through the study of string compactifi- versity of Oxford at the time of the meeting, numbers and the lengths of periodic orbits in cations, effective actions, supersymmetry breaking, model building, Standard Model gave a lecture on Some motivations for perfect chaotic systems, to the recent Fields medal- constructions, cosmology and inflation. expansions. winning work of Lindenstrauss, the interaction The last lecture was from Adam Harris of the between number theory and dynamical sys- Deadline for applications is 7 April 2012. Applications received before 5 March 2012 University of Oxford on Model theory as a guide tems has seen much fertile ground. A change will be given priority. in number theory. He used model-theoretic of gear to the second lecture; from the dynam- For more information visit the website at www.newton.ac.uk/programmes/BSM/bsmw05. notions as a guide in mathematics and intro- ics of numbers to dynamics of micro-swimmers: html. duced numerous examples of ‘perfect’ theory Tannie Liverpool (Bristol) introduced us to the and structures (where ‘perfect’ is defined as exciting world of soft matter theory. After LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

tea, Tom Coates (Imperial) explained how to on Saturday morning. Richard Craster (Imperial) Slurs, muds, emulsions and foams are only a see the level of interaction between the in- make hard problems easy: the classification of illustrated how surprising macroscopic effects few examples of complex fluids that show a vited speakers and the younger participants. basic building blocks in complex geometry can (such as invisibility) can be achieved by the clever distinctly different behaviour from the classi- In fact, one of the student participants, Shari be attacked by translating it to the world of use of metamaterials, and the impact that ap- cal Newtonian fluids. Helen Wilson (UCL) gave Levine from Oxford, is currently organising the symplectic geometry by means of mirror sym- plied mathematicians can make in this highly a brilliant overview of the techniques used in 15th colloquium in the series. metry. Jim Wright (Edinburgh) demonstrated promising research field. Another subject where this field and their many applications in indus- There were 18 talks in total over the three the fundamental role harmonic analysis plays the view from afar is crucial is geometric group try. Marta Mazzocco (Loughborough) rounded days. We limit ourselves here to describing the in many areas in pure and applied mathemat- theory. Cornelia Drutu (Oxford) showed us how off the meeting with a gentle introduction talks given by the invited speakers. ics, illuminating the many cross-connections in to deduce algebraic properties of a group by to Riemann surfaces and Teichmüller spaces Alexander Arhangel’skii (Ohio and Moscow) the case of the Fourier restriction problem. The studying its Cayley graphs, which in turn encode and their application in the study of Poisson talked on Remainders of Various Kinds of Friday session was concluded by a journey from the group’s geometric structure. The stimulating brackets and quantization – an amazing bridge Spaces in Compactifications, mainly about the Biology to Mathematics and back: Carmen lecture by Nadia Sidorova (UCL) featured scal- between pure mathematics and physics. remainders of non-locally compact topological Molina Paris (Leeds) told us about the real impact ing laws in probability, leading from the clas- We were impressed with the quality of all groups in Hausdorff compactifications. mathematical modelling can make in immunol- sical central limit theorem for sums of random lectures, perfectly pitched, and the active par- Paul Bankston (Marquette) gave a talk titled ogy. Dinner was set in the rooms of the math- variables to current research on random sorting ticipation of the audience in and between the A Framework for Characterising Topological ematics department with each table chaired by networks and the parabolic Anderson model. talks. A big thank you to all who made this Spaces which was about deciding whether or one of the speakers; the students cherished the Ben Green (Cambridge) gave a beauti- meeting a success! not a topological space can be characterised opportunity to get to know some of the leaders ful introduction to approximate groups and For further information on the talks see within a class of its ‘peers’ by a sentence of first- 18 in their research area in this informal setting. their relevance in additive combinatorics, in- www.maths.bris.ac.uk/~maxcu/Prospects2011. order logic. 19 ‘How do things look from far away?’ could cluding his groundbreaking work with Terry html. A photograph can be found on the back Paul Gartside (Pittsburgh) spoke on Strongly have been the subtitle for three of the lectures Tao on arithmetic progressions in the primes. cover of this Newsletter. Arcwise Connected Continua which involved Jens Marklof and Corinna Ulcigrai spaces where for every n points there is an arc University of Bristol connecting them, possibly with the order being specified. 14TH GALWAY TOPOLOGY Jan van Mill (Amsterdam) gave an interesting survey on Topological Homogeneity, including COLLOQUIUM several examples of homogeneous spaces and Report discussing several open problems. Ivan Relly (Auckland) gave the centrepiece Despite the name, the Galway Topology Collo- talk of the conference entitled A Topological quium series is held at varying locations around Antihero. This surveyed the topic of topological Ireland and the UK. The 14th session was held anti-properties, introduced by Paul Bankston in in Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) from 15 to 1979, and highlighted the contribution to the 17 August 2011. It served a dual purpose by field of Brian McMaster and his students. also marking the retirement from QUB of Brian Dona Strauss (Leeds) talked on The Algebra McMaster who has been active in this series of βN and Polynomial Returns which harked since its inception. The event was supported back to problems dating back to the 19th cen- by the Irish Mathematical Society, the Pure tury and work of Hardy and Littlewood. Mathematics Research Centre at QUB, and a On the Monday evening, the conference generous Conference grant from the London dinner was combined with a retirement din- Mathematical Society. ner for Brian and was enjoyed by all. A photo- The conference was attended by a total of graph can be found on the back cover of this 25 participants including eight postgraduate Newsletter and at www.qub.ac.uk/puremaths/ students, which was very gratifying as one Photos/Photograph_Album.html. of the features of the Galway talks has been Tony Wickstead involving students. It was, indeed, pleasing to Queen’s University Belfast LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

REVIEWS I hadn’t thought about such things since obvious sincerity. This is a man who really fashion. Thus the coverage of figures such as undergraduate days but Nahin drew me in believes in the value of computers to the Gerbert (later Pope Sylvester II) and Recorde Number-crunching: Taming unruly computa- and reminded me that the mathematics in this work of a mathematical physicist and, after (who introduced the × and = signs) appealed tional problems from mathematical physics area is a delight. He solves different cases of reading the book, I can see his point. greatly to me. I was disappointed, however, to science fiction by Paul J. Nahin, Princeton the problem using different analytic meth- Nick Gill by the coverage of Abel and Galois, who University Press, 2011, 400 pp, £20.95, $29.95, ods, and then uses MATLAB to implement two Open University share a single spread with a description of ISBN 978-0-6911 4425-2. different algorithms (one iterative, one proba- the classical problems of doubling the cube, If this book were a three-course meal in bilistic) which exhibit interesting behaviour. The Great Mathematicians by Robin Wilson trisecting an angle and squaring the circle. a posh restaurant, I’d know exactly what to This is followed up by an historically im- and Raymond Flood, Arcturus Publishing, Their stories are related in a telegraphic style, write: dodgy starter, yummy main, a most portant piece of mathematical physics: the 2011, 208 pp, £9.99, ISBN: 978-1-84837-902-2. missing out on a golden opportunity to tell peculiar dessert, and a waiter who drove me study of mixing in a one-dimensional crystal. The Great Mathematicians is a largely two of the more melodramatic stories from slightly bonkers but gave me a lovely cuddle The crystal is modeled as a string of particles chronological account of the development the history of mathematics. as I left. Now to translate all that into a book linked by springs, and a complete analysis is of mathematics from the Ancient Egyptians While the book contains descriptions and review.... given for the case where particle interaction to the present day. Material is presented in illustrations of a great number and range of Number-Crunching is a book for people is linear. The discussion is beautiful and the a series of two-page spreads, most of which mathematical results, it contains relatively with a pretty high level of mathematical result entirely satisfactory. This is followed up focus on the life and selected achievements of few formal proofs, with the notable excep- sophistication: Nahin expects the reader to by a numerical analysis (again using MATLAB) a single mathematician. In the words of the tion of a presentation of Cantor’s diagonal manipulate equations, change variables in of the non-linear situation; this analysis is now authors: ‘This book aims to present mathe- argument on page 165. This is a pity: with- 20 an integral, apply various rules of differentia- known as the ‘Fermi–Pasta–Ulam Computer matics with a human face.’ out proofs it can be difficult to appreciate 21 tion, and so on. It’s not a relaxing read: there Experiment’ after the three physicists who It divides the history of mathematics into five the elegance of the material that is being is a good level of rigour to the mathematics first performed this analysis on MANIAC I. main areas. Ancient mathematics is focussed presented. These are minor reservations and one is expected to follow fairly subtle The behaviour that MATLAB displays is unex- for the most part on Greek mathematics, however; the lack of depth in the treatment lines of argument carefully. pected and gives the reader a good sense of but also includes material on Chinese, Indian, is counterbalanced by the comprehensive Which makes it all the more unfortunate the excitement that Fermi and company must Mayan and Arabic mathematics. Early Euro- bibliography provided for further reading. that he spends half of the introduction dis- have felt. It is a splendid example of the power, pean mathematics stretches from Fibonacci The authors have been successful in pro- cussing ‘TUPA’, an imaginary ‘Universal Photo and importance, of computers in the study of to Desargues. Awakening and Enlightenment viding a comprehensive and non-technical Album’ containing all the images ever occur- mathematical physics. traces the development of mathematics in introduction to the great mathematicians of ring in the universe. The punch line is that The dessert in Number-Crunching is a series the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. history. TUPA cannot exist because the number of of short science fiction stories probing the The Age of Revolutions begins with Gauss Padraig Ó Catháin such images is many orders of magnitude various possibilities for computers in modern and ends with Klein. Finally, The Modern NUI, Galway greater than any feasible storage device. It’s life. The stories themselves are mildly enjoy- Age is a selection of mathematician a poor start: if you’re writing a book for peo- able, although they represent a strange non- from the twentieth and twenty-first ple who can integrate by parts, you shouldn’t sequitur in the context of the book. They are centuries, concluding with a discus- expect them to be impressed by the fact that also rather crude and, accompanied as they sion of Perelman and the Poincaré 10100 is much bigger than 1010. are by a discussion of the place of Sci-Fi in conjecture. So much for the dodgy starter. The main literature, I found them very limited in scope. The book is attractively bound, course, though, I enjoyed: Nahin discusses And, finally, that infuriating waiter. The and at £9.99, provides a competi- several important problems in mathematical book is littered with personal anecdote of tively priced nontechnical overview physics; he uses sophisticated mathematical the ‘wudja believe it?!’ variety, includes fre- of the development of mathemat- techniques to analyse them and then, when quent reference (including lengthy quotes) ics. I found the exposition of the the mathematics hits its limits, he shows how to the author’s other books, and periodically first two chapters particularly ap- computers can be used to uncover unexpected lapses into the tone of a fireside chat. Still, pealing, but as the book progresses behaviour. for all that, the self-effacing enthusiasm of the biographical sketches become The first big example is the hotplate prob- the author carries the day: I might have been thinner and the authors strug- lem (solving the heat equation on a unit seriously annoyed by some of the hokum, gle occasionally to present more square with prescribed boundary conditions). but instead I ended up charmed by Nahin’s technical material in an accessible LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 411 February 2012

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 26-27 Asymptotic Group Theory and Model MAY 2012 AUGUST 2012 Theory Workshop, Royal Holloway, University 19 LMS Poincaré Meeting, London 26-28 Modern Mathematical Methods in of London (411) This calendar lists Society meetings and other 28-1 Jun Boundary Value Problems for Science and Technology Conference, 26-29 Ischia Group Theory Conference 2012, mathematical events. Further information Linear Elliptic and Integrable PDEs: Kalamata, Greece (411) Ischia, Naples, Italy (411) may be obtained from the appropriate Theory and Computation ICMS Workshop, 27-30 Algebra, Combinatorics, Dynamics and 26-30 LMS Invited Lectures, Alexei Borodin, LMS Newsletter whose number is given in Edinburgh (405) Applications Workshop, Queen’s Glasgow (411) brackets. A fuller list of meetings and events 28-1 Jun Infinite Ergodic Theory Workshop, University, Belfast (410) 26-30 Logical Approaches to Barriers in is given on the Society’s website (www.lms. Surrey Complexity II, INI Workshop, Cambridge (410) ac.uk/newsletter/calendar.html). SEPTEMBER 2012 Please send updates and corrections to 27 On the Waterfront, Gresham College

[email protected]. Lecture, Museum of London (409) JUNE 2012 3 LMS Midlands Regional Meeting, 27-29 BAMC 2012, University College London 2-3 Numerical Linear Algebra, Control Aberystwyth (409) Theory and Data Assimilation Conference, 3-7 Topological Aspects of DNA Function FEBRUARY 2012 and Protein Folding INI Workshop, Reading 1 Heilbronn Quantum Algorithms Day, Cambridge 5-8 Higher Order Problems in Geometric Bristol (409) APRIL 2012 4-9 British Science Festival, Aberdeen (408) Analysis Workshop, Bath (409) 7-3 Mar Mathematics of the Heart, Theatre503, 2-3 Biological Flow Conference, Cambridge 10-14 Stochastic Partial Differential London (411) (411) 6 LMS Northern Regional Meeting, Equations INI Workshop, Cambridge 13-17 Symmetries of Discrete Objects 2-4 Young Researchers in Mathematics Northumbria University, Newcastle (411) 6-8 Mathematics of Human Biology Work- Conference, Queenstown, New Zealand Conference, Bristol (411) OCTOBER 2012 22 (406) 2-4 Recent Advances in Scattering shop, Northumbria University, Newcastle 23 1 LMS South-West and South Wales 21 Let’s Twist Again, Gresham College Amplitudes INI Workshop, Cambridge (411) Regional Meeting, Bristol Lecture, Museum of London (409) 2-5 British Colloquium for Theoretical 11-12 Numerical Analysis of Stochastic Partial 3-6 International Conference on Applied 23-24 Rigidity of Periodic and Symmetric Computer Science, Manchester (410) Differential Equations, Warwick and Computational Mathematics, Ankara, Structures Meeting, Kavli Royal Society 10-13 Formal and Computational 12-15 The Incomputable Workshop, Turkey International Centre, Newport Pagnell (409) Cryptographic Proofs INI Workshop, Chicheley Hall, North Buckinghamshire (407) 24 LMS Meeting and Mary Cartwright Cambridge (408) 12-15 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation Lecture, London (411) 13-14 Integrable Models, Conformal Field International Conference, Athens, Greece Theory and Related Topics Meeting, York 18-20 Frontiers of Nevanlinna Theory 4: MATHEMATICS OF THE HEART (411) Nevanlinna Theory and Number Theory, MARCH 2012 Mathematics of the Heart is showing at 16-19 BMC 2012, University of Kent, University College London (401) 4 Neurodynamics Workshop Tutorial Day, Theatre503 (503 Battersea Park Road, London Canterbury (409) 18-23 Turing Centenary Conference, Edinburgh (409) SW11) from 7 February to 3 March 2012. The 16-19 Distinguished Lecture Series, Bristol Cambridge (407) 5-7 Neurodynamics Workshop, Edinburgh play was developed with the help of Pro- (409) (411) 25-29 String Phenomenology INI Workshop, fessor Ian Stewart (Warwick) and Professor 14 Combinatorics Meeting, Oxford 16-20 Noncommutative Geometry INI–WIMCS Cambridge (411) David Acheson (Jesus College, Oxford) and 14-16 Pattern Formation: The Inspiration of Meeting, Cardiff (410) 29 LMS Meeting and Hardy Lecture, Alan Turing INI Satellite Meeting, Oxford (408) 16-20 Condensed Matter, Black Holes and London uses ideas of chaos theory as a metaphor for 15-17 The Big Bang Science and Engineering Holography INI Workshop, Cambridge love and the desire for prediction. 17-19 Frontiers of Nevanlinna Theory 3: As it has a mathematical theme we Fair, NEC Birmingham (407) JULY 2012 18-23 Stochastic Modelling in Biological Applications of Nevanlinna Theory to thought your members might be interested 2-7 6th European Congress of Mathematics, Systems LMS–EPSRC Short Course, Oxford Differential and Functional Equations, in coming to see it. To this end we are of- (410) University College London (401) Kraków, Poland (409) fering full-price tickets at the concessionary 15th Galway Topology Colloquium, 21 Zeeman Medal 2011 Award Ceremony, 20-21 Elmer Rees’ 70th Birthday Celebration 9-11 rate of £9 for all LMS members. Please call The Royal Society, London (411) Conference, Bristol (409) Oxford the Theatre503 box office on 020 7978 7040 21-22 Young Functional Analysts’ Workshop, 24 Final Score, Gresham College Lecture, 9-13 Additive Combinatorics in Paris 2012 and quote ‘Maths Offer’ to secure this special Oxford (411) Museum of London (409) Conference, Paris, France (409) rate. 23-24 North British Functional Analysis 27 Women in Mathematics Day, De Morgan 23-27 Topological Fluid Dynamics, INI Amy Michaels Seminar, Oxford (411) House, London (411) Workshop, Cambridge Assistant Producer LMS-FUNDED MEETINGS Anthony Wickstead Anthony

14th Galway Topology Colloquium held at Queen’s University Belfast from 15 to 17 August 2011 (report on page 19) Corinna Ulcigrai Corinna

Dr Helen Wilson (UCL) speaking at the LMS Prospects of Mathematics meeting held at the University of Bristol from 16 to 17 December 2011 (report on page 17)