THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 377 January 2009 Society COUNCIL DIARY visits, they had only reached a very small number (perhaps 400) of the Meetings 21 November 2008 members of the two societies, so and Events The meeting began, under Matters that it was difficult to form any Arising, with an update on the clear idea of members’ views in the 2009 financial situation as it affects the large. The Council rapidly agreed to Wednesday 14 January LMS, which can be summarised as proceed to the next stage, namely Northern Regional ‘gloomy but could be worse’. Under a referendum on the proposal that Meeting, Manchester President’s Business, Brian Davies the Council is commending to the [page 3] recalled that Susan Oakes, the long- LMS members, to combine in a new standing LMS Administrator, was unified mathematics society with Friday 27 February shortly to retire. He noted, moreover, the IMA. Mary Cartwright that Council had been canvassed Penny Davies, in her role as our Lecture, London by email regarding the proposal to representative on the EPSRC liaison [page 5] name the De Morgan House archive group of the Council for the Math- 31 March – 4 April room the Oakes Room in her hon- ematical Sciences, reported on a LMS Invited Lectures our, in recognition of Susan’s contri- recent meeting of the group with Edinburgh [page 9] butions to the Society, particularly David Harman, the Mathematical her work in developing the archives Sciences Programme Head, his team Friday 3 July and preserving the history of the and other EPSRC representatives. London LMS. This proposal met with the The news was rather dismal in terms Wednesday 15 July enthusiastic support of the Council. of funding for mathematics activity SW & South Wales The Council also received a re- on two fronts: the Mathematical Regional Meeting port from the President on the pro- Sciences Programme budget will fall Southampton gramme of consultation of members by another £2M next year to £4M, Wednesday of the LMS and IMA that has taken having been £2M two years ago; 16 September place over the previous few months funding for many Mathematics MSc Midlands Regional on the proposal to merge the two courses by EPSRC is disappearing as Meeting, Leicester societies. In addition to a dedicated a consequence of the move from website and many letters received, funding for training via EPSRC’s Friday 20 November the two presidents together made CTA scheme to its less mathematics AGM, London 22 visits to present the detailed and friendly KTA scheme. Annoyingly 4–6 December carefully thought through propos- for departments hoping to com- Joint Meeting with the als to members and receive feed- pete for more studentship funding, Belgian Mathematical back. We expressed our gratitude there would be no new DTA alloca- Society to Brian and David Abrahams of the tion exercise this year and no com- IMA for their efforts. Brian observed petitive Mathematics CASE scheme. that the two presidents had formed Penny noted, as an item of good an extremely good working rela- news for mathematics funding, that tionship, and noted that, even with announcement of a Science and this fairly intensive programme of Innovation award was expected in January09-NL.indd 1 11/12/2008 12:52:53 THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Numerical Analysis and High Performance ANNUAL REPORT Computing imminently, with a strong numeri- cal analysis emphasis. Issues related to EPSRC ON ACTIVITIES funding of mathematics will be taken up by The Annual Report on Activities (ARA) for the CMS in a meeting with the EPSRC Chief Execu- period 1 August 2007 – 31 July 2008 is now tive David Delpy in early December. available to view online at www.lms.ac.uk/ The largest part of a rather short afternoon, contact/about_the_lms.html. before moving to UCL for the AGM, was taken The ARA aims to present the Society’s up with a presentation from the Programme achievements during the year in an accessible Secretary, Stephen Huggett, on the work of the way, and in doing so the report gives a com- Programme Committee. His committee, with a prehensive overview of the range of activi- modest budget of less than £250,000 a year in ties that the Society is involved in. It is hoped grant funding to distribute, is doing a fantas- that members will take pleasure in referring tic job assessing large numbers of proposals to the many activities their membership sup- and providing partial support for a significant ports, and will find it useful when describing number of conferences and meetings (over the Society’s work to others. 45 in the last year) and small grants for many Several copies of the ARA have been sent to visitors and collaborative projects. They are each UK mathematics department for ‘coffee 2 achieving a formidable ‘theorems per pound’ table’ use; Members may request their own ratio and grant schemes with good success copies by contacting De Morgan House. As rates. But of course, these modest amounts of ever, feedback on the effectiveness of this re- LMS money do not make up for falls in EPSRC port is also welcomed. Copies of the Trustees’ support for the careers of young mathemati- Report and Annual Accounts (a more formal cians, via studentship and postdoc funding. document prepared for the Charity Commis- Simon Chandler-Wilde sion) are also available on request. LMS Newsletter General Editor: Dr D.R.J. Chillingworth ([email protected]) Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) Reviews Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) Administrative Editor: Miss S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) Editorial office address: London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655; e: [email protected], w: www.lms.ac.uk) Typeset by the London Mathematical Society at De Morgan House; printed by Holbrooks Printers Ltd. Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. Items and advertisements by the first day of the month prior to publication, or the closest preceding working day. News items and notices in the Newsletter are free to be used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, although attribution is requested when reproducing whole articles. Contributions to the Newsletter are made under a non-exclusive licence; please contact the author for the rights to 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. Charity registration number: 252660. January09-NL.indd 2 11/12/2008 12:52:53 No. 377 January 2009 ANNUAL REPORT ON ACTIVITIES LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY The Annual Report on Activities (ARA) for the period 1 August 2007 – 31 July 2008 is now NORTHERN REGIONAL MEETING available to view online at www.lms.ac.uk/ contact/about_the_lms.html. The ARA aims to present the Society’s Room G107, Alan Turing Building, University of Manchester achievements during the year in an accessible Wednesday 14 January 2009 way, and in doing so the report gives a com- prehensive overview of the range of activi- ties that the Society is involved in. It is hoped 14.00 Opening of the Meeting that members will take pleasure in referring to the many activities their membership sup- 14.15 Imre Leader (Cambridge) ports, and will find it useful when describing Euclidean Ramsey Theory the Society’s work to others. 15.15 Kathryn Hess (EPFL, Switzerland) Several copies of the ARA have been sent to each UK mathematics department for ‘coffee Free loop spaces in topology and physics table’ use; Members may request their own 16.15 Tea/Coffee 3 copies by contacting De Morgan House. As ever, feedback on the effectiveness of this re- 16.45 Paul Baum (Penn State, USA) port is also welcomed. Copies of the Trustees’ What is K-theory and what is it good for? Report and Annual Accounts (a more formal 18.00 Dinner at the Tai Pan restaurant document prepared for the Charity Commis- sion) are also available on request. These lectures are aimed at a general mathematical audience. All interested, whether LMS members or not, are most welcome to attend this event. LMS Newsletter For further details, to register or to reserve a place at the dinner, email magic@ General Editor: Dr D.R.J. Chillingworth ([email protected]) maths.manchester.ac.uk. The cost of the dinner will be approximately £25 including drinks. Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) Reviews Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) The meeting is preceded by the postgraduate student conference MAGIC09 Administrative Editor: Miss S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) from Monday 12 January to mid-day on Wednesday 14 January. For further Editorial office address: London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, details visit www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~magic or contact the organisers London WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655; e: [email protected], w: www.lms.ac.uk) Dr Marianne Johnson, Dr Andrew Hazel, Gemma Lloyd, Hadi Zare at Typeset by the London Mathematical Society at De Morgan House; printed by Holbrooks Printers Ltd. [email protected]. Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. Items and advertisements by the Lunch will be provided on Wednesday for delegates of the MAGIC09 first day of the month prior to publication, or the closest preceding working day.