November 2012

LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 419 November 2012

Society 2012 ELECTIONS cies for Member-at-large. Meetings Six candidates have been TO COUNCIL AND proposed for three vacan- and Events NOMINATING cies in the membership of 2012 Nominating Committee. COMMITTEE The slates and candidate bi- Thursday 15 November This year, to facilitate the ographies for the election Good Practice Scheme introduction of an elec- can be found on the LMS Workshop, London tronic voting system, the website at www.lms.ac.uk/ page 12 LMS elections will be ad- content/lms-elections-2012. Friday 16 November ministered by the Elector- For both electronic and Annual General al Reform Services (ERS). postal voting the deadline Meeting, London Members should now have for receipt of votes is 8 1 page 3 received a communica- November 2012. Members tion from the ERS contain- may still cast a vote in per- 2013 ing a paper ballot. This son at the AGM. year, as an alternative to Members may like to note Friday 1 March paper, members may cast that a LMS Elections blog, Mary Cartwright Lecture, London a vote online by going to moderated by the Scru- www.votebyinternet.com/ tineers, can be found at Monday 18 March LMS2012 and using the two http://discussions.lms.ac.uk/ Northern Regional part security code printed elections2012/. Meeting, Newcastle on their ballot paper or us- page 7 ing the details in the e-mail Future Elections 18-19 April sent by the ERS. Members are invited to Women in We hope that as many make suggestions for fu- Maths Day members as possible will ture nominees for election Cambridge cast their vote. If you have to Council. These should not received ballot mate- be addressed to the Nomi- Friday 5 July rial, please contact duncan. nating Committee (nomina- LMS Meeting [email protected], confirm- [email protected]). Members London ing the address to which may also make direct nomi- you would like the material nations: details will be sent. published in the May 2013 With respect to the elec- Newsletter or are available tion itself, there are two from Duncan Turton at the NEWSLETTER candidates for the post of LMS (duncan.turton@lms. General Secretary and two ac.uk). ONLINE: for Education Secretary. Go to Sixteen candidates are Fiona Nixon newsletter.lms.ac.uk proposed for seven vacan- Executive Secretary LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

LMS ANNUAL DINNER ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The 2012 LMS Annual Dinner will be LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY held on Friday 16 November 2012 at The Annual General Meeting of the 7.30 pm (for 8.00 pm start) at The Rus- Society will be held at 3.00 pm on Friday sell Hotel, London WC1. The LMS Annu- 16 November 2012 in the Jeffrey Hall at ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING al Dinner follows the Society’s Annual the Institute of Education, 20 Bedford General Meeting at the Institute of Ed- Way, London WC1H 0AL. The business 16 November 2012 ucation, and the Society’s wine recep- shall be: tion at De Morgan House. 1. Elections to Council and Nominating Jeffrey Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL The cost for members and their guests Committee to attend the LMS Annual Dinner is £45 2. Review of Society Activities 2011-2012 (Nearest tube: Russell Square) per person, which is for a three-course 3. Report of the Treasurer meal and wine. Members wishing to 4. Resolutions: attend should make cheques payable • Adoption of the Trustees Report to ‘London Mathematical Society’ and for 2011/12 Programme: send to: Leanne Marshall, London Math- • Appointment of Auditors ematical Society, De Morgan House, 57- • Approval of changes to By-laws 3.00–3.30 Annual General Meeting 58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS. 5. Presentation of certificates and the Please also indicate any dietary require- 2012 LMS prize winners 3.30–4.30 Charles Stuart (EPFL, Lausanne) N ments. Payment should arrive by Mon- It is hoped that as many members as pos- Bifurcation, asymptotic bifurcation and elliptic equations on R 2 day 5 November 2012. sible will be able to attend. 3 Any queries should be sent to leanne. Fiona Nixon 4.30–4.55 Tea [email protected]. Executive Secretary 4.55–5.00 Announcement of Election Results LMS Newsletter http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk 5.00–6.00 Bryce McLeod (Oxford) Editorial office: [email protected]; London Mathematical Society, Naylor Lecture De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655) The wedge entry problem Articles: please send articles to [email protected] Events calendar: please send updates and corrections to [email protected] Advertising: for rates and guidelines, see www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/ratecard.html The meeting will include the presentation of certificates to the 2012 LMS General Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) prize winners. Reports Editor: Professor R.A. Wilson ([email protected]) Reviews Editor: Dr C.M. Roney-Dougal ([email protected]) The meeting will be followed by a reception at De Morgan House. Administrative Editor: S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) Typeset by the London Mathematical Society at De Morgan House; printed by Holbrooks Printers The Society’s Annual Dinner will be held in The Russell Hotel’s Fitzroy Doll’s Ltd. Restaurant at 7.30 pm after the reception. Members and their guests are Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. Items and advertisements by invited to attend the Annual Dinner. The cost to attend the dinner will be the first day of the month prior to publication, or the closest preceding working day. Notices and £45 per person. Those wishing to attend the dinner should contact Leanne advertisements are not accepted for events that occur in the first week of the publication month. Marshall ([email protected]) before 8 November. News items and notices in the Newsletter may be freely used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, although attribution is requested when reproducing whole articles. Contributions to the Newslet- There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of ter are made under a non-exclusive licence; please contact the author or photographer for the rights to reproduce. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of information in the members of the Society or research students to attend the meeting. Requests Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of the London Math- for support, including an estimate of expenses, and any other queries about ematical Society. the AGM, should be sent to Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]). Charity registration number: 252660. LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

LMS PRIZES 2013 SET AWARDS 2012 a section on Alan Turing), along with a short TONY POTTER Poincaré exhibition. The event was also an Call for Nominations This year's SET award in mathematics went opportunity to distribute the LMS Annual Dr Anthony J.B. Potter, who was elected a The London Mathematical Society wel- to Josephine French (University of Oxford) Review, and also provide information leaflets member of the London Mathematical Society comes nominations for the 2013 prizes for her research project entitled Differ- on the LMS, including Membership, Grants, on18 January 1976, died on 3 April 2012, aged to recognise and celebrate the achieve- ential operators on base affine space. Events and Women in Mathematics. 64. ments in and contributions to all aspects Josephine received her award at the SET Visitors were given a tour of the Recep- Rob Archbold writes: Tony Potter was a de- of mathematics, including applied math- Awards Dinner and Presentation Ceremo- tion area, Room 14 with its extensive views voted member of the Mathematics Department ematics, mathematical physics and math- ny held at Kensington Town Hall in Lon- over Russell Square and the Members’ Room in Aberdeen from 1972 until his retirement in ematical aspects of computer science. In don on 26 September. on the second floor. The tour route also al- 2011. He was a mathematical analyst and his 2013 the LMS Council expects to award: The other two finalists for the Best lowed visitors to view pictures of all the LMS research involved the application of functional • The De Morgan Medal is the Society’s Mathematics Student category were Ju- Presidents. analysis and topological methods to the study premier award for contributions to lian Brough (University of Warwick) for his As with 2011, the majority of people at- of non-linear differential equations. Particular- mathematics. work on Coset diagrams and their applica- tending were regular visitors to Open House ly striking was his solo work on the application • The Senior Whitehead Prize for work tions to finitely presented groups and Ste- events and therefore particularly interested of Hilbert’s projective metric to non-homoge- in, influence on or service to math- ven Charlton (Durham University) for his in the architecture. There was also an in- neous operators. He also collaborated with a ematics, or recognition of lecturing work on Primes of the form x� + ny�. terest in the history of the Society and in number of leading figures in the area, spend- gifts in the field of mathematics. All deserve congratulations for their mathematics in general with a wide range ing various sabbaticals at Rutgers and Sussex. • The Naylor Prize and Lectureship for achievements. of ages and nationalities attending includ- His former colleague and collaborator, Michael work in, and influence on, and contri- More information about the awards is ing several families. There were also some Crabb, writes ‘I owe Tony a great deal math- butions to applied mathematics and/or available at www.setawards.org/set/index. A-level students wishing to study mathemat- ematically; it was his seminar, with Daciberg 4 the applications of mathematics, and php. ics at university and several visitors who had Goncalves, that got me interested in Fixed 5 lecturing gifts. graduated with degrees in mathematics. Point Theory and the Fuller index in particular’. • The Berwick Prize in recognition of OPEN HOUSE In his general approach to mathematics (both an outstanding piece of mathematical teaching and research) Tony was rigorous, me- research by an LMS member and actu- SUCCESS CONTINUES ticulous and highly knowledgeable. His clarity ally published by the Society during Open House was once again a success for the in teaching was very much appreciated by his the eight years ending on 31 Decem- LMS, with 230 people visiting De Morgan students. He taught throughout the Math- ber 2012. House on Sunday 23 September 2012. ematics and Engineering Mathematics curricu- • The Whitehead Prizes for work in and Members of LMS staff along with Open lum, was an Advisor of Studies for many years, influence on mathematics. House volunteers acted as guides on the a sub-warden in Johnston Hall and a dominant For further information and nomina- day. There were regular tours of De Morgan force in staff-student football matches of the tion forms visit the LMS website (www. House with information about the architec- 1970s. Tony had a cheerful disposition and lms.ac.uk/content/nominations-lms-priz- ture of the building and the history of the was generous with his time, always ready to es) or contact Duncan Turton, Secretary LMS including a timeline presentation (with respond to requests for help from students or to the Prizes Committee at the Society colleagues throughout the University. In recent (tel: 020 7927 0801, email: prizes@lms. times, he collaborated with David Heald (Aber- ac.uk). CONFERENCE fACILITIES deen Business School) on mathematical model- The Prizes Committee is keen to in- De Morgan House offers 40% discount on ling for the UK-Scotland Barnett formula. crease the number of nominations it re- Outside the University, Tony was a mem- room hire to all Mathematical charities and ceives and, in particular, the number of ber of the Caledonian Cricket Club for several 20% to all not-for-profit organisations. nominations for women, which are dis- years. He batted with great panache rather proportionately low each year. The prize Support the LMS by booking the next than as a long term investment and he enjoyed regulations refer to the concept of ‘aca- London event at De Morgan House. hitting huge sixes. He was also a member of the demic age’– rather than date of birth – in Call us now on 020 7927 0800 or email Golf Clubs at Braemar and Newmachar. order to take account more fully of bro- [email protected] Sadly, Tony was able to enjoy only a brief pe- ken career patterns. to check availability, receive a quote or riod of retirement in Edinburgh. He is deeply The closing date for nominations is arrange a viewing of the venue. missed by his partner, Barbara, his family and Friday 18 January 2013. his former colleagues. LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

GEOFFREY HORROCKs polynomial ring to be free, which formed the basis of Daniel Quillen's proof that such Professor Geoffrey Horrocks, who was elect- modules are always free (Serre's conjecture). LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY ed a member of the London Mathematical Graeme Segal writes: It was only when I Society on 15 March 1956, died on 12 Sep- had the task of writing an obituary account tember 2012, aged 79. of Dan Quillen’s work that I realized how NORTHERN REGIONAL MEETING Peter Newstead writes: Geoffrey Horrocks closely Quillen’s famous proof of the Serre obtained his BA and PhD from Cambridge conjecture follows a paper of Geoffrey Hor- Monday 18 March 2013 University. He subsequently spent two years rocks written ten years earlier, and was led as an Assistant Lecturer at King's College to reflect on how another of Geoffrey’s few Herschel Building, Newcastle University London, before moving to the University short papers contains the germ of the ADHM of Liverpool in 1958. He became a Reader construction which ten years later started in 1965 and was appointed Professor at the modern gauge theory as well a whole area University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1966, of current algebraic geometry. We cannot Programme: where he remained until his retirement in but feel sad that our Society never managed 1998. to give any recognition to one of the coun- 2.00 pm Opening of the meeting Geoffrey was a pioneer in England of try’s most original and influential mathema- the ‘new’ algebraic geometry of Serre and ticians; but it is not hard to see how it came Volodymyr Mazorchuk (Uppsala) Grothendieck, the main part of his work run- about. He was not one to call attention to ning from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. his ideas, and he belonged to an age which 3.15 pm Ivan Smith (Cambridge) He studied in particular vector bundles on saw no point in routine publications. More 6 projective spaces. His publication list is rel- fundamentally, his example shows how long 4.30 pm Tea/Coffee 7 atively short, but all his papers have some- is the timescale over which mathematical in- thing significant to say and several are of teractions happen and how easy they are to 5.15 pm Bernhard Keller (Paris 7) seminal importance. overlook: his secure place in the history of Geoffrey's most famous work is undoubt- mathematics was mediated – so I am told – 6.30 pm Reception and Buffet at The Penthouse edly his joint paper of 1973 with David by surprisingly few ‘citations’. Mumford, in which a vector bundle of rank 2 on 4-dimensional projective space was con- UNDERGRADUATE These lectures are aimed at a general mathematical audience. All interested, structed with very interesting geometrical whether LMS members or not, are most welcome to attend this event. properties; it is known as the Horrocks-Mum- ESSAY PRIZE ford bundle. The British Society for the History of Math- The theme of an early paper was to re- ematics is pleased to invite submissions for its To register, please visit www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/triangulations/index.php?p=6. cover vector bundles from cohomological 2012-13 Undergraduate Essay prize. The essay, Registration closes on 31 January 2013. information and hence to reduce the con- which may be on any topic within the history struction of such bundles to linear algebra. of mathematics, should be between 2,000 to The Society Meeting forms part of the workshop on Triangulations and This insight led in particular to the construc- 2,500 words. The prize is open to any person Mutations from 18-22 March. For further details visit: www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/ tion of instantons in the celebrated ADHM who is enrolled as an undergraduate in a UK paper of 1977. Also in 1977 Wolf Barth used or Irish university during the academic year triangulations/index.php?p=6. Geoffrey's methods to describe the moduli 2012-13. The value of the prize will be £100, of vector bundles on the projective plane plus free membership of the Society for a year. There are funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of members and this work was extended further in 1978 Essays in submission for the prize should be of the Society or research students to attend the meeting and workshop. by Barth and Klaus Hulek. Perhaps the most sent via email attachment to Dr Mark McCa- Requests for support, including an estimate of expenses, may be addressed significant advance was that of Alexander rtney ([email protected]). Applicants Beilinson, who extended Geoffrey's results should also give details of their place and to the organisers ([email protected]). by constructing a ‘two-sided resolution’ of year of study and the title of the degree pro- any coherent sheaf on projective space. gramme on which they are enrolled. In another early paper, Geoffrey obtained The deadline for receipt of submissions is a condition for a projective module on a 1 May 2013. LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

ENHANCEMENT AND viduals for funding to attend conferences in the UK; Help budding biologists develop their or to visit other institutions or to support • describe the relationship between the mathematics skills PARTNERSHIP their personal research in other ways. funders and performers of research The Biotechnology and Biological Scienc- Clay Mathematics Institute Enquiries about eligibility should be and development (R&D) in the UK es Research Council (BBSRC) has launched sent to [email protected]. Appli- (government, higher education, busi- a new project to wed mathematics and The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) in- cants should set out in a brief letter a de- ness enterprise, charities and overseas); bioscience in the classroom. To highlight vites proposals under its new programme scription of the planned activity, the way • report on business enterprise R&D the integral nature of mathematics to bi- Enhancement and Partnership. The aim in which this could be enhanced by the expenditure; ology the BBSRC is calling on its research is to enhance activities that are already CMI, the existing funding, the funds re- • summarise key data on output and community to submit examples of math- planned, particularly by funding interna- quested and the reason why they cannot employment of science graduates and ematics in their research, which can then tional participation. The programme is be obtained from other local or national postgraduates, and other employment be developed into engaging classroom broadly defined, but subject to general sources. Funds requested should not be data; and resources. principles: out of proportion to those obtained from • show how the UK compares with other The new project aims to inspire young • CMI funding will be used in accord- other sources. The CMI may request inde- G7 countries. people to continue studying mathemat- ance with the Institute's mission and its pendent letters of support. More information is available at http:// ics and make them aware of the need for status as an operating foundation to Applications should be sent to tinyurl.com/6g59xxg. mathematical skills in modern bioscience enhance mathematical activities organ- [email protected]. There is no dead- SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES research in all areas, from bioinformat- ised by or planned in partnership with line, but the call will be closed when the ics and systems biology to medicine and other organisations. current year's budget has been committed. Reform of Key Stage 4 exams biotechnology. More information will be • It will not be used to meet expenses On 17 September 2012, Education Secre- available in due course. that could be readily covered from MATHEMATICS tary Michael Gove announced the coali- OTHER 8 local or national sources. tion’s Key Stage 4 exam reforms. 9 • All proposals will be judged by the POLICY ROUND-UP GCSE exams will be replaced by a new Reshuffle: Appointments of interest for CMI's Scientific Advisory Board. October 2012 English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBacc), STEM and education The majority of students will be expected David Cameron reshuffled his cabinet and RESEARCH Examples include: to work towards the certificate, which junior ministerial teams in September. • Funding a distinguished international Liberal Democrats vote for above-infla- will be given to those who obtain top speaker at a local or regional meeting. tion boost to research budget grade passes in English, mathematics, the Department for Business Innovation and • Partnership in the organisation of The Liberal Democrat party voted in fa- sciences, foreign languages and the hu- Skills (BIS) conferences and workshops. vour of a 15 year strategy to support sci- manities – history or geography. The first Both Vince Cable and David Willetts re- • Funding a short visit by a distinguished ence and research in the UK. The policy students will sit the new English, math- main in their respective posts. Matthew mathematician to participate in a paper was proposed by Julian Huppert ematics and science exams in the summer Hancock becomes Parliamentary Under- focused topical research programme at MP. The document calls for the science of 2017. Each subject will be delivered Secretary of State for Skills (jointly with an institute or university. budget to be increased by 3% above in- by a single exam board on a five-year the Department for Education). • Funding international participation flation for 15 years and for bureaucracy contract. Other key elements include a in summer schools (lecturers and to be cut to support industrial R&D. More move away from modular units as well Department for Education students) or repeating a successful information is available at http://science- as coursework and other forms of inter- Michael Gove remains in post but there summer school in another country. campaign.org.uk/?p=10919. nal assessment. There will be one end of have been changes to the ministerial • Funding a special lecture at a summer course examination. More information is team. school or during a research institute SET Statistics - Science, engineering and available at http://tinyurl.com/8rqqmnh. David Laws: Minister of State (Schools) programme. technology indicators (jointly with the Cabinet Office) • Funding an extension of stay in the 'SET Statistics' is a summary of key science, ACME annual conference summary report Lord Hill of Oareford CBE: Parliamentary host country or neighbouring countries engineering and technology indicators ACME held its annual conference at the Under-Secretary of State (Schools) of a conference speaker. and is prepared by BIS in collaboration Royal Society in July. The summary con- Elizabeth Truss: Parliamentary Under-Sec- Applications will only be received from with the Office for National Statistics. It ference report – Show your working: en- retary of State (Education and Childcare) institutions or from organisers of confer- aims to: suring mathematics education policy is ences, workshops, and summer schools. In • Provide a historical analysis of the well-informed – is now available at http:// Government invests £10 million to help particular the CMI will not consider appli- government financing of science, engi- tinyurl.com/8d7vajt. universities move to open access cations under this programme from indi- neering and technology (SET) activities A £10 million government investment was LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

announced by Universities and Science step up action to encourage more girls to • Mike Prest (Manchester) The speakers are: Minister David Willetts at the British Sci- consider careers in science and engineer- There will also be a short course deliv- • Katrin Wendland (Freiburg) A con- ence Festival in Aberdeen in September. ing, an issue highlighted previously by ered by Alex Wilkie (Manchester). This structive approach to Mathieu ‘This will help universities with the tran- the independent Science and Engineer- conference is chiefly aimed at postgradu- Moonshine sition to open access to publicly-funded ing Education Advisory Group. More in- ate students and postdocs working in • David Evans (Cardiff) The search for research findings. The investment will en- formation is available at http://tinyurl. model theory and related subject areas, the exotic - conformal field theories able a number of research-intensive UK com/8n3wpga. but anybody interested in the subject is and subfactors institutions to kick-start the process of Dr John Johnston welcome. • Eduard Looijenga (Utrecht) Meromor- developing policies and set up funds to Mathematics Promotion Unit For more information and to regis- phic automorphic forms in algebraic meet the costs of article processing charg- ter visit the website at www.mims.man- geometry es (APCs). This is in line with the recom- ANALYSIS DAY chester.ac.uk/events/ workshops/index. • Samuel Grushevsky (Stony Brook) Ge- mendations of the Finch report on open html. The conference is supported by an ometry of the moduli space of abelian access, published in June’. More infor- Analysis Day will be held on 7 January LMS Postgraduate Research Conference varieties mation is available at http://tinyurl.com/ 2013 at the University of Bristol. The day Scheme 8 grant. • Nils Scheithauer (Darmstadt) From cmcmvg6. will begin with coffee at 11 am, with the groups to Lie algebras and automor- first talk at 11:30 am. The last talk will MODULAR FORMS, phic forms Jobs and Growth end at 5:15 pm, followed by dinner. The This meeting is sponsored by the Heil- The Royal Academy of Engineering has speakers are: GEOMETRY AND PHYSICS bronn Institute, and some financial sup- published a report entitled, Jobs and • David Preiss, FRS (Warwick) Do we re- Modular Forms, Geometry and Phys- port is available for graduate students to growth: the importance of engineering ally know what Lebesgue null sets are? ics Heilbronn Day will take place on 23 travel to it. Apply to the organiser Pro- skills to the UK economy http://tinyurl. • Dorin Bucur (Universite de Savoie) November 2012 at the ICMS, South Col- fessor Gregory Sankaran (G.K.Sankaran@ 10 com/9958z8c. Isoperimetric inequalities and free lege Street, Edinburgh. The lectures are bath.ac.uk) for details. For further infor- 11 The report does highlight areas par- discontinuity problems intended for a general mathematical au- mation visit the website at http://people. ticularly associated with engineering but • Peter Topping (Warwick) Ricci flow on dience. Registration is from 9:30 - 10:00. bath.ac.uk/masgks/heilbronn.html. it also brings together evidence on the noncompact surfaces labour market returns from science, en- • Lawrence C. Evans (UC Berkeley) On gineering, technology and mathematics the regularity problem for sup-norm (STEM) qualifications as well as examin- variational problems ing the link between STEM education, For more information email Michiel training and qualifications and economic van den Berg (m.vandenberg@bristol. growth. Two of the principal findings: ac.uk) or Isaac Chenchiah (Isaac.Chenchi- • Independent models of future skills [email protected]) or visit the website at demand are predicting shortages of http://goo.gl/l9H3j. STEM qualified people for all occupa- tional levels. MODEL THEORY CONFERENCE • Surveys of the supply of STEM qualified people through the UK education The third annual British Postgraduate and training system when compared Model Theory Conference will be held with models of demand suggest that at the University of Manchester from 16 demand for STEM skills will exceed to 18 January 2013. Model theory is a supply into the foreseeable future. growing subject with many connections and applications to other areas of both Science and engineering careers for girls pure and applied mathematics, including Gender inequality in key Scottish indus- algebra, number theory, and integrable tries will be addressed by a new £250,000 systems. In addition to talks and posters fund to encourage girls to widen their ca- contributed by attendees the conference reer options. will feature invited talks from: The funding will go towards Career- • Françoise Delon (Paris 7) wise Scotland, a new initiative which will • Anand Pillay (Leeds) LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

BRITISH MATHEMATICAL COLLOQUIUM 2013 GOOD PRACTICE The 65th British Mathematical Colloquium will take place at the University of Sheffield from SCHEME WORKSHOP 25 to 28 March 2013.

15 November 2012 Plenary speakers: • John Baez (Riverside) • Mikhail Kapranov (Yale) Although nearly 40% of mathematical sciences graduates are women, only about 4% of • Ragni Piene (Oslo) • Laurent Saloffe-Coste (Cornell) UK mathematics professors are female. Relative to men, women are much less likely to go • Guy Henniart (Paris) • Thomas Schick (Göttingen) on to become academic mathematicians. Of course, this trend is not unique to mathematics, but the drop-off rate for women in mathematics is particularly high and this should be Professor Baez's lecture will be a public lecture on the subject of mathematics and the environ- a concern to mathematics departments. The recent International Review of Mathematics ment and will be a Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 event. highlighted concern about the low numbers of female mathematicians in the UK. Morning speakers will include: The LMS Women in Mathematics Committee, in collaboration with the Committee of • Konstantin Ardakov • Tim Dokchitser • Lasse Rempe-Gillen Heads of Departments of Mathematical Sciences (HoDoMs), have set up a Good Practice • June Barrow-Green • Tony Dooley • Gesine Reinert Scheme specifically for mathematics departments, to help the community to recognise and • Tom Bridgeland • Tom Leinster • Stuart White celebrate good employment practice for women working in mathematics. The scheme • Gavin Brown • Zinaida Lykova compliments initiatives such as Athena SWAN. Afternoon workshops: • Noncommutative Algebra and Representation 12 A Good Practice Scheme workshop will be held on Thursday 15 November 2012 to provide • Category Theory Theory 13 departments with knowledge and tools they can use to improve recruitment and reten- • History of Mathematics • Number Theory tion of women in mathematics. This may include making an application for Athena SWAN • K-Theory and Analysis • Probability status. • Mathematical Higher Education • Topology

The workshop will be held at De Morgan House. Registration will be from 10.30 am and There will be opportunities for contributed talks either by individuals or, in workshop format, the workshop will run from 11.00 am – 3.15 pm. Participants will: by groups with a common interest. Proposals for contributed talks or workshops are particularly welcome from postgraduate students. • hear about how the LMS Good Practice Scheme can support departments working towards recruiting and retaining more women in mathematics; Anyone interested should contact Eugenia Cheng ([email protected]) or David Jordan • hear from Athena SWAN about the process of applying for Bronze, Silver and Gold ([email protected]). Award Department status; For further information visit the website at www.sheffield.ac.uk/maths/bmc2013. • hear from departments already engaged in the process of applying for Athena SWAN status; The colloquium is supported by an LMS Conference grant. • make useful contacts with other departments active in promoting the careers of women in mathematics; and • contribute to the discussion on what resources the LMS could usefully provide the UK-JAPAN WINTER There will be three short lecture courses plus a community with to aid benchmarking. number of individual talks, including one by Craig SCHOOL 2013 Evans (University of California, Berkeley), who is sup- Departments are welcome to send more than one participant. If you wish to register then The UK-Japan Winter Schools have been held an- ported by an LMS Scheme 2 grant held by Geoffrey please send the contact details of your participants to Duncan Turton at womeninmaths@ nually since 1999. The aim of the Schools is to bring Burton (Bath). The lecturers giving the short courses lms.ac.uk. together Japanese and UK scientists, in particular are: young researchers and students, in a relaxing and • Gui-Qiang Chen (University of Oxford) Full details of the scheme and the workshop are available at www.lms.ac.uk/content/ stimulating atmosphere. The next UK-Japan Winter • Yoshikasu Giga (University of Tokyo) good-practice-scheme. School Nonlinear Analysis will take place in London, • John Toland (University of Cambridge) UK, from 7 to 11 January 2013. It will be held at the For further information visit the website www. Cathy Hobbs – Chair, GPS Steering Group Royal Academy of Engineering, under the auspices mth.kcl.ac.uk/~berndt/conferences/UK-Japan13/ Gwyneth Stallard – Chair, WiM Committee of King's College London. ws2013home.html or contact one of the local or- LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

ganizers: Adrian Constantin (adrian.constantin@ of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath. kcl.ac.uk) and Hisashi Okamoto (okamoto@kurims. Contact: Geoffrey Burton (g.r.burton@bath. kyoto-u.ac.jp). ac.uk). The series of UK-Japan Winter Schools gratefully • Monday 7 January, On the regularity problem ASPECTS OF TOPOLOGY acknowledges support from the Daiwa Foundation, for sup-norm variational problems, 4.15-5.15 the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, King's Col- pm, Venue Seminar Room, Howard House, in Geometry and Physics lege London and the Research Institute for Math- University of Bristol. This lecture forms part of a ematical Sciences (Kyoto University). Bristol Analysis Day, with three other lectures, given by Dorin Bucur, David Preiss and Peter 17-19 December 2012, Oxford VISIT OF CRAIG EVANS Topping. Contact: Michiel van den Berg ([email protected]) Overview Professor Lawrence Craig Evans (University of Cali- • Friday 11 January, Duality methods for viscosity fornia, Berkeley) will visit the University of Bath, solutions, 12.15-1.15 pm, Al Qasimi Lecture The conference aims to gather leading researchers and to showcase topological ideas the University of Bristol and King's College London Theatre, Royal Academy of Engineering, in a variety of current research developments. It marks and honours the 70th birth- in the first half of January 2013. He will deliver the 3 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DG. day of Graeme Segal. The conference will take place at the Mathematical Institute in following lectures, to which all are welcome: Contact: Eugene Shargorodsky Oxford. The dinner and conference accommodation will be at Merton College. • Friday 4 January, Nonconvex Hamilton-Jacobi ([email protected]) PDE and differential games, 2.00-3.30 pm, The visit of Professor Evans is supported by an LMS Speakers Wolfson Lecture Theatre (4W1.7), Department Scheme 2 grant. • Michael Atiyah (University of Edinburgh) • David Ben-Zvi (University of Texas at Austin) 14 • Kevin Costello (Northwestern University) 15 RECORDS OF PROCEEDINGS • Simon Donaldson* (Imperial College, London) • Nigel Hitchin (Oxford University) AT LMS MEETINGS • Michael Hopkins (Harvard University) • Soren Galatius (Stanford University) MIDLANDS REGIONAL MEETING • Maxim Kontsevich (IHES, Paris) held on 3 September 2012 at Aberystwyth University as part of the Regional • Gregory Moore* (Rudgers University) Workshop on Quantum Probablistic Symmetries. Over 40 members and visitors were • Constantin Teleman (Berkeley University) present for all or part of the meeting. The meeting began at 1.45 pm with a welcome from the Vice-Chancellor, April Schedule McMahon. On Monday afternoon Michael Hopkins (Harvard University) will give the Astor Lec- The President, Dr Graeme Segal, was in the Chair and opened the meeting. ture. This is followed by plenary talks on Tuesday and Wednesday. The conference No members were elected to membership. dinner on Wednesday evening will be in honour of Graeme Segal. A detailed schedule with titles and abstracts will be available on the website. Four members signed the book and were admitted to the Society. Professor John Gough introduced a lecture given by Professor Roland Speicher on Funding Quantum symmetries in free probability. Professor Gough then introduced a second lecture given by Professor Dan-Virgil This conference is sponsored through an EPSRC Platform Grant of the Mathematical Voiculescu entitled Noncommutative probability aspects of trace-class commutators. Institute. After tea, Professor Gough introduced a lecture given by Professor Masaki Izumi on Group actions on operator algebras. For further information visit the website at Professor Gough then introduced a second lecture given by Professor Matthias https://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/tillmann/ASPECTS.html Christandl entitled The quantum marginal problem. The President, Professor Segal, expressed the thanks of the Society to the local organisers for putting on such an interesting meeting. Afterwards, a dinner was held at The MedRus Conference Centre. LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

ANALYTICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL PATHS FROM MOLECULAR FOUNDATIONS TO CONTINUUM DESCRIPTIONS 18 – 22 March 2013

in association with the Newton Institute programme The Mathematics of Liquid Crystals (7 January –5 July 2013)

Workshop Organisers: : Mike Allen (University of Warwick), Mikhail Osipov (University of Strathclyde),Valeriy Slastikov (University of Bristol) and Claudio Zannoni (Universit� Bologna).

Many of the phenomena exhibited by liquid crystals occur on the macroscopic or meso- 16 scopic length scale. This makes the application of continuum theories, as exemplified by 17 the orientational elasticity theory of Oseen and Frank, the order tensor descriptions of Landau and de Gennes, and the hydrodynamics of Ericksen, Leslie and Parodi, particularly fruitful. Along with the continuum theory go the ideas of defect structures and textures, which give liquid crystals a beautiful appearance, as well as involving some beautiful mathematical ideas. In recent years, however, interest in the molecular or particle-based description of liquid crystals has steadily increased. This is partly motivated by the ability of experiments to probe down to the nanoscale, partly by the explosion of interest in col- loidal suspensions in which the constituent particles are of micron size, and partly from the desire to relate molecular structure and interactions to liquid crystalline properties and phase behaviour in a predictive way. Here, computer simulation plays a key role, especially in regimes where the assumptions of continuum theories are suspect. Finally, the upsurge in development of classical density functional theories of liquids, starting with Onsager's original treatment, has given another link between molecular shape and behaviour in bulk and in confined geometry.

This workshop will bring together experts in all the above fields, to compare and contrast the various approaches, and discuss topical problems in liquid crystals to which analytical methods, and computational techniques, may provide the solutions.

Further information and application forms are available from the website at www.newton.ac.uk/programmes/MLC/mlcw02.html.

Closing date of the receipt of applications is 30 November 2012. LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

MATHEMATICS AT THE BRITISH here were Charles Paxton, Clifton Gay and Rob TOPOLOGICAL SOLITONS Fryer and the session was organized by Malcolm Report SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2012 Hall. Report A distinct note – in fact several notes – of con- A Topological Solitons conference to celebrate troversy were introduced by Kevin Houston and the 60th birthday of Professor Nick Manton took The British Science Festival is organized by the Rob Sturman from Leeds, assisted by Ben Sparks place at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in British Science Association (a.k.a. The British As- from Canford School, Dorset and his guitar. Cambridge from 19 to 22 September 2012. Over sociation for the Advancement of Science) and sixty theoretical physicists and mathematicians - has been running since 1831. The Mathematical many of them former collaborators and students Sciences Section of the Festival is a small commit- of Nick Manton - participated in the meeting. tee which solicits ideas for events from the math- Nick Manton has fundamentally shaped the field ematical sciences community and aims to put on of topological solitons through several pioneer- a programme covering a wide range of interests ing contributions. Among them the discovery of within the discipline, including statistics and as- Robin Whitty the sphaleron, the introduction of the moduli pects of computer science. Each year they choose to guess which it was, and were sometimes space approximation to soliton dynamics, and a President from among those well-known for deceived into believing that the (often very work on Skyrmions. The subjects of fifteen talks their ability to communicate to a wide audience; quirky) answers came from the human (Robin) and fourteen posters reflected the breadth of recent Presidents have included Simon Singh, rather than from the Chat-Room robot. Last topics to which Nick has contributed. Sir Michael David Spiegelhalter and Caroline Series, and this Ben Sparks but by no means least, Matt Parker (who also Atiyah, Joao Baptista and Nigel Hitchin spoke year’s President is John Barrow, 2012 recipient of After an introduction to 5, 7 and 12-note scales introduced all the other events and oversaw the about problems in geometry, albeit not unrelated the Zeeman Medal for excellence in promotion (and also a bewildering recorded performance maths busking in the city centre) demonstrated to physics. Martin Speight, Sergey Cherkis, Wo- 18 of mathematics and author of many books on from a 19-notes in the octave piano) there was his incomparable Stand-Up talents in the Maths jtek Zakrzewski, Stephen Krush, Richard Ward, 19 topics from sport to cosmology. For 2013 the em- a demonstration of the Auto-Tune software, and Computing Magic Show, to a large audi- Paul Sutcliffe and Peter Forgacs talked about phasis will change with President Celia Hoyles, which adjusts the imperfect pitch of singers or ence of children and adults, on the last evening classical aspects of various solitons models. Frans professor at the Institute of Education in London instruments to better approximate standard of the Festival. There were video appearances Klinkhamer, David Tong and Erick Weinberg cov- and director of the National Centre for Excel- notes, and finally a dissection of the famous too from his long-term collaborator at QMUL, ered the subject from the quantum field theory lence in the Teaching of Mathematics. Chord which begins the Beatles’ song A Hard Peter McOwan. Number magic, check digits, perspective. Gary Gibbons talked about applica- This year it was held in Aberdeen from 4 to Day’s Night. Kevin claims to have used Fourier card tricks that (if properly done) are doomed tions in general relativity. The final lecture was 9 September. There were six ‘maths sciences analysis to find the best approximation so far to to succeed, cutting a child volunteer in half with given by Lord Martin Rees. His talk From Mars to events’, nearly all given to capacity audiences. the original notes being struck and there have ropes and cutting a twisted strip of paper in half the Multiversity reflected Nick's passion for as- John Barrow’s Presidential Lecture was on Ex- subsequently been articles in many newspapers with scissors: the material sounds familiar but tronomy. The meeting was supported by an LMS panding Minds and Universes (with an oblique reporting, disputing or endorsing the claim. presentation is all, and this was as fresh as ever. Conference grant. A further photograph from reference to the Festival theme Energising This is a rare example at the Festival of a truly Besides these events in the main programme the conference can be found on the back cover Minds), a beautifully illustrated tour of solutions new mathematical (or mathematically derived) there were very popular schools events at of this Newsletter. to Einstein’s equations in general relativity, each discovery! TechFest-SetPoint which included the Liverpool Maciej Dunajski one of which gives a model for the large-scale Marco Thiel of the Physics Department at Mathematical Society’s Funmaths Roadshow or- DAMTP, Cambridge structure of the universe in time and space. the University of Aberdeen presented a talk ganized by Sarah Chew from the University of Many of the 150 attending the talk stayed on and then a software demonstration on How Aberdeen. for a wine and sandwiches reception sponsored to Solve Crimes with Mathematics, using image The Mathematical Sciences Section of the Fes- by the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. John enhancement and restoration, statistical analy- tival is now collecting ideas for the next Festi- Barrow’s books were on sale, too, at the recep- sis, Voronoi diagrams, Benford’s law and other val, from 7 to 12 September 2013 in Newcastle, tion, at a discount and with the author on hand techniques to detect or prevent crime. Robin and anyone with a proposal should contact me to sign them. Whitty of London’s South Bank University de- ([email protected]) or Tony Mann (a.mann@gre. The Highlands Group of the Royal Statistical scribed the life and work of Alan Turing (born in ac.uk). Society put on an event Fishy Figures, examin- 1912) before inviting audience members to un- Peter Giblin ing the statistics of counting whales, monitor- dergo a very informal ‘Turing Test’, posing three Recorder (i.e. Chair) ing toxins in shellfish and the relative appetite questions to him which were answered either Mathematical Sciences Section for cod, off the west coast of Scotland, between by Robin himself or by a Chat-Room computer humans and seals (the seals win). The presenters program. The questioners were then invited A version of this report will appear in the December Mathematics Today Nigel Hitchin and Nick Manton LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

NONLINEAR WAVES Grimshaw will continue his active research, REVIEWS as well as teaching of the postgraduate IN FLUIDS MAGIC course on Nonlinear Waves, staying The Mathematical Writings of Évariste Report in Loughborough as a Visiting Professor. Galois by Peter M. Neumann, Heritage of The programme of the conference con- European Mathematics, European Math- An international conference on Nonlinear sisted of nine invited lectures and a large ematical Society, 2011, 421 pp, €78, ISBN Waves in Fluids took place at Loughborough number of contributed talks, running from 978-3-03719-104-0. University from 12 to 14 September 2012, morning to late afternoon on each day of In this beautifully presented book, Pe- organised jointly by Loughborough Uni- the meeting, with no parallel sessions. The ter Neumann has given the first systematic versity and University College London. The meeting was devoted to various aspects of English translation of Galois' mathematical conference was dedicated to Professor Rog- nonlinear waves in fluids, including water writings. Such is the fame of Galois that it er Grimshaw (Loughborough University) on waves, internal waves, wave - current inter- is perhaps surprising that only around one the occasion of his retirement. It was sup- actions, effects of variable environment and third of his writings had previously been ported by an LMS Conference grant, as well rotation, resonant wave interactions, wave available in English. Were it simply a trans- as the funds from the Office of Naval Re- instabilities, wave turbulence, etc., with ap- lation, this book would therefore already search Global, Institute of Mathematics and plications in established areas such as geo- be useful. But it is much more than that. its Applications, Marie Curie MULTIFLOW physical fluid dynamics and new areas such Dr Neumann has produced a new French Network and Loughborough University. as thin films and complex fluids. The invit- transcription, working with existing tran- About 60 participants from Australia, Brazil, ed lectures were given by Professors Mark scriptions but checking every word against Canada, China, Cyprus, France, Indonesia, Ablowitz (University of Colorado, USA), original publications and manuscripts. This Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Rus- Thomas Bridges (University of Surrey, UK), transcription, which renders as accurately 20 sia, UK and USA attended the meeting. The Karl Helfrich (Woods Hole Oceanographic as possible all original crossings-out, alter- This is not a biography or a ‘popular’ 21 conference created a unique opportunity Institution, USA), Nalini Joshi (University of ations and so on, is reproduced on the left- mathematics history; it is not a book to for a fruitful exchange of ideas among the Sydney, Australia), Alfred Osborne (Univer- hand pages. On the right-hand pages is Dr read cover-to-cover. However it will be of leading international and UK researchers sita di Torino, Italy), Dmitry Pelinovsky (Mc- Neumann's English translation. The bulk of interest to many mathematicians and an and early career researchers, whilst simul- Master University, Canada), Efim Pelinovsky the book is devoted to transcription and indispensable reference for historians of taneously celebrating Professor Grimshaw’s (Institute of Applied Physics, Russia), Victor translation of the vast majority of Galois' mathematics working in this area. It has contributions in this area. Shrira (Keele University, UK) and Vladimir mathematical writings. A few fragmentary clearly been prepared with meticulous Historically, nonlinear waves in fluids was Zeitlin (École Normale Supérieure, France). calculations are omitted, along with some care and (though I am far from an expert) and continues to be an important research An experimental demonstration of the schoolwork and one letter which is rather it seems to me a very fine translation. Dr area for the UK. Professor Roger Grimshaw beach dynamics by breaking waves was philosophical than mathematical. Apart Neumann expresses the hope that the is one of the world leading authorities on shown by Professor Onno Bokhove (Leeds from these items, we have essentially the availability of an English translation may nonlinear waves in geophysical fluid dy- University, UK and University of Twente, ‘complete works’. help to dispel some of the myths perpetu- namics, the area providing constant influx The Netherlands). Early career researchers There are some introductory pages con- ated about Galois: that he invented group of new ideas to many branches of modern were given an opportunity to present their taining a very brief biography of Galois, theory the night before the fatal duel, mathematics, from the analysis of nonlin- work alongside and in the same format as describing how the manuscript was pre- that he knew about the simplicity of alter- ear partial differential equations and spec- the leading experts. The programme and pared and the various previous transcrip- nating groups, and so on. I think it will. tral problems related to waves stability to abstracts of the conference are available at tions. There is also some discussion of the While in theory my French is possibly good integrable systems and Hamiltonian flows. www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/%7emakk/NWF. translation, including problematic words enough to study a transcription, the pres- Over the course of a long and distinguished html. such as permutation, substitution, and entation of transcription and translation career, Professor Grimshaw has made fun- The organisers would like to thank all primitif – what my French teacher would side by side in this excellent work is what damental contributions to the mathemati- speakers for their very interesting pres- have called ‘faux amis’ because the obvi- has actually made me read Galois at last. I cal theory of nonlinear waves in fluids, with entations and the London Mathematical ous translation does not necessarily cap- suspect I may not be alone in this! important applications in geophysical fluid Society for the generous support of the ture what is meant. Brief notes accompany Every mathematics library should have a dynamics, theoretical oceanography and dy- conference. Photographs from the confer- the translation of each document; the em- copy of this book, and every mathemati- namical meteorology. Professor Grimshaw's ence can be found on the back cover of this phasis here is on the physical text rather cian interested in the history of the subject academic and professional merit has been Newsletter. than mathematical commentary. The book will find it an illuminating text. recognised by many awards, appointments, Karima Khusnutdinova ends with a useful bibliography. Sarah Hart and elections to significant bodies. Professor Loughborough University Birkbeck University LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk [email protected] No. 419 November 2012

Sophie’s Diary: A Mathematical Novel by a brutal and volatile city, encouraging So- CALENDAR OF EVENTS 14-17 Non-equilibrium Statistical Dora Musielak, Cambridge University Press, phie to dig deeper into her books. Mechanics and the Theory of Extreme 2012, 292 pp, £45, ISBN: 978-0-8838-5577-5. The author creates for us diary entries This calendar lists Society meetings and oth- Events in Earth Science, Reading Sophie’s Diary is a mathematical novel spanning five years. During this time, So- er mathematical events. Further informa- 16-18 British Postgraduate Model Theory inspired by what is known of the life of So- phie succeeds in acquiring texts due to tion may be obtained from the appropriate Conference, Manchester (419) phie Germain. The author, Dora Musielak, Euclid, Euler, Fermat and Newton, whilst LMS Newsletter whose number is given in 22 The Queen of Mathematics, Gresham brackets. A fuller list is given on the Socie- gives her perspective on how a young girl studying through the night to deepen her College London ty’s website (www.lms.ac.uk/content/calen- in revolution-era Paris could have fought understanding of prime numbers, imagi- dar). Please send updates and corrections to FEBRUARY 2013 society and circumstance to teach herself nary numbers, calculus, as well as solving [email protected]. the mathematics required to contribute riddles and pondering the paradoxical. 19 Are Averages Typical? Gresham College, London both to elasticity theory and to the proof Through her diary entries, Sophie experi- NOVEMBER 2012 of Fermat’s last theorem. ments and solves equations; explaining 6 The Mathematical Objection, BCS-FACS The story begins in Paris on Sophie’s 13th her discoveries and curiosities. We read of MARCH 2013 Evening Seminar, London (418) birthday just a few months before the fall Sophie’s frustrations with her society, that 1 LMS Mary Cartwright Lecture, London 6 Polynomials and their Roots, Gresham of the Bastille. Through regular diary en- she must study in secret and will likely nev- 18 LMS Northern Regional Meeting, College London Newcastle (419) tries we learn about Sophie’s blossoming er be admitted to the university, but also 7-9 Mathematical Techniques for Quantum interest in mathematics, beginning with we read of her furious determination to 18-22 Analytical and Computational Paths Physics Postgraduate Student Conference, from Molecular Foundations to Continu- her discovery of Montucla’s Histoire des understand as much mathematics as pos- Nottingham (417) mathématiques. The fictional Sophie is sible and to prove herself as good as any um Descriptions Workshop, INI Cambridge 15 Good Practice Scheme Workshop, (419) fascinated by the stories of Archimedes, man. The young Sophie describes the dev- London (419) 18-23 Workshop on Triangulations and Pythagorus, Hypatia and others. She be- astating destruction of her beloved city, 16 LMS AGM, London (419) Mutations, Newcastle (419) 22 comes deeply curious about numbers and the execution of her king and queen, the 23 23 Modular Forms, Geometry and Physics 19 Modelling the World, Gresham College equation solving; reading and practising as demolition of the church and the fear and Heilbronn Day, ICMS, Edinburgh (419) London much as she can despite opposition from poverty suffered by the whole population. 24 Early Career Mathematicians’ Autumn 25-27 Quantitative Modelling in the her family. Meanwhile Paris is becoming Meanwhile she dreams of understanding Conference, University of Greenwich (416) Management of Health and Social Care the prime numbers, proving Fermat’s last 26-30 Algebraic Geometry, Modular Forms 7th IMA Conference, Central London (416) theorem and attending lectures by the fa- and Applications to Physics ICMS Workshop, 25-28 British Mathematical Colloquium, mous Lagrange. Edinburgh (415) Sheffield (419) The author creates for us a shy, sweet and captivating Sophie; endlessly determined DECEMBER 2012 3-7 Quantized Flux in Tightly Knotted and April 2013 to understand the world around her. Mus- 2-5 Higher Structure 2013: Operads and Linked Systems INI Workshop, Cambridge ielak succeeds in painting a dark picture of Deformation Theory INI Conference, (416) life in Paris at the end of the 18th century; Cambridge (418) 11 From One to Many Geometries, Gresham conveying the terror and injustice of the 8-9 Mathematics in Finance IMA Confer- College London period, the frustrating political dynamic ence, Heriot-Watt University (416) 15-17 Thomas Harriot Seminar, St Chad’s and the hypocrisy of the society. She in- 9-11 Large Deviations and Asymptotic Meth- College, Durham (412) cludes also much mathematical exposition ods in Finance, Imperial College London 17-19 Aspects of Topology in Geometry and as Sophie explains her findings in her diary. 18-19 Women in Maths Day, Cambridge The mathematics is sensibly presented for Physics, Oxford (419) today’s reader with modern notation and 17-20 Mathematics in Signal Processing 9th IMA International Conference, Austin Court, June 2013 terminology. The novel is perfectly charm- 20-21 High-Dimensional Inference with Birmingham (416) ing and although the diary entries are en- Applications, Kent tirely fictitious, the life of Sophie Germain January 2013 deserves our curiosity and the story seems july 2013 7 Analysis Day, Bristol (419) a fair augmentation of what little is docu- 1-2 Bifurcation Theory, Numerical Linear 7-11 Nonlinear Analysis UK-Japan Winter mented of Sophie Germain’s childhood. Algebra and Applications, Bath School, London (419) 1-4 Dense Granular Flows 2nd IMA 7-11 Symmetry, Bifurcation and Order Pa- Sarah Astill Conference, INI, Cambridge (416) rameters INI Workshop, Cambridge (418) Bristol University 5 LMS Meeting, London LMS-FUNDED MEETINGS LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk

Topological Solutions Conference held at the University of Cambridge from 19 to 22 September 2012 (report on page 19)

Nonlinear Waves in Fluids Conference held at Loughborough University from 12 to 14 September 2012 (report on page 20)

Mark Ablowitz with two PhD students, Roger Grimshaw and Efim Pelinovsky Amirah Azmi (left) and Azwani Alias (right)