THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007 Forthcoming WHAT HAPPENS AT Newsletter, will be proposed for approval by the meeting. Society YOUR AGM? Professor Michael Struwe Meetings The Annual General Meeting of (Zürich), the first of two speak- the London Mathematical ers at the Society Meeting, will 2007 Society will take place on Friday give a talk on Geometric energy Friday 23 November 23 November 2007 at 3.15 pm quantization. AGM, London in the Chemistry Auditorium, After the adjournment for M. Struwe University College London. At tea, the scrutineers will declare J.F. Toland the AGM the following events the results of the ballot, and Presidential Address will happen: the newly-elected President will [page 3] Members bringing their bal- take the Chair and invite lot papers will have a last Professor John Toland to give 1 2008 opportunity to vote. his presidential address on Friday 8 February The Society’s Treasurer, Skating on thin ice. Mary Cartwright Professor N.M.J. Woodhouse, The AGM will be followed by Lecture, Oxford will present his report on the a reception at De Morgan R. Peto past year and invite questions. House for those members V. Beral Copies of the Annual Report of attending the Annual Dinner at [page 15] Activities will be available. the Hotel Russell at 7.30 pm. A list of nominations for elec- The cost of the Annual Dinner is Monday 31 March tion to membership to the £42.00 per person and members Northern Regional Society will be submitted for may book places for guests. The Meeting, Manchester approval by the meeting, and booking form, enclosed with any member present who has the October Newsletter, should Monday 9 June paid his or her first subscription be returned together with Midlands Regional and not yet been admitted to payment to the London Meeting, Birmingham the Society will have the oppor- Mathematical Society office by tunity to sign the Membership Monday 13 November. Friday 4 July Book, which dates back to the London origin of the Society in 1865. LMS ANNUAL The LMS President, Professor Monday 15 September J.F. Toland, FRS, FRSE, will pres- SUBSCRIPTION SW & South Wales ent certificates to the 2007 Subscription Regional Meeting Prizewinners. The Society 2007 The Society is appreciative of Swansea Prizewinners were announced those members who have paid at the June Society meeting and their 2007–08 subscriptions. Friday 21 November the names published in the July May we remind those who have AGM, London Newsletter. not yet paid, that subscriptions Changes to the By-Laws, cir- are due on 1 November 2007. culated with the October Prompt payment ensures conti- THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007 nuity of publications and avoids the time and LAUNCH OF JOURNAL cost of reminders. If you have misplaced your renewal of subscription form (enclosed with OF TOPOLOGY your September Newsletter) contact the LMS The London Mathematical Society will be LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY office (email: [email protected]; tel: holding a reception and meeting for mem- 020 7637 3686; fax: 020 7323 3656). bers during the Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Diego from 6–9 January 2008. The Donations event will be held from 6:30 pm–7:30 pm on ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Council is grateful to members who respond- Monday 7 January to celebrate the launch of ed to the Treasurer’s request to consider the Society’s new journal, called Journal of making a donation together with payment Topology, which will publish its first issue in Friday 23 November 2007 of their LMS subscription. This will benefit January 2008. the Society in its work in supporting mathe- LMS members who have not already done 3.15 – 3.30 Annual General Meeting (see details on page 1) matics. Every pound makes a vital difference, so will have the opportunity to sign the and the extra income generated by dona- Membership Book which dates back to 1865. 3.30 – 4.30 Professor M. Struwe (Zürich) tions will enable the Society to maintain the Members who wish to attend the recep- level of grant funding it makes through its tion should apply for a free ticket to Susan Geometric energy quantization schemes and committees. By being a donor Oakes, the Administrator of the Society 2 you are helping us to increase the Society’s ([email protected]) no later than Friday 4.30 – 5.00 Tea 3 activities in education, in supporting mathe- 7 December. The Society hopes to entertain matics in universities and fighting for as many as possible of its members, but 5.00 – 6.00 Professor J.F. Toland, FRS, FRSE (Bath) research funding, so we are very grateful for numbers may be limited by the capacity of Presidential Address your support. the room. Skating on thin ice LMS Newsletter The meeting will be held in the Chemistry Auditorium, Christopher Ingold Building, University College London, General Editor: Dr D.R.J. Chillingworth ([email protected]) 20 Gordon Street, London WC1. Please note the early start. Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) Reviews Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of members of the Society or research students Administrative Editor: Miss S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) to attend the meeting. Requests for support, including an Editorial office address: London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square, estimate of expenses, may be addressed to the Programme London WC1B 4HS (tel: 020 7637 3686; fax: 020 7323 3655; email: [email protected], web: www.lms.ac.uk) Secretary at the Society (web: www.lms.ac.uk; Designed by CHP Design (tel: 020 7240 0466, email: [email protected], web: www.chpdesign.com) email: [email protected]). Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. Items and advertisements by first day of the month prior to publication. The meeting will be followed by the Annual Dinner. For further details see the announcement in this Newsletter Information in the Newsletter is free to be used elsewhere unless otherwise stated; attribution is requested when reproducing whole articles. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy (page 1). All enquiries may be addressed to Susan Oakes of information in the Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy (tel: 020 7637 3686, email: [email protected]). of the London Mathematical Society. Charity registration number: 252660. THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 364 November 2007 ATLE SELBERG Sensationally, his mollification led to a real- analytic proof of the Prime Number Theorem, Atle Selberg, who was elected an Honorary hitherto accessible to complex methods alone. Member of the London Mathematical Society As Selberg was working on the Prime Number in 1985, died on 6 August 2007, aged 90. Theorem, it seems that an unguarded conversa- M.N. Huxley writes: Research students in the tion led to Erdös completing the argument first. 1960s were assured by Conway that anyone Selberg’s reaction was a disaster. After that he who proved the Prime Number Theorem would published nothing till it was complete with noth- live forever. The death of Atle Selberg was the ing more to say. Later he relented enough to fourth and last falsifying example. He was born give glimpses of his work in conference lectures. in Langesund on the South coast of Norway on But he renounced the stimulus of discussing 14 June 1917. The youngest of three mathemat- ideas, and his discoveries and insights were ical brothers in a large family, he was inspired slow to influence the mathematical community. by the beauty of formulae and the story of Selberg sometimes discouraged young Ramanujan. He went up to the University of mathematicians by saying ‘I knew that,’ but Oslo in 1935 and won his PhD there in 1943, hav- he inspired great loyalty in his friends. Three ing already been appointed a research fellow. mathematicians joined the family vigil as he He made many of his discoveries and redis- lay dying. He leaves a widow, two children, 4 coveries working in isolation during the war and four grandchildren. 5 years. In 1947 Selberg and his wife Hedvig visited the Institute for Advanced Study at COLIN TRIPP Princeton. By 1949 he was a permanent mem- ber, and became a Fields Medallist in 1950. Colin Tripp, who was elected a member of the Selberg’s interests centred on automorphic London Mathematical Society on 19 November functions, prime numbers, the Riemann zeta 1999, died on 14 March 2007, aged 69. function, and related areas in analysis and Tony Rawlins writes: Colin was a much algebraic groups. admired and respected academic in the He saw the Riemann Hypothesis as a ques- Department of Mathematics at Brunel from tion for a general class of functions, and he September 1966 until his retirement in 2002. evidently believed, with Riemann, that it con- He was generally regarded as one of the kind- nected with the real eigenvalues of some self- est, cleverest, but also one of the most mod- adjoint operator. His favourite methods were est people you could wish to meet. Colin was inner products and duality, and to mollify the a problem solver par excellence. He had a very property of being a prime number. He redis- lucid style of lecturing that incorporated this covered the Peterson inner product for modu- problem-solving approach. He took endless lar forms, and interpreted the Rankin series as pains to help even the weakest students to try a convolution.