THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 401 March 2011 Society NEW DIRECTOR AT Fellow of the Royal Society in Meetings 999, and of the Royal Society ISAAC NEWTON of Edinburgh in 2003. and Events INSTITUTE For more information on Pro- fessor Toland’s appointment visit 2011 The University of Cambridge www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/ 21-25 March announced in January 20 that 201101110. LMS Invited Lectures Professor John Toland, FRS, will [page 3] be the next Director of the Isaac 3-8 April Newton Institute for Mathemati- LMS Short Course, cal Sciences and N.M. Rothschild Oxford & Sons Professor of Mathematical Thursday 5 May Sciences. He will succeed Sir David LMS Spitalfields Day Wallace in October 2011. Profes- GOOD PRACTICE INI, Cambridge sor Toland served as President of the London Mathematical Society AWARD Friday 6 May from 2005 to 2007 and the LMS Although nearly 40% of mathe- Women in Mathematics extends its congratulations to matical sciences graduates are Day, London [page 11] Professor Toland on his prestig- women, only about 4% of UK Tuesday 17 May ious appointment. mathematics professors are fe- LMS–Gresham Lecture, Professor Toland has been male. Relative to men, women London [page 3] Professor of Mathematics at are much less likely to go on to Tuesday 14 June the University of Bath since become academic mathemati- Midlands Regional 982, and from 2002 until 200 cians. Of course, this trend is Meeting, Birmingham he was also Scientific Director not unique to mathematics, but [page 6] of the International Centre for the drop-off rate for women in Wednesday 29 June Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) mathematics is particularly high LMS Popular Lecture, in Edinburgh. He held an EPSRC and this should be a concern to London [page 3] Senior Research Fellowship mathematics departments. The Friday 1 July during 1997–2002. He has been recent International Review of London honoured with many distinc- Mathematics highlighted con- tions and awards throughout cern about the low numbers of Tuesday 19 July his career including the LMS female mathematicians in the Northern Regional Senior Berwick Prize (2000); UK. Meeting, Leeds Honorary Fellowship of Uni- The LMS Women in Mathemat- [page 5] versity College London (2008); ics Committee, in collaboration NEWSLETTER Honorary DSc: Queen’s Univer- with the Committee of Heads of sity Belfast (2000), University of Departments of Mathematical Sci- ONLINE: Edinburgh (2007), Heriot-Watt ences, have set up a Good Practice Go to www.lms.ac.uk/ University (2007), University of Award specifically for mathemat- newsletter Essex (2009). He was elected ics departments to recognise and Mar11-NL.indd 1 16/02/2011 16:36:21 THE LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] celebrate good employment practice for wom- The workshop will be held at De Morgan strongly encourage you to send two people to en working in mathematics. The scheme com- House. Registration will be from 0.30 am and the workshop as there will be an exercise de- plements initiatives such as Athena SWAN. the workshop will begin at 11.00 am running signed to get departments thinking about how There are now six departments that have until no later than 4.00 pm. to move forward with their self assessment signed up as supporters and are working to- Participants will: process and this will work best if done in pairs. wards ‘Champion’ status. The LMS Women in • find out more about what is involved in If you wish to register then please send Mathematics Committee is keen to encourage making an application for a Good Practice the contact details of your participants to more departments to sign as GPA support- Award [email protected]. More details about ers and to support the departments already • begin to think about how your department the GPA are available at www.lms.ac.uk/ involved. can put in place what you need to begin content/good-practice-award. A Good Practice Award workshop will be your departmental/school self assessment Cathy Hobbs, Chair, GPA Steering Group held on Thursday 19 May to provide par- process and to develop an action plan Gwyneth Stallard, Chair, WiM Committee ticipants with the knowledge and tools they • consider and share what good practice need to begin the process of working to- exists in mathematics departments wards Good Practice Award Champion status. • make useful contacts with other depart- If your department is considering becoming ments active in promoting the careers of a GPA supporter, then this workshop will women in mathematics provide a starting point. If you are already • get ideas about the people you can look to 2 a Good Practice Award Supporter, then this for help. workshop will help you work towards submit- The workshop is designed for two par- ting your application for Champion status. ticipants from each department. We would LMS Newsletter www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter Editorial office: [email protected]; London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655) Events calendar: please send updates and corrections to [email protected] General Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) Reviews Editor: Dr C.M. Roney-Dougal ([email protected]) Administrative Editor: S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) 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. Advertising: for rates and guidelines, see www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/ratecard.html 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 Newsletter 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 Newsletter. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of the London Mathematical Society. Charity registration number: 252660. Mar11-NL.indd 2 16/02/2011 16:36:22 www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter [email protected] No. 401 March 2011 The workshop will be held at De Morgan strongly encourage you to send two people to LMS POPULAR LECTURES House. Registration will be from 0.30 am and the workshop as there will be an exercise de- the workshop will begin at 11.00 am running signed to get departments thinking about how 2011 until no later than 4.00 pm. to move forward with their self assessment The Popular Lectures is an annual event or- Participants will: process and this will work best if done in pairs. ganised by the London Mathematical Society. • find out more about what is involved in If you wish to register then please send The 20 event will be held at the Institute making an application for a Good Practice the contact details of your participants to of Education, London, on Wednesday 29 June Award [email protected]. More details about and will be repeated at Birmingham Univer- • begin to think about how your department the GPA are available at www.lms.ac.uk/ sity in September. The speakers are Colva can put in place what you need to begin content/good-practice-award. Roney-Dougal (St Andrews University) and your departmental/school self assessment Cathy Hobbs, Chair, GPA Steering Group Hilary Weller (University of Reading). Further process and to develop an action plan Gwyneth Stallard, Chair, WiM Committee details will follow in the April Newsletter. • consider and share what good practice exists in mathematics departments • make useful contacts with other depart- ments active in promoting the careers of women in mathematics LMS INVITED LECTURER 2011 • get ideas about the people you can look to for help. 3 The workshop is designed for two par- Professor Emmanuel Cand�s (Stanford) ticipants from each department. We would Compressed Sensing LMS Newsletter www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter 21–25 March 2011 Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge Editorial office: [email protected]; London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS (t: 020 7637 3686; f: 020 7323 3655) Emmanuel Cand�s will give an eight-lecture minicourse, at a level suitable please send updates and corrections to Events calendar: [email protected] for graduate students, on Compressed Sensing. This is a subject very much General Editor: Mr A.J.S. Mann ([email protected]) at the interface of pure and applied mathematics and the lectures should Reports Editor: Dr S.A. Huggett ([email protected]) interest a wide audience. Reviews Editor: Dr C.M. Roney-Dougal ([email protected]) Administrative Editor: S.M. Oakes ([email protected]) There will also be one-hour lectures by: Typeset by the London Mathematical Society at De Morgan House; printed by Holbrooks Printers Ltd. • Anders Hansen (Cambridge) Publication dates and deadlines: published monthly, except August. Items and advertisements by the • Vincent Rivoirard (Paris-Dauphine) first day of the month prior to publication, or the closest preceding working day. • Carola Schönlieb (Cambridge) Advertising: for rates and guidelines, see www.lms.ac.uk/newsletter/ratecard.html • Jared Tanner (Edinburgh) 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 Newsletter College accommodation will be available. Funding is available for research are made under a non-exclusive licence; please contact the author or photographer for the rights to students from UK universities and a limited amount of funding is available reproduce.