lms inaugural hirst lecture: professor edmund f. … · we held the lms 150th anniversary...

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NEWSLETTER No. 455 February 2016 SOCIETY MEETINGS AND EVENTS 26 February: Mary Cartwright Lecture, London page 16 21 March: Society Meeting at the BMC, Bristol page 17 21–25 March: LMS Invited Lectures, Loughborough page 15 20 April: Hirst Lecture & Society Meeting, St Andrews page 25 8 July: Graduate Student Meeting, London 8 July: Society Meeting, London 21 July: Society Meeting at the 7ECM, Berlin 11 November: Graduate Student Meeting, London 11 November: Annual General Meeting, London 20 December: South West & South Wales Regional Meeting, Bath NEWSLETTER ONLINE: newsletter.lms.ac.uk LMS INAUGURAL HIRST LECTURE: PROFESSOR EDMUND F. ROBERTSON T he Society is pleased to announce that Professor Edmund F. Robertson (St Andrews) will give the inaugural Hirst Lecture at St Andrews on Wednesday 20 April 2016. Mark McCartney (University of Ulster) will give an ac- companying lecture. The Hirst Lecture celebrates the joint award of the Hirst Prize & Lectureship, in the 150th Anni- versary year of the London Mathematical Society, to Professor Edmund Robertson (St Andrews) and Dr John O’Connor (St Andrews) for their creation, development and maintenance of the MacTutor History of Mathematics website (www-history. mcs.st-and.ac.uk). Originally developed in the early 1990s to enrich the Mathematical MacTutor System that supports teaching mathematics to undergraduates, the MacTutor History of Mathematics website has now become an important resource for those in- terested in the history of mathematics. It contains over 2,800 biographies of mathematicians and is used across the world by schoolchildren, under- graduates, graduates and their teachers. The Hirst Prize and Lectureship are named after Thomas A. Hirst, 5th President of the London Mathematical Society from 1872-1874. The prize is awarded in recognition of original and inno- vative work in the history of mathematics, which may be in any medium. In 2015, the Council of the Society agreed to continue the Hirst Prize and Lectureship on a biennial basis with the next award to be made in 2018 and the lecture to be given at a Society Meeting in 2019. Thomas A. Hirst LMS President, 1872-1874 Edmund F. Robertson Joint Hirst Prize-winner John O’Connor Joint Hirst Prize-winner @LondMathSoc

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Page 1: LMS INAUGURAL HIRST LECTURE: PROFESSOR EDMUND F. … · We held the LMS 150th Anniversary Celebration on 15 December 2015 during the Depart-ment's winter postgraduate research day,

NEWSLETTER No. 455 February 2016

SOCIETY MEETINGS AND EVENTS• 26February:MaryCartwrightLecture,Londonpage 16• 21March:SocietyMeetingattheBMC,Bristolpage 17• 21–25March:LMSInvitedLectures,Loughboroughpage 15• 20April:HirstLecture&SocietyMeeting,StAndrewspage 25• 8July:GraduateStudentMeeting,London

• 8July:SocietyMeeting,London• 21July:SocietyMeetingatthe7ECM,Berlin• 11November:GraduateStudentMeeting,London• 11November:AnnualGeneralMeeting,London• 20December:SouthWest&SouthWalesRegionalMeeting,Bath

NEWSLETTERONLINE:newsletter.lms.ac.uk

LMS INAUGURAL HIRST LECTURE: PROFESSOR EDMUND F. ROBERTSON

The Society is pleased to announce thatProfessorEdmundF.Robertson (StAndrews)

will give the inaugural Hirst Lecture at StAndrews on Wednesday 20 April 2016. MarkMcCartney (UniversityofUlster)will giveanac-companyinglecture.TheHirstLecturecelebratesthejointawardoftheHirstPrize&Lectureship, inthe150thAnni-versaryyearoftheLondonMathematicalSociety,toProfessorEdmundRobertson(StAndrews)andDrJohnO’Connor(StAndrews)fortheircreation,developmentandmaintenanceoftheMacTutorHistory of Mathematics website (www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk).Originallydevelopedintheearly1990stoenrichtheMathematicalMacTutorSystemthatsupportsteaching mathematics to undergraduates, the

MacTutor History of Mathematics website hasnowbecomeanimportantresourceforthosein-terestedinthehistoryofmathematics.Itcontainsover2,800biographiesofmathematiciansandisused across theworld by schoolchildren, under-graduates,graduatesandtheirteachers.TheHirstPrizeandLectureshiparenamedafterThomas A. Hirst, 5th President of the LondonMathematicalSocietyfrom1872-1874.Theprizeis awarded in recognition of original and inno-vativeworkinthehistoryofmathematics,whichmaybeinanymedium.In 2015, the Council of the Society agreed tocontinue the Hirst Prize and Lectureship on abiennialbasiswith thenextaward tobemadein2018andthelecturetobegivenataSocietyMeetingin2019.

ThomasA.HirstLMSPresident,1872-1874

EdmundF.RobertsonJointHirstPrize-winner

JohnO’ConnorJointHirstPrize-winner

@LondMathSoc

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LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk

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150th Anniversary EventsDepartmentalCelebrations.....................

AwardsFermat Prize 2015...................................NewYearHonoursList.............................

Calendar of Events

LMS ItemsChristopherZeemanMedal2016–Callfornominations..............................InauguralHirstLecture...........................PostdoctoralMobilityGrants2016-17....

LMS Meetings BMC2016–SocietyMeeting...................DavidCrightonLecture...........................HirstLectureandSocietyMeeting.........InvitedLectures2016..............................MaryCartwrightLecture.........................

MeetingsExplicitMethods in Number Theory.....FromtheContinuumtotheTectonic.....Hilbert'sSixthProblem............................ModernTopicsinNonlinearPDEandGeometricAnalysis................................Operators,OperatorFamiliesandAsymptotics..........................................PointProcessesandWarpingFunctions....Probabilistic Combinatorics....................TheHistoryofNumberTheory...............

3

77

31

516

1719251516

213022

18

21232323

WalesMathematics Colloquium............YoungFunctionalAnalysts’Workshop...

News

EuropeanNews........................................InternationalMathsCompetitionforUniversity Students...............................MathematicsPolicyRound-up................NewZealandMathematicalSociety.......X&Y..........................................................

Obituary

MilneAnderson.......................................

Records of Proceedings

SW&SouthWalesRegionalMeeting......

Reports

BritishTopologyMeeting.......................SW&SouthWalesRegionalMeeting.....

Reviews

Creating Symmetry..................................GeniusatPlay..........................................TheMagicGardenofGeorgeB..............

Visits

Hassannezhad,Asma...............................Kosmann-Schwarzbach,Yvette...............Naboko,Sergey.........................................Ortega,Miguel.........................................Scheel,Arnd..............................................

No. 455 February 2016

Contents

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2021202020

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No. 455 February [email protected]

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Editorial officeLondonMathematicalSociety,DeMorganHouse,57–58RussellSquare,LondonWC1B4HS(t:02076373686;f:02073233655)

Events [email protected]

[email protected]

AdvertisingForratesandguidelinesseenewsletter.lms.ac.uk/rate-card

General EditorMrA.J.S.Mann([email protected])

Reports EditorProfessorI.A.Stewart([email protected])

Reviews EditorProfessorD.Singerman([email protected])

Administrative EditorS.M.Oakes([email protected])

TypesetbytheLMSatDeMorganHouse;printedbyHolbrooksPrintersLtd.

Publishedmonthly,exceptAugust.Itemsandadver-tisementsbythefirstdayofthemonthpriortopubli-cation,ortheclosestprecedingworkingday.Noticesandadvertisementsarenotacceptedforeventsthatoccurinthefirstweekofthepublicationmonth.

News items and notices in theNewsletter may befreely used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, al-though attribution is requested when reproducingwhole articles. Contributions to theNewsletter aremadeunderanon-exclusive licence;please contacttheauthororphotographerfortherightstorepro-duce. The LMS cannot accept responsibility for theaccuracy of information in the Newsletter. ViewsexpresseddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsorpolicyoftheLondonMathematicalSociety.

Charity registration number: 252660.

Editorial teamhttp://newsletter.lms.ac.uk

Publication dates and deadlines

LMS 150TH ANNIVERSARYDEPARTMENTAL CELEBRATIONSTheseeventswerepartofaseriesofreceptionshostedacrosstheUKbymathematicsdepart-ments,celebratingthe150thAnniversaryoftheLMS.

THE OPEN UNIVERSITYWeheld the LMS150thAnniversary Celebrationon 15December 2015during theDepart-ment'swinterpostgraduateresearchday,whichincludedresearchtalksbyPhDstudentsandalectureonthephilosophyofHermannWeylbyProfessorJeremyGray.TheAnniversaryCel-ebrationfeaturedprosecco,mincepiesandahugecakebakedbyoneofthePhDstudentsDavidMartiPete,whoispicturedcuttingthecake.AlsopicturedareJeremyGrayandPhDstudentsRosieCretneyandMairiWalker.Attheevent,ProfessorJuneBarrow-GreensaidafewwordsabouttheLMSand,afterthetoast,weallsang'HappyBirthday'totheLMS,ac-companiedontheukelelebyformerheadofdepartmentDrTobyO'Neil.

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LMS Items

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITYTheDepartmentofMathematicsheldacelebrationofthe150thanniversaryoftheLMSonFriday4December2015.Theeventwaswellattendedbystudentsandstaff,andmarkedawelcomeendtoourFallterm.

QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST TheMathematicsDepartmentofQueen'sUniversityBelfastheldareceptionintheOldStaffCommonRoomonFridayafternoon18December2015tocelebratetheLMS150thanniversary.Itwasasmallgroupbutnolessmerry.ThestreamingfromtheLMSwebsiteofthelaunchevent(wewatchedRobertPieké'sMathematics: Smoke and Mirrors)addedessentiallytothegatheringasitimmediatelystimulateddiscussionsontheapplicationsofpartialdifferentialequationsto'reallife'problems.ThesupportoftheLMSisthankfullyacknowledged.

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CHRISTOPHER ZEEMAN MEDAL 2016CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

TheCouncilsoftheLMSandtheIMAaredelightedtoinvitenominationsforthe2016awardoftheChristopherZeemanMedal,whichistheUKawarddedicatedtorecognisingexcellenceinthecommunicationofmathematics.

The IMA and the LMS wish to honour mathematicians who have excelled inpromoting mathematics and engaging with the general public. They may beacademicmathematicians based in universities,mathematics school teachers, in-dustrialmathematicians,thoseworkinginthefinancialsectororindeedmathema-ticiansfromanynumberofotherfields.

Most importantly,thesemathematicianswillhaveworkedexceptionallytobringmathematics to a non-specialist audience, whether it is through giving publiclectures, writing books, appearing on radio or television, organising events orthroughanentirely separatemedium. TheLMSand IMAwanttocelebratetheachievementsofmathematicianswhoworktoinspireotherswiththeirwork.

TheawardisnamedafterProfessorSirChristopherZeeman,FRS,presidentoftheLMSbetween1986and1988. Hisnotable careerhasbeenpioneeringnotonlyinthefieldsoftopologyandcatastrophetheorybutalsobecauseofhisgroundbreakingworkinbringinghisbelovedmathematicstothewiderpublic.SirChris-topherwas thefirstmathematician to be asked to deliver the Royal InstitutionChristmasLecturesin1978,afull160yearssincetheybegan.HisMathematicsintoPictureslectureshavebeencitedbymanyyoungUKmathematiciansastheirinspi-ration. Inrecognitionofbothhisworkasamathematicianandhiscontributionto theUKmathematics community, Sir Christopher received the LMS-IMADavidCrightonMedalin2006.

A form for nominations is available at www.ima.org.uk/zeeman2016nomination.htmlor fromAlisonPenryat: InstituteofMathematics and itsApplications,CatherineRichardsHouse, 16Nelson Street, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS11EF; [email protected].

Nominationsmustbereceivedby28 February 2016.

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Awards, Records of Proceedings

TheLondonMathematicalSocietywillawardgrantsofupto£7,200plusatravelallowancetomathematiciansofexcellentpromise.Thepurposeofthegrantsistosupportaperiodofstudyandresearchinmathematicsbetweenthreeandsixmonthsintheacademicyear2016-17atoneormoreinstitutionsotherthantheholder’shomeinstitution(theholder'shomeinstitu-tionmaybeincludedforapplicantswithcircumstancesthatmakemovingimpractical,pleasevisitthewebsiteforthefullguidelines).Theyareintendedtosupportpromisingresearchersduringthetransitionalperiodbetweenhavingsubmittedtheirthesisandthestartoftheirfirstpost-doctoralemployment.

Thevalueofthegrantwillbecalculatedat£1,200permonthplusatravelallowance.

AtthetimeoftheclosingdateapplicantshavetobeUKresidents.Successfulcandidatesmusthavesubmittedtheirthesiswithintwelvemonthsbeforethestartoftheirgrantperiod.Grantholdersareallowedtoteachuptothreehoursaweek.Otherwisetheyareexpectedtospendtheirworkingtimeonstudyandresearch.

Please read the full guidelines before applying, these are available on the website: lms.ac.uk/grants/postdoc-mobility-grants

Candidatesareaskedtoprovidewiththeirapplication:

• a completed application form• acover letter;• aCVincludingalistofpublications(maximaltwoA4pages);• aresearch proposalincludingarationaleforthechoiceofinstitution(s)tobevisited(maxi-malthreeA4pages);

• atleasttwo letters of reference,whichapplicantsshouldrequestthatrefereesemaildirectlytotheLMS(totheemailaddressbelow)bytheclosingdate;

• andletter(s) of supportfromthehost(s)attheinstitution(s)wheretheproposedvisitwilltakeplace;itisexpectedthathostinstitutionsprovidethegrantholderwithofficespaceandaccesstocomputingandlibraryfacilities.

ThesegrantshavebeenestablishedbytheLMStomarkits150thAnniversary.

ApplicationsshouldbesentbyThursday31March2016byemailto:[email protected]

Queries should be referred to Katy Henderson: [email protected] Tel.: +44 (0)20 7927 0809

ApplicantswillbenotifiedoftheoutcomeoftheirapplicationinlateMay2016.

LMS 150TH ANNIVERSARY POSTDOCTORAL MOBILITY GRANTS

2016-17 AwARDS

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NEw YEAR HONOURS LIST 2016ThefollowinghavebeenrecognisedintheNewYearHonourslist:Alison Allden, formerly chief executive,HigherEducationStatisticsAgencyLimited,awarded OBE for services to HigherEducation.Margherita Biller, head of mathematics,YorkCollege,awardedMBEfor services toMathematicsinFurtherEducation.Sue Black, Bletchley Park campaigner,awardedOBEforservicestotechnology.Lynn Churchman, founding trustee,National Numeracy awarded OBE for

services to Mathematics and NumeracyEducation.Steve Humble, teaching fellow in PGCEmathematics, Newcastle University andfreelancemathematicsconsultant,awardedMBEforservicestoEducation.Ruth Kaufman, president of the Opera-tional Research Society, awarded OBE forservicestoOperationalResearch.Emily Shuckburgh, mathematician andclimate scientist at the British AntarcticSurvey,awardedOBEforservicestoScienceandPublicCommunicationofScience.

FERMAT PRIZE 2015ThelaureatesoftheFermatPrize2015are:Laure Saint-Raymond (École Normale Su-périeure, Paris) for the development ofasymptotic theories of partial differen-tial equations, including the fluid limitsof rarefied flows, multiscale analysisin plasma physics equations and oceanmodeling, and the derivation of theBoltzmann equation from interactingparticlesystems.

Peter Scholze (Universität Bonn) for hisinvention of perfectoid spaces and theirapplication to fundamental problems inalgebraic geometry and in the theory ofautomorphicforms.The prize-awarding ceremony of theFermat Prize will take place on Tuesday22March2016inToulouse.Forfurther in-formation visit thewebsite atwww.math.univ-toulouse.fr/spip.php?article648.

RECORDS OF PROCEEDINGS AT LMS MEETINGS SOUTH wEST & SOUTH wALES REGIONAL MEETINGheldon14 December 2015attheUniversityofSouthamptonaspartoftheenhanced150thAnniver-sarySouthWest&SouthWalesRegionalWorkshoponAspects of Homotopy Theory.Over40membersandvisitorswerepresentforallorpartofthemeeting.

Themeetingbeganat2.00pmwithTheVice-President,ProfessorJohnGreenlees,intheChair.

Nomemberswereelectedtomembership.

FivememberssignedthebookandwereadmittedtotheSociety.

DrJelenaGrbicintroducedalecturegivenbyProfessorRalphCohenonTopological field theories and how to compare them.

Aftertea,DrJieWugavealectureonCombinatorial approaches to classical homotopy.

Followingasecondtea-break,ProfessorIanLearygavethefinallectureonUncountably many groups of type FP.

TheVice-PresidentexpressedthethanksoftheSocietytothelocalorganisersforputtingonsuchaninterestingmeeting.

Afterwards,awine receptionwasheldatBuilding56, theMathsStudentCentre. TheconferencedinnertookplaceatCenoonTuesday15December2015.

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Reports

BRITISH TOPOLOGY MEETINGReport

The 30th British Topology Meeting (BTM30)took place from 7 to 9 September 2015 atQueen's University Belfast. The main focusof this international researchconferencewasonhomotopytheoryanditsrelationtootherareas such as combinatorics and categorytheory.Speakers from six different countriespresentedvariedaspectsofthesubject,show-casingawiderangeofinterestingconnectionsbetweenhomotopytheory,algebraictopologyand areas further afield. Presentations weregivenbyCarlesCasacuberta(Barcelona,Spain),Boris Chorny (Haifa, Israel), Rosona Eldred

(Münster, Germany), Graham Ellis (Galway,Ireland), Imma Gálvez Carrillo (UPC, Spain),JarekKędra(Aberdeen,UK),AlexandruSuciu(Northeastern, USA), and Andrew Tonks(Leicester,UK). Thehighqualityof talks, therelaxed atmosphere and the internationalaudience made the conference a highly suc-cessful event, beneficial for attending re-searchersanddoctoralstudentsalike.TheorganiserswouldliketothanktheLMS,EPSRCandQueen'sUniversityBelfastfortheirgenerousfinancialsupport.

ThomasHuettemannQueen'sUniversityBelfast

RosonaEldred(Münster,Germany) AndrewTonks(Leicester,UK)

Participants

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LMS SOUTH wEST AND SOUTH wALES REGIONAL MEETING Report

The 2015 LMS SouthWest and South WalesRegional Meeting tookplace at the Univer-sity of Southampton onMonday 14 December.It was followed by theworkshop Aspects of Homotopy Theory from15to17December2015.The meeting startedwith an introduction bythe LMS Vice-President,ProfessorJohnGreenlees.As is traditional, theVice-President invitedmembers of the SocietywhohadnotsignedtheMembershipBooktodoso.ThefirsttalkwasbyProfessorRalphCohen(StanfordUniversity),whodiscussedexcitingrecentprogressthatidentifiescertaintopo-logicalfieldtheories. ThesecondtalkwasbyProfessorJieWu(NationalUniversityofSingapore)whogaveanelegantaccountofa new combinatorial approach to classicalproblems in homotopy theory. The thirdtalkwasbyProfessor Ian Leary (Universityof Southampton), who described how atype of group that was thought to rarelyexistinfactexistsinabundance.The talks were followed by a winereceptionandbuffetwhichwasattendedbyrepresentativesoftheLMS,themeetingandworkshop speakers, and awide variety ofotherparticipants,includinganabundanceof postgraduate students. A toast to the150thbirthdaycelebrationoftheLMSwasmadebyProfessorGrahamNiblo (HeadofMathematicalSciences,Southampton).The subsequent workshop consisted often talks that stimulated considerablediscussion and comment. They covered awide spectrum of topics ranging acrosstopology, geometry and algebra, demon-

strating the scopeand reachofhomotopytheoretic ideasandmethods.Thespeakersinalphabeticalorderwere:DrPiotrBeben(UniversityofSouthampton),DrAlexanderBerglund (StockholmUniversity), ProfessorNatalia Castellana (Universitat AutonomadeBarcelona),ProfessorJohnGreelees(Uni-versityofSheffield),DrBrendanOwens(Uni-versity of Glasgow), Dr Nansen Petrosyan(University of Southampton), Dr OscarRandal-Williams (University of Cambridge),ProfessorSamsonSaneblidze(A.RazmadzeMathematical Institute, Tibilisi), ProfessorSvjetlanaTerzic(UniversityofMontenegro)andProfessorSarahWhitehouse(UniversityofSheffield).A workshop dinner held on the nightof Tuesday 15 December was very wellattended and strongly reinforced thewarm collegial atmosphere. The meetingandworkshopwere organised by Dr PiotrBeben, Dr Jelena Grbic and ProfessorStephen Theriault, all from the UniversityofSouthampton.

DrJelenaGrbicUniversityofSouthampton

Someoftheparticipants

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News

MATHEMATICS POLICY ROUND-UPJanuary 2016

RESEARCHReview of research fundingUniversities and Science Minister JoJohnsonhaslaunchedaUK-widereviewofuniversityresearchfunding.The review will be chaired by thePresident of the British Academy andformerWorld Bank Chief Economist LordNicholas Stern. He will be assisted by ahigh-level steering group of academicexperts, including the Vice-Chancellorof Aston University, Professor Julia King,andthePastPresidentoftheAcademyofMedicalSciences,ProfessorSirJohnTooke.Lord Stern is due to report in Summer2016. More information is available athttp://tinyurl.com/hqf6k5c.

EPSRC REF analysis reportThe Engineering and Physical ScienceResearchCouncil(EPSRC)hasreportedthatthe 2014 Research Excellence Frameworkrevealed ‘comprehensive evidence of thesustained economic and social impactof EPSRC's investments in engineer-ing and physical sciences (EPS) research’.The EPSRC has published a report andcompanionleafletpresentingthefindingsof an analysis of the REF EPS impactcase studies, carried out by EPSRC. More

information is available at http://tinyurl.com/pezcoy7.

New mathematics centresLife Sciences Minister George Freeman hasannounced a £10 million investment in fivenewresearchcentresaroundtheUKthatwillexplore how mathematics and statistics canhelp clinicians to tackle serious health chal-lenges such as cancer, heart disease and an-tibioticresistantbacteria.Thecentreswillbelocated at universities in Liverpool, Glasgow,London,CambridgeandExeter.Moreinforma-tionisavailableathttp://tinyurl.com/hs7poq6.

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Improving schools in ScotlandA review of the Curriculum for Excellence(CfE) has been undertaken by the Organiza-tionforEconomicCo-operationandDevelop-ment (OECD). The review states that, ‘Levelsof academic achievement are above inter-national averages in science and reading (asmeasured by the Programme for Interna-tionalStudentAssessment,PISA)andclosetoaverageinmaths’.Thefullreviewisavailableathttp://tinyurl.com/goaopw2.

DrJohnJohnstonJointPromotionofMathematics

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INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICS COMPETITION FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTSPreliminary Announcement

The23rdInternationalMathematicsCom-petition for University Students (IMC),being held from 25 to 31 July 2016, isorganized by University College LondonandhostedbytheAmericanUniversityinBulgaria,Blagoevgrad,Bulgaria.Everyparticipatinguniversity is invitedtosendseveralstudentsandoneteacher.Individual students are welcome. Thecompetition is planned for studentscompleting their first, second, thirdor fourth year of university educationand will consist of two sessions of fivehours each. Problems will be from thefields of Algebra, Analysis (Real andComplex), Geometry and Combinatorics.The working language will be English.Over the previous twenty two competi-tionswehavehadparticipantsfromovertwo hundred institutions in over fiftycountries.TheIMCisaresidentialcompetitionandall student participants are required tostay in the accommodation provided bythehosts.Groups: Although this is an individualevent, the Universities traditionallydivide their participants into groups offour each. The number of students inthe teams is, however, not fixed. TheprofessorwhoaccompaniesthestudentsisexpectedtobeamemberoftheJury.Selection of the Problems:TheproblemswillbechosenattheMeetingoftheJuryonJuly26fromthosereceivedinadvanceby the President of the Jury, ProfessorJohn Jayne. The problems proposedshould be precisely formulated and ac-companied by a detailed solution. Theproblems should be in fields ofAlgebra,Analysis (Real and Complex), Geometryand Combinatorics. The problems givenat the last twenty two competitions cangiveageneralideaofthelevelexpected

(see the IMCwebsite www.im c -m a t h . o r g .uk). Additionaltopics may bealsoincluded.Evaluation: Thestudents' workwillbeevaluatedbyTeamLeadersand other Pro-fessors andAssistant Professors using criteriaprovidedbytheJury.Necessary Information: Participantsare invited to confirm their intentionto participate, either by on-line regis-tration or by email, by the end ofMay2016, providing the following informa-tion: University: City, Country: Leaderof the team (name, email address):Students (number): Mailing address:emailaddress:Fax.Visas: The participants from somecountries will need a visa to enterBulgaria. Contact your travel agent ortheBulgarianConsulateinyourcountryfor details. If necessary, the organizerswillpostformalinvitationsforparticipa-tionintheCompetition.Youmustbeginthevisaprocessearlyasitrequirestime.Local Expenses: The competition fee,which will include accommodation andmeals from dinner on the 25 July tobreakfast on the 31 July, has not yetbeenfinalized.Send all confirmations of participa-tion and arrival details to John Jayne([email protected]). If youwould like acopy of the competition poster, pleasesent your request with postal addressto John Jayne. For further informationvisit the website at www.imc-math.org.uk.

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EUROPEAN NEwS

EMS NewsletterThe December 2015edition of the EuropeanMathematical Society(EMS) Newsletter is nowavailableonline at http://tinyurl.com/hrpb4e3. Itcontains a list of 79problems from the veryelementary to the highlysophisticated taken fromthe book Lectures and Problems: A Gift to Young Mathematicians(AMS,2015)byVladimirArnold,andanarticleontheclassicaladditiveeigenvalue problem (what can be said abouttheeigenvaluesofA+BgiventhoseofAandB?)byShrawanKumar,aswellasoneonGeorgeBoole and BooleanAlgebra by Stanley Burris.Thereare lively interviewswithAbelLaureateLouis Nirenberg and Fields Medallist ManjulBhargava. InadditiontothereminiscencesonpastECMs,bookreviewsandsoonthereisalsoanextraordinaryaccountbySylviePaychaoftheSummer School on Fourier Integral Operators and ApplicationsthattookplaceinOuagadou-gouinSeptember2014duringthedangerandinsecurityofanuprisingandunsuccessfulcoup.

ThefollowingitemsarefromtheEMSwebpagewww.euro-math-soc.eu/recent-news.

ResonancesInhisNewYearmessage theEuropeanMath-ematical Society (EMS) President Pavel Exnermadethenotableobservationthatnotonlyhasthe EMS recently celebrated its 25th anniver-sary,butthat“inaremarkableharmonysomeofour corporatemembers celebrated jubileesmarkedbyintegermultiplesoftheEMS'sage-sixfortheLondon Mathematical Society,fivefor Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, andthree for Sociedade Portuguesa de Matemáti-ca”.

10th ICIAM Congress in 2023The International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics(ICIAM)isheldeveryfour

years under the auspices of the InternationalCouncil for Industrial and AppliedMathemat-ics.ThelatestcongresstookplaceinBeijinginAugust2015;thenextcongresswillbeheldinValencia,SpaininJuly2019.Membersocietiesare now invited to apply to hold the TenthICIAMCongress in 2023. Pre-proposals shouldbe submitted to the ICIAM PresidentMaria J.Estebannolaterthan31 March 2016.Fordetailsseeiciam_bidfor2023.pdf.NotealsothatICIAMhasanewwebsite:seehttp://iciam.org/.

New CRM directorTheboardofgovernorsofCentre de Recerca Matemàtica (one of the ERCOMmembers) inBarcelona has approved the nomination ofDrLluísAlsedàasanewdirectorofCRMforafour-yearmandatestarting1January2016(seewww.crm.cat).

ERC grantsGrants from the European Research Council:Thedeadlineforadvancedgrantsis1September2016. Since this year, the funding for thedifferentfields(forexamplePE1Mathematics)dependsstronglyonthenumberofapplicationsforthefield.Unfortunatelyinthelastcalls,thenumberofapplicationssignificantlydecreased.Thiswillhaveanegativeeffectonthefundingformathematics.Ifthedevelopmentcontinues,adrasticreductionofthebudgetforfundinginmathematicshastobeexpectedinthecomingyears.Hereissomeadvice:1.Colleagueswithagoodideaforaproposalshoulddefinitelyapply.

2. One should apply for the full grant if theprojectreallyhasthepotentialandneedforsuchalargeamount.

3.Most research projects inmathematics cangetalongwithmuchsmallergrants.

4.Donotfollowtherequestsofuniversityad-ministrators if they urge you to go for themaximalpossiblegrantsum.For further information visit the website athttp://tinyurl.com/gphh68c.

DavidChillingworthLMS/EMSCorrespondent

News

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NEw ZEALAND MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NEwS

The50thannualNewZealandColloquiummeetingwasheldattheUniversityofCan-terburyatthestartofDecember.ThissawtheinauguralButcher-KalmanlecturegivenbyAdamDayofVictoriaUniversityofWel-lington.ThisisalecturebyanearlycareerspeakerandhasbeengenerouslysupportedbytheMargaretandJohnKalmanCharita-ble Trust and New Zealand MathematicalChronicleFunds.Otherplenaryspeakersatthe NZMS Colloquium were Rick Beatsonof the University of Canterbury (NZMSSpeaker), Claire Postlethwaite of the Uni-versity of Auckland (ANZIAM speaker),Catherine Greenhill of the University ofNew SouthWales and Ian Frigaard of theUniversity of British Columbia. The NewZealandMathematicalSocietyawardswerepresentedattheColloquiumdinner.TheNZMSEarlyCareerAwardwinnerfor2015wasAdamDay(VictoriaUniversityofWellington)‘forfundamentalcontributionsto the theory of algorithmic randomnessandcomputabilityincludingthesolutionoftherandomcoveringproblem’.The2015AitkenPrizeforthebestspoken

presentation by a student at the NZMSColloquium went to Andrew Keane (Uni-versity of Auckland) for his talk Bifurca-tion Analysis of a Model for the El Niño Southern Oscillation.The2015ANZIAMposterprizeforthebestposterbyanearlycareerresearcherattheNZMSColloquiumwent toAndrusGiraldo(University of Auckland) for his poster To Flip or Not to Flip?The NZMS Research Award winner for2015 was Hinke Osinga of University ofAuckland) ‘for pioneeringwork on theoryand computational methods in dynamicalsystemsanditsapplicationsinbiologyandengineering’.Honorary membership of the NewZealand Mathematical Society wasawarded to David Gauld (University ofAuckland)acknowledginghis ‘outstandingand sustained contribution to the Society,theNewZealandMathematicalCommunityandMathematics’.The following new Fellows of the NewZealand Mathematical Society wereannounced: Steven Galbraith (University

HinkeOsinga,NewZealandMathematicalSocietyResearchAwardwinner,withWinstonSweatman,NewZealandMathematical

SocietyPresident

DavidGauld,HonoraryMemberoftheNewZealandMathematicalSociety,withWinstonSweatman,NewZealandMathematicalSocietyPresident

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of Auckland), Mick Roberts (Massey Uni-versity) and Charles Semple (University ofCanterbury).Earlierintheyearthreereciprocallecturetours took place. In March and April,Endre Süli (University of Oxford) touredNew Zealand as the LMS-NZMS ForderLecturer. The reciprocal LMS-NZMS AitkenLecturer was Steven Galbraith (Univer-

sity of Auckland) who toured the UK inOctober. In September, IngridDaubechies(Duke University) toured New Zealand astheAMS-NZMSMaclaurinLecturer.Winston Sweatman (Massey University)has now concluded his two-year term asNZMSPresidentandissucceededbyAstridanHuef(UniversityofOtago).

WinstonSweatman

X&Y The Vaults, Leake Street, waterloo, SE1 7NN, 10-14 February 2016

It'snotoftenyouseeaneminentprofessor reduced to zero onstage and then stuffed into abag. But this is exactly whathappens to Marcus du Sautoy,Simonyi Professor for the PublicUnderstanding of Science anda Professor of Mathematics atOxford,inhisroleasXintheTwinPrimeproductionX&Y.

X&Y is a story of contrastingworld views. X lives life throughmathematical abstraction, lonelybut happily confined to a cubeheneverleaves.Y,VictoriaGould,has spent her life exploring their knownuniverse, hoping that she'll finally findan ‘out’ and an answer to the universalquestion:"Istheremorethanthis?"Whentheymeet they begin to argue about theshape of the world they live in and fromheretheplotunfoldsintoastoryofmath-ematics,theatreandfriendship.This is not the first time that du Sautoyand Gould have worked together. A fewyears ago they helped develop A Disap-pearing Number, aplayabout the remark-ablecollaborationbetweentheCambridgemathematician G.H. Hardy and the Indiangenius Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was a playabout mathematicians, but inspired duSautoyandGould,todoaplayaboutmath-ematics itself. This is not as strange as itsounds;theatreandmathematicsareboth

imaginedthingsthatneedtobeconsistenttowork.Andwhilemathematicsisabstractit is also physical — there are patterns,rhythms,formsandshapes—andthiscanbeconveyedonstage.But what du Sautoy and Gould haveproduced, under the direction of DermotKeaney,isn'tabstractphysicaltheatre.Thedialogueisfunnyandsharp,there'sastorybeing toldwhich, with a couple of twists,exploresthecommongroundofmathemat-icsandtheatre,andthefriendshipbetweentwoverydifferentpeople.

SeanHarwoodEvent'sPressOfficer

TheVaults

Editor’snote:X&YwasperformedattheScienceMuseum in 2013. A review appeared in theDecember2013issueoftheLMS Newsletter.

News

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1865 - 2015

LMS Invited Lecturer 2016

Professor Edgar Knobloch (UC Berkeley)Dynamics, Patterns and Spatially Localised Structures

21-25 March 2016Loughborough University, Department of Mathematical Sciences

In a series of 10 lectures Professor Knobloch will describe and illustrate recent progress in understanding the origin and properties of spatially localised structures formed in dissipative, pattern-forming systems such as the Swift-Hohenberg equation. He will provide a mathematical and a physical explanation of homoclinic snaking of stationary states and related results for spatially localised temporal oscillations. He will use the theory to develop an understanding of similar phenomena observed in fluid dynamics, reaction-diffusion systems and nonlinear optics.

There will also be supplementary lectures by:

Daniele Avitabile (Nottingham), Numerical computation of coherent structures in spatially-extended systemsClaude Baesens (Warwick), Bifurcations of flows on the two-torusThomas Bartsch (Loughborough), Introduction to transition state theoryAnatoly Neishtadt (Loughborough), Slow-fast dynamical systemsAlastair Rucklidge (Leeds), Introduction to pattern formationUwe Thiele (Münster), Dynamics of soft matter systems: evolution equations and the bifurcations of depinning transitions

Participants are invited to contribute further lectures or posters.

University accommodation will be available. Also, limited financial support is available with preference given to UK research students. Please contact one of the organisers for further details: Thomas Bartsch ([email protected]), Andrew Archer (A.J. [email protected]) or Anatoly Neishtadt ([email protected]). Deadline for funding: 19 February 2016

For further details on the 2016 Invited Lectures please visit www.lms.ac.uk/events/lectures/forthcoming-lms-invited-lecturer and www.lboro.ac.uk/lms-2016

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MARY CARTWRIGHT LECTUREAND SOCIETY MEETING

To registerFor all event enquiries please contact Katy Henderson ([email protected]) by Friday 19 February. Late registrations for places may still be accepted, subject to availability.

The reception will be followed by a dinner at the Thistle Bloomsbury Park Hotel, at a cost of £35 per person, inclusive of wine.

There are limited funds available to contribute in part to the expenses of members of the Society or research students to attend the meeting.

Friday 26 February 2016De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HS

3.30 Opening Lecture Lasse Rempe-Gillen (University of Liverpool) Hairs, dreadlocks and Cantor bouquets

4.30 Tea

5.00 Mary Cartwright Lecture Gwyneth Stallard (Open University) Pits, gaps and spiders' webs

6.00 Wine reception

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1865 - 2015

Society Meeting at the BMC 2016

University of Bristol, 21-24 March 5:15pm Society Meeting (21 March) Public Lecture: Kirsten Lauter (Microsoft Research)This Society Meeting is part of the British Mathematical Colloquium 2016. The full conference will also include a special lecture by Hendrik Lenstra and plenaries given by Robert Adler, Luigi Ambrosio, Maria Chudnovsky, Alex Lubotzky, Peter Sarnak and Amie Wilkinson.

Workshops (Tue & Wed afternoon)Algebra (organisers: Tim Burness, Jeremy Rickard)Analysis (organisers: Michiel van den Berg, John Mackay)Combinatorics (organisers: Thomas Bloom, Julia Wolf)Ergodic Theory (organisers: Thomas Jordan, Corinna Ulcigrai)Number Theory (organisers: Andrew Booker, Tim Browning) Probability (organisers: Márton Balázs, Bálint Tóth)

Speed talks (Wed 5-6pm) & postersIn the spirit of Radio 4's 'Just A Minute', there will be a session of 5-minute talks, allowing early career researchers, including PhD students, to showcase some of their mathematics. If you would like to give a speed talk, please apply at http://ow.ly/VmRkO. If you would like to present a poster at the BMC, please apply at http://ow.ly/VmRsD.

Satellite meetings (Thu afternoon), Research Groups supported by LMS Scheme 3 grantsErgodic theory, organisers Thomas Jordan, Corinna UlcigraiCOW Algebraic Geometry, organiser Hamid AhmadinezhadBLOC Representation Theory, organisers Neil Saunders, Jason Semeraro, Nicole SnashallFor further details and registration, please visit http://www.maths.bris.ac.uk/~matyd/BMC/ Early bird registration is now open and closes on 1 February 2016. The cost of registration will be £75 and £40 for students. The venue and time of the dinner is to be confirmed.

Accommodation in Bristol is also available, but it is advised you book early to avoid disappointment. A list of hotels can be found here: http://ow.ly/VmRA3

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The David Crighton LectureProfessor Frank Kelly CBE FRS

Thursday 12 May 2016 at 6.15 p.m. followed by a reception

at The Royal Society, Carlton House Terrace,

London, Sw1Y 5AGRegistration will open at 5.45 p.m.

Mathematics and Financial MarketsAbstract:A substantial proportion of mathematics graduates, at both first degree and doctoral level, enter the financial services sector. This is hardly surprising given the importance of the sector to the economy, and the role of mathematical modelling in the valuation of instruments and the assessment of risk. What is striking is that, with some notable exceptions, few math-ematicians have been actively engaged in the design of financial markets. This is undoubtedly a serious challenge with parallels from other large-scale complex networks: to design a dis-tributed system, linking self-interested and intelligent agents, so that the outcome is effective and efficient.

How would an ideal market operate, to allow liquidity between long-term investors to be provided by short-term traders? In the second part of the talk I outline some preliminary work, joint with Elena Yudovina, on this question. I describe a simplified and analytically tractable model of a limit order book where the dynamics are driven by stochastic fluctuations between supply and demand. The model has a natural interpretation for a highly traded market on short time scales where there is a separation between the time scale of trading, represented in the model, and a longer time scale on which fundamentals change.

There has been considerable discussion recently of the effects of competition between multiple high-frequency traders, and of proposals aimed to slow down markets. A key issue is that traders may compete on the speed with which they can snipe an order rather than compete on price, and a proposed regulatory response is to use frequent batch auctions. Our model is clearly a caricature of a real limit order book, but it does provide insight into various high-frequency trading strategies (for example market-making, sniping and mixtures of these) and the impact on Nash equilibria when a market in continuous time is replaced by frequent batch auctions.

ProfessorFrankKellywillbepresentedwiththeDavidCrightonMedalwhichisawardedbien-nially,forservicesbothtomathematicsandtothemathematicalcommunity,bytheInstituteofMathematicsanditsApplications,andtheLondonMathematicalSociety.

Admission tothelectureandreceptionisbyticketonly.ForticketspleasecontactAlisonPenryattheIMA,CatherineRichardsHouse,16NelsonStreet,Southend-on-Sea,SS11EForemailalison.penry@ima.org.ukby24April2016.Ticketsarefreeofchargeandwillbeallocatedonafirstcome,firstservedbasis.Pleaseconfirmwhetheryouwishtoattendthelectureandreception,orthelectureonly.

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VISIT OF MIGUEL ORTEGA

Professor Miguel Ortega (Granada Univer-sity)will be visitingMarie-Amélie Lawn atImperial College London during February2016.ProfessorOrtega’svisitwillbedevotedto the mathematical problems of Translat-ing Solitons in Lorentzian Manifolds. Thestudy of Translating Solitons in EuclideanSpace is currently a hot topic, so similarproblems arise naturally in LorentzianManifolds,bearing inmindsimilaritiesanddifferences.Professor Ortega will give a presenta-tion on Einstein 3-Sasakian homogeneous manifolds.For further information contact Marie-Amélie Lawn ([email protected]).Thevisit is supportedbyanLMSScheme4ResearchinPairsgrant.

VISIT OF ARND SCHEELProfessor Arnd Scheel (Associate Head ofthe School of Mathematics, University ofMinnesota)whilstspendinghissabbaticalattheUniversityofMünsterwillvisitDrDaveLloyd at the University of Surrey aroundEaster2016.Theobjectiveoftheirprojectistodevelopatheoryofplanardefectformationinpatternformingsystemsongrowingdomains.Thereisa significantamountof research lookingat pattern formation in growing domainsin biology and material science but thereis little mathematical theory. A recentNatureCommunicationsarticleonDynamic scaling of morphogen gradients on growing domains in2014byPatrickFried&DagmarIberhighlightsthetimelinessofthisproject.The project will build on the previouswork of Scheel and his collaborators tolookatplanargrainboundaryformationonone-sidedgrowingplanardomainswiththeaimofwritingpublications.For further information contact DaveLloyd ([email protected]). The visit issupportedbyanLMSScheme4ResearchinPairsgrant.

VISIT OF ASMA HASSANNEZHADDr Asma Hassannezhad (Max-PlanckInstitute for Mathematics, Bonn) will visittheUKbetween7and21February2016.DrHassannezhad works in geometric analysisandspectralgeometry.Duringhervisit,shewillgivetalksat:• Analysisseminar,UniversityofBristol,8February(contact:MichielvandenBerg,[email protected])

• LondonAnalysisseminar,ImperialCollege,11February(contact:LeonidParnovski,[email protected])

• ReadingAnalysisseminar,UniversityofReading,12February(contact:MichaelLevitin,[email protected])For further details of the visit contactMichielvandenBergorMichaelLevitin.ThevisitissupposedbyanLMSScheme2grant.

VISIT OF SERGEY NABOKOProfessor Sergey Naboko (St PetersburgState University) will be visiting the UK inAprilandearlyMay2016.Duringthistime,hewillbelargelybasedattheUniversityofKent.ProfessorNabokoisaleadingexperton the spectral theory of both self-adjointandnon-self-adjointoperators.Hewillgivetalksonhisoperatorandspectraltheoryat:• UniversityofKent,MathematicsCollo-quium,5April(contactIanWood:[email protected])

• CardiffUniversity,AnalysisSeminar,18April(contactMikhailCherdantsev:[email protected])

• UniversityCollegeLondon,LondonAnalysisSeminar,5May(contactLeonidParnovski:[email protected])For further details contact Ian Wood([email protected]). The visit is supportedbyanLMSScheme2grant.

Visits, Meetings

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No.455February2016

VISIT OF YVETTE KOSMANN-SCHwARZBACHProfessor Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach(Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau) will bevisitingtheUKfortwoweeksinMarch2016.She isaseniorfigure intheareasbetweendifferential geometry and mathematicalphysics, in particular Poisson geometry, Liealgebroids, and the intricate bracket struc-tureswhichariseinthesesubjects.ProfessorKosmann-Schwarzbach will give thefollowingtalks:• Multiplicativity conditions for tensor

fields and forms on Lie groupoidsTuesday8March,UniversityofSheffield

• The Jacobi identity from Jacobi to Loday and beyondWednesday9March,UniversityofSheffield

• On the generalized geometry of Lie groupoidsFriday11March,GeometryandTopologySeminar,ImperialCollege,London

• Courant algebroids and Dirac structuresThursday17March,GeometrySeminar,ManchesterFor further details of Professor Kos-mann-Schwarzbach's lecture tour contactKirill Mackenzie ([email protected]). The visit is supported by an LMSScheme2grant.

EXPLICIT METHODS IN NUMBER THEORYA conference on Explicit Methods in Number Theory in honour of John Cremona's 60thbirthday will be held at the MathematicsResearch Centre, University of Warwick fromMonday 4 to Friday 8 April 2016. The invitedspeakersinclude:• BarinderBanwait(Essen)• ManjulBhargava(Princeton)• BryanBirch(Oxford)• HenriCohen(Bordeaux)• TomFisher(Cambridge)• HendrikLenstra(Leiden)• ArielPacetti(BuenosAires)• SomaPurkait(Kyushu)• HalukSengun(Sheffield)• DenisSimon(Caen)• WilliamStein(Washington)• MichaelStoll(Bayreuth)• DrewSutherland(MIT)• LynneWalling(Bristol)• DonZagier(MPIMBonn)Participants should register at: http://tinyurl.com/j9rzdfx.ThereissomelimitedsupportforUK PhD students, who should contact SamirSiksek([email protected]).ThemeetingissupportedbyanLMSConferencegrantandtheEPSRC(Platformgrant).

OPERATORS, OPERATOR FAMILIES AND ASYMPTOTICSA conferenceonOperators, Operator Families and Asymptotics will be held from 16 to 19May2016attheDepartmentofMathematicalSciences,UniversityofBath.Theconferenceisaimedatmakinganoverviewof thestateof theart ina rapidlydevelopingareaofanalysis concernedwithapplicationofthetechniquesofoperatortheorytotheasymp-totic analysis of parameter-dependent differ-entialequationsandboundary-valueproblems.Speakerswillinclude:• YvesCapdeboscq(Oxford)• GiuseppeCardone(Sannio)• TanyaChristiansen(Missouri)• PavelExner(Prague)• DavitHaratyunyan(Utah)• RostyslavHryniv(LvivandRzeszow)• IliaKamotski(UCL)• AlexanderKiselev(Kyiv)• DavidKrejcirik(Rez)• PavelKurasov(Stockholm)• ZhongweiShen(Kentucky)• StefanNeukamm(TUDresden)• TatianaSuslina(StPetersburg)• JariTaskinen(Helsinki)

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• MichaelVogelius(Rutgers)• RicardoWeder(UNAM)• IanWood(Kent)For more information, including the detailsoftalks,visittinyurl.com/OOFA-Info.Placesarelimited.Registerassoonaspossibleorby24 April 2016 at tinyurl.com/OOFA-Registration. Theregistration fee is £60,which includes lunches,teaandcoffee.Alimitedamountofsupportisavailable forUK PhD students, including regis-trationfeereimbursement.TheconferenceissupportedbyanLMSConfer-encegrant,UniversityofBath(GlobalMobilityScheme), EPSRC and Bath Institute for Math-ematicalInnovation.

YOUNG FUNCTIONAL ANALYSTS’ wORKSHOPTheYoung Functional Analysts’ Workshop 2016(YFAW) will take place at Queen’s UniversityBelfastfromWednesday6toFriday8April2016.WFAWisaneventaimedatearly-stageresearch-ers (postgraduates and postdocs) in functionalanalysis and relatedareas.YFAWofferspartici-pantsanopportunitybothtopresenttheirownwork in front of a sympathetic audience, andto get to know less familiar areas of currentresearch in functional analysis through talksgiven by other young researchers as well asinvited talks from established researchers. Theinvitedspeakersare:• YemonChoi(LancasterUniversity)• Cho-HoChu(QueenMaryUniversityofLondon)

• StanislavShkarin(Queen’sUniversityBelfast)• TatianaShulman(IMPAN,Warsaw)• AaronTikuisis(UniversityofAberdeen)Allparticipantsareencouragedtogiveashorttalk. The registration fee is £30, and includestwo nights’ accommodation (if required) andthe conference dinner. Somefinancial supporttowards travel expenses will also be provided.Formore informationvisit thewebsite:https://sites.google.com/site/yfawuk/about or contactthe organizers Andrew McKee and LindaMawhinney ([email protected]). The con-ference is supported by an LMS PostgraduateResearchConferencegrant(Scheme8).

HILBERT'S SIXTH PROBLEM

Hilbert's Sixth Problem Workshop will takeplace at the Universityof Leicester from 2 to4 May 2016. The mainaimsare:1. To facilitate interdis-ciplinary discussionacross key math-ematicalandphysicaldisciplinesinvolvedinsolutionofHilbert'ssixthproblemaboutthestateofart.

2. To synthetize an integral interdisciplinarypointofviewonHilbert'ssixthproblemandrenewtheprogrammaticcallinthelightofthelatestachievements.

3.Toprovideguidancetoearlycareerresearch-ersviaanindicationoffutureresearchdirec-tionsinHilbert'ssixthproblem.

4. To disseminate the modern achievementsandrenewedprogrammaticcallinaseriesofreviewpublications.Hilbert's6thproblemconcernstheaxiomati-zationofthosepartsofphysicswhicharereadyforarigorousmathematicalapproach.Hilbertattracted special attention to the followingaspectsofthisproblem:(i)axiomatictreatmentofprobabilitywithlimittheoremsforthefoun-dationofstatisticalphysics,and(ii)therigoroustheoryof limitingprocesses ‘which lead fromthe atomistic view to the laws of motion ofcontinua’.Hilbert's 6th problem gives a uniqueframework for collaborations of multiscaleanalysiswithotherfieldsofthemathematicalsciences, from probability, logic and abstractalgebratomathematicalphysics.Alistofspeakersandfurtherinformationisavailableathttp://tinyurl.com/j54sefg.For further information email the organiz-ers (Alexander Gorban, [email protected]). Themeeting is supported by an LMS Conferencegrant,theEPSRC,theInstituteofMathematicsanditsApplications,andUniversityofLeicester.TheLMSgrantsupportsPhDstudentstravelingfromtheUK.Emailtheorganizersifyoufallinthiscategoryandwishtoapplyforfunding.

Hilbertin1900

Meetings

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POINT PROCESSES AND wARPING FUNCTIONS wITH STATISTICAL APPLICATIONS

The School of Mathematical Sciences at theUniversityofNottinghamon26April2016willhost a one-day workshop on exploring linksbetweenpointprocessesandwarpingordefor-mation functions used in statistical shape andimageanalysis. Theorganisershope toattractmathematiciansandengineers,mainlyfromtheUnitedKingdom,interestedinthestudyofpointprocessesandtheiruse inengineeringapplica-tionsinvolvingdataanalysis.Speakersinclude:• IanJermyn(Durham)• SofiaOlhede(UCL)• KarthikBharath(Nottingham)There is a£20 fee for visitingacademic staffand£10feefor students.Themeetingwillbefollowedbyadinner (included in the registra-tion fee). Details and registration informationare available at http://tinyurl.com/z8yj887. Themeeting issupportedbyanLMSScheme1cel-ebratingnewappointmentgrant.

PROBABILISTIC COMBINATORICSCelebrating Colin McDiarmid's workAtwo-daymeetingondiscretemathematicsinhonourofColinMcDiarmid’s retirementwillbeheldatCorpusChristiCollege,UniversityofOxfordontheweekendof9to10April2016.Themeetingwill spanColin's research areasincluding probabilistic combinatorics, combi-natorialoptimisation,andgraphcolouring.A list of invited participants and furtherinformation is available at www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~kang/colinworkshop/. Everyone iswelcometoparticipateinthewholeorpartofthemeeting.FundingforUK-basedresearchstudents isavailable.Prospectiveparticipantsshouldsendaregistrationrequesttostefanie.gerke@rhul.ac.uk.This meeting is supported by an LMS Con-ference grant, the British CombinatorialCommittee,andtheUniversityofOxford’sSta-tisticsDepartment.

THE HISTORY OF NUMBER THEORYThe History of Number Theory will takeplace at Birkbeck, University of London, onSaturday 21 May 2016 from 9:30 to 17:00.This is the second of what is hoped to bean annual day-long event organised by theBritish Society for theHistory ofMathemat-ics(BSHM),andsupportedbytheDepartmentof Economics,Mathematics and Statistics atBirkbeck.This year's event will trace the study ofnumbertheoryfromitsancientoriginstothepresentday.Thespeakersare:KevinBuzzard,CatherineGoldstein, Ben Fairbairn,MichalisSialaros,RobinWilsonandSimonSingh.Formoreinformation,andtoregister,visithttp://tinyurl.com/bshmbbk2016 or navigateviatheBSHMwebsite:bshm.ac.uk.

wALES MATHEMATICS COLLOQUIUM The 2016 colloquium will take place atGregynog Hall, Tregynon, near Newtown,Powysbeginningwithteaat4pmon23Mayandrununtilafterlunchonthe25May.TheWales Mathematics Colloquium is a forumforthepromotionanddiscussionofcurrentresearchinmathematicsinWales.Theinvitedspeakersare:• DarrenCrowdy(Imperial)• AnneJuel(Manchester)• TomLeinster(Edinburgh)The Wales Mathematics Colloquia areorganisedjointlybythemathematicsdepart-ments of universities inWales, andmost oftheparticipantsareexpected tocomefromthose departments. Any others who wouldlike to attend will be very welcome. Thereareopportunitiesforcontributedtalksinanyareaofmathematics.The Colloquium is partly supported by anLMS Conference grant. The registration feeis£200,toincludeallmealsandaccommoda-tion. Further details are available at http://gregynog-maths-2016.dcs.aber.ac.uk/orfromProfessorSimonCox([email protected]).

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MILNE ANDERSON

ProfessorMilneAnderson,whowaselecteda member of the London MathematicalSociety on 17 January 1973, died on 20November2015,aged76.

Aimo Hinkkanen writes: Milne did hisPhD with Jim Clunie at Imperial Collegein 1963.After that, he spent time at ETH,Zurich, the University ofMichigan and atHarvard, before becoming a Lecturer atUniversity College London in 1965. TherehewaspromotedtoReaderin1987andtoProfessorin1991.Over the yearsMilne participated in col-laborations with 48 co-authors resultinginmanylongtermresearchvisits.Theuni-versities he visited for at least a semesterinclude Leningrad State University, theUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-Champaign,theUniversityofVirginia,theUniversityofTexasatAustin,andtheUniversityofCali-forniaatSanDiego.Heattendednumerousconferences at Oberwolfach, and in both2000and2009,Ispentathree-weekperiodwith him there in the Research-in-Pairsprogramme.Milne's mathematics was incrediblybroad, yielding more than one hundredpapers. Intheearlydaysmostofhisworkwas in the Nevanlinna value distributiontheoryandrelatedquestions,withseveral

paperswrittenwithClunie,which includesharp results for the characterization ofPicard sets for entire functions. Milne'sbest known paper is the one from 1974withClunieandCh.PommerenkeonBlochfunctions, an important class of analyticfunctions defined in the unit disk. Itfeaturesresultsonisomorphismsofcertainfunctionspaces,aswellasonthedistribu-tion of zeros, the size of the coefficients,and the boundary behaviour of Blochfunctions.Milneworked extensively on probabilitytheory with Loren Pitt, related to proba-bilistic aspects of analytic functions suchas lacunary series, Bloch and univalentfunctions,andonfunctionsintheZygmundclassandonBrownianmotion.Milne and I wrote altogether 16 papers,mostofthemonquasiconformalmappings,which was another frequent topic inMilne's work. Our collaboration alsoincluded a paper in complex dynamics ofentire functions in 1998, concerning aproblemofI.N.Bakerontheboundednessof the componentsof theFatou setofanentirefunctionofsufficientlyslowgrowth;theproblem is still not completely solved.We developed the concept of self-sustain-ing spread to address many cases of thisproblem. This method has subsequentlybeenusedandextendedbymanyauthors.

Milne was keen on hikingand was a lifelong friend ofclassical music, particularlyopera. He was a long-timeregular visitor to Glynde-bourne.Milne was a delightfulperson andhadmany friendsfrom all over the world. Hehosted numerous visitors inhis home in London. Duringany talk he gave, he alwaystold a joke, often a Scottishone, and the audience wereeagerly waiting for it. Hewill be greatly missed by hisfriendsandcolleagues.

Obituary

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1865 - 2015

Inaugural Hirst Lecture & Society Meeting

St Andrews, 20 April 2016

3.30 pm: Opening of the meeting

3.45 pm: Mark McCartney (Ulster) Title TBA

4.45 pm: Tea

5.15 pm: Hirst Lecture, Edmund Robertson (St. Andrews) Title TBA

6.15 pm: Meeting closes. Wine reception.

The Inaugural Hirst Lecture & Society Meeting celebrates the joint award of the Hirst Prize & Lectureship, in the 150th Anniversary year of the London Mathematical Society, to Professor Edmund Robertson (St. Andrews) and the Dr John O’Connor (St. Andrews) for their creation, development and maintenance of the MacTutor History of Mathematics web site.

The prize and lectureship are named after Thomas A. Hirst, 5th President of the London Mathematical Society from 1872-1874. The prize is awarded in recognition of original and innovative work in the history of mathematics, which may be in any medium.

These lectures are aimed at a general audience. All interested, whether LMS members or not, are most welcome to attend this event. For further details and to register please email [email protected]

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 Elizabeth Fisher ([email protected]).

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26

Reviews

of looking at familiarmaterialwhich couldbeincorporatedintoexercisesorchallengesfor interestedstudents.Theclassificationofthe17wallpapergroupsgetsslightlyrepeti-tive(onemightalmostsayperiodic)butthatprobablycan’tbehelped.Thestyleischattyandinformal,butpropermathematics is verydefinitely includedandnot brushed under the carpet. The authorsayshehasthreepotentialaudiencesinmind:the working mathematician, the advancedundergraduate and the “brave mathemati-caladventurer”.Icancertainlyagreethatthefirst two categories arewell catered for. Inparticularthereareexercisesineachchapterwith hints and solutions provided within afewpages,whichguidethereaderthroughthe material in a helpful way. The bravemathematical adventurer will not get farwithoutat leastsomecalculus,butabrightsixth-formerpreparedtoputinabitofworkwouldprobablyfinditworththeeffort.Thebook itself isverynicelyproduced–agood clear layout with plenty of emptyspace; easy to read typeface and carefullyeditedtext.Theexercisesandcommentsareclearlydisplayedatthesideofthetext.The

CREATING SYMMETRY – THE ARTFUL MATHEMATICS OF wALLPAPER PATTERNSbyFrankA.Farris,PrincetonUniversityPress,2015,£24.95,ISBN978-0691161730

Everymathematicianknowsthatthereare17wallpaperpatterns.Moreovermostofuswillownatleastonebookthatincludesaproofof this. We all know the drill: classify thesymmetries of the plane, discover that sym-metries form groups, classify thewallpapergroups.Itisalovelyapplicationofbeautifulmathematics but can anythingnewbe saidabout it? This book is about symmetry andwallpaperpatterns,andIhavetoadmitthatI expected to be told a familiar story withperhaps theonlydifferencebeing thehighquality of the accompanying illustrations.Iwaswrong. Yes, the book does contain aproof that there are 17wallpaper patterns,butitsapproachiscompletelydifferentfromwhatIhaveseenbefore.This book is written by someone whoseloveformathematicssuffuseseverypage.Hedoesaverygoodjoboftakinganideaforawalk.Hestartswithaverysimpleidea–whathappenswhenweplotthecurve:

in the complex plane? It turns out to havefivefold symmetry. Butwhy? (The curve inquestion was one the author had chosenmore or less at random as an exercisefor calculus students studying parametricequations. The unexpected symmetry wasthetriggerthatbeganthethoughtsthatul-timatelyresultedinthisbook.)Thequestionofwherethesymmetrycomesfromleadstoa discussion of how to encode reflectionsand rotations – complex conjugation andmultiplicationrespectively,andamethodofcreating and classifying rosettes.When youhavearosetteyoucanunfurl it toproducea frieze. And so on. By thinking of symme-triesintermsoffunctionsandwaves,ratherthanofthefigures inspacethesefunctionsdefine, the author is able to employ thetechniques of Fourier series, differentialequations and other perhaps unexpectedthings. There are interesting diversionsalongtheway,andIfoundmanynewways

CREATING SYMMETRY – THE ARTFUL MATHEMATICS OF WALLPAPER PATTERNS by Frank A. Farris, Princeton University Press, 2015, £24.95, ISBN 978-0691161730. Every mathematician knows that there are 17 wallpaper patterns. Moreover most of us will own at least one book that includes a proof of this. We all know the drill: classify the symmetries of the plane, discover that symmetries form groups, classify the wallpaper groups. It is a lovely application of beautiful mathematics but can anything new be said about it? This book is about symmetry and wallpaper patterns, and I have to admit that I expected to be told a familiar story with perhaps the only difference being the high quality of the accompanying illustrations. I was wrong. Yes, the book does contain a proof that there are 17 wallpaper patterns, but its approach is completely different from what I have seen before. This book is written by someone whose love for mathematics suffuses every page. He does a very good job of taking an idea for a walk. He starts with a very simple idea – what happens when we plot the curve

𝑓𝑓(𝑡𝑡) = 𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 + 12 𝑒𝑒6𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 + 𝑖𝑖

3 𝑒𝑒−14𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

in the complex plane? It turns out to have fivefold symmetry. But why? (The curve in question was one the author had chosen more or less at random as an exercise for calculus students studying parametric equations. The unexpected symmetry was the trigger that began the thoughts that ultimately resulted in this book.) The question of where the symmetry comes from leads to a discussion of how to encode reflections and rotations – complex conjugation and multiplication respectively, and a method of creating and classifying rosettes. When you have a rosette you can unfurl it to produce a frieze. And so on. By thinking of symmetries in terms of functions and waves, rather than of the figures in space these functions define, the author is able to employ the techniques of Fourier series, differential equations and other perhaps unexpected things. There are interesting diversions along the way, and I found many new ways of looking at familiar material which could be incorporated into exercises or challenges for interested students. The classification of the 17 wallpaper groups gets slightly repetitive (one might almost say periodic) but that probably can’t be helped. The style is chatty and informal, but proper mathematics is very definitely included and not brushed under the carpet. The author says he has three potential audiences in mind: the working mathematician, the advanced undergraduate and the “brave mathematical adventurer”. I can certainly agree that the first two categories are well catered for. In particular there are exercises in each chapter with hints and solutions provided within a few pages, which guide the reader through the material in a helpful way. The brave mathematical adventurer will not get far without at least some calculus, but a bright sixth-former prepared to put in a bit of work would probably find it worth the effort. The book itself is very nicely produced – a good clear layout with plenty of empty space; easy to read typeface and carefully edited text. The exercises and comments are clearly displayed at the side of the text. The colour illustrations, produced by the author from his own photographs using the rosette, frieze and wallpaper functions he develops in the book, are very appealing. To steal from William Morris: put nothing in your book that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. The author of this book seems to have followed this precept. It would make a good addition to any university library.

Sarah Hart Birkbeck

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THE MAGIC GARDEN OF GEORGE B AND OTHER LOGIC PUZZLESby Raymond Smullyan, World Scientific, 2015, pp 180, HB, £38.00, ISBN 978-9814675055,PB,£19.00,ISBN978-9814678551,ebook,£14.00,ISBN978-9814675079

The logician, philosopher, magician andconcert pianist Raymond Smullyan, who isnow 96, has been providing us with enter-tainingcollectionsoflogicpuzzleseversincehepublishedWhat is the name of this book?in 1978. This latest followsa similar format,offeringamixtureof inter-esting puzzles, “monkeytricks” designed to catchthe reader out, dreadfuljokes, and insights intoseriousmathematics.The book has two parts.Thefirstpresentsarangeofmathematical and logicalpuzzles, variations of thekindwhichwillbe familiarto readers of Smullyan’sprevious collections. I par-ticularly enjoyed the head-ache-inducing CorneliusMcSnurd. This curiousfellowknows,onMondaysandTuesdays,whichpropo-sitions are true and whicharefalse,butonWednesdaysandThursdaysheisconfusedandbelievesallandonlythosepropositions which are false. Furthermore,on Mondays and Thursdays he always tellsthe truth, while on Tuesdays and Wednes-dayshealwayslies(andonFridays,SaturdaysandSundaysheneverspeaks).Weareasked,amongstotherpuzzles,howmanyquestionsweneedtoaskMcSnurd(ononeofhisnon-silentdays)toascertainwhatdayoftheweekitis.The second part gives the book its title.George B’s garden is full of flowers, each

of which on any given day is either red orblue.Thegardenhasthepropertythat,“ForanyflowersAandB–whetherthesameordifferent–thereisaflowerCwhichisredonthose and only those days onwhichA andB are both blue.” Smullyan then develops

thisingeniousfloralversionof Boolean algebra. It’sa lovely idea, though insolving the problems Idid tend to find myselfmentally translating thestatements about flowersinto their Boolean equiva-lents.The book’s foreword isdated2006andthepreface2005, which suggests thatit has been awaitingpubli-cationforsometime. Thisis of significance only fora logical puzzle whichrequires one to use the in-formationgiventoidentifythepartnersintwomarried

couples; the recent legalisation of same-sexmarriageisagame-changerforsuchpuzzles!If you have enjoyed Smullyan’s previousbooks, this one is self-recommending. Ifyou’renewtothem,I’dsuggeststartingwithWhat is the name of this book?And if youhave a low tolerance for suggestions likeSmullyan’seasywaytotellthesexofabird(offer the bird some seed, and if he eats it,thebirdismale…)thenthis isprobablynotforyou.

TonyMannUniversityofGreenwich

colour illustrations,producedby theauthorfromhisownphotographsusingtherosette,frieze andwallpaper functions he developsin the book, are very appealing. To stealfrom William Morris: put nothing in yourbookthatyoudonotknowtobeusefulor

believe to be beautiful. The author of thisbookseemstohavefollowedthisprecept.Itwouldmakeagoodadditiontoanyuniver-sitylibrary.

SarahHartBirkbeck,UniversityofLondon

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28

Reviews

GENIUS AT PLAY: THE CURIOUS MIND OF JOHN HORTON CONwAYbySiobhanRoberts,Bloomsbury,2015,£20.00,$30.00,ISBN:9781620405932

This is a very interesting book. It paints abalanced (although not always flattering)pictureofJ.H.Conway’slifeandmathemat-ics.Unlikestandardbiopics,thebookcontainsagreatmanyverbatimquotesfromConway.Moreover, it often feels that Conwaycontrolsthenarrative.Itworksverywellbut,attimes,youareleftdoubtingthestory.InfactthereareafewplacesinthebookwhereConway openly admits to embellishing thefacts or even fabricating them completely.ThefamousstoryofOliverCromwell’sheadisashiningexample.WealsomeetConway’sremarkableway(andobsession)withwords,fromhisprouddefinitionofpromiscuoustohiscontinuousworrythathispeerswillfloc-cinaucinihilipilificate.The superficial image of the protagonistfits the standard stereotype of the math-ematician as the bearded sandal-wearingeccentriccompletelydetachedfromreallife.Inthisspecificcase,serialphilanderinganddisregard for his friends and collaboratorsare thrown in the mix. On closer inspec-tion however, we find much richer tones,for example in Conway’s incredible dedica-tion to theMathcampand the remarkable,somewhat surrealdiscussionwithG.Odomabout the importance of the cube in theBible. And then you remember a quotefromAct I: ‘Roughly speaking, Iwasgoingtobecomethekindofpersonyouseenow.Itwasafreedecision’.The book is also teeming with briefportraits of a large numbers of mathema-ticians from K. Gödel to T. Tao. Some ofthese descriptions are almost soundbites.My favourite example is: ‘Marshal Hall, aneminent group theorist with a southerndrawl and an impressive collection ofancient coins’. I laughedat someof theseandcringedatothers.Thereisasurprisingamountofmathemat-icsinthebook.Someisdeepandsophisticat-ed,somerathertrifling,mostof it involvesgames of some kind, all of it is beautiful

andenjoyable.Myfavourite chapterisSnip, clip, prune, lop, a quick de-scriptionofsurrealnumbers andrelated matters.It is whimsicaland clear at thesame time; onecaneasilyimagineConway’s own de-scription ‘whenI found thesethings I reallydidgo round inadaydreamforalong,longtime’.Perhaps themainplotof thebook is thelove-haterelationshipConwayhaswithThe Game of Life.Notsurprisingly,mostpeopleidentify Conway with it. It is a beautifulconstructandeasy todescribe toa layman(unlikesayConway’ssporadicsimplegroupor Monstrous Moonshine). At one pointthere is even a discussion on how muchThe Game of Life cost taxpayers owing toworkplacehourslostbypeoplewatchingLifeevolve. Conway is at the same time proudandsickofit.Heclearlyenjoystheattentionit generates but, understandably, deploresthe idea that hewill only be rememberedfor it rather thanhis deeperfindings.Onecouldeasilythinkofworsefates.InawaythebookcanbereadasConway’sreminiscing about his (mathematical) lifeduring a series of talks about the recentConway-Kochen Free Will Theorem. AsConwaydescribes it: ‘ifexperimentershavefreewill, thenelementaryparticles possessfreewillaswell’.ThisishislatestbrainchildanditfitssowellinthestructureofthebookandConway’s attitude towards things. Hemakes it the interactionswith the teamofrather deterministic minded neurologiststhat measure his brain functions: ‘what’spreventingmefromjustthinkingofsexualfantasieswhenI’minthemachine?’Finally there is the discussion about

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No. 455 February [email protected]

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www.cambridge.org/maths

Recent Progress in the Theory of the Euler andNavier–Stokes EquationsJames C. Robinson,University of Warwick

José L. Rodrigo, University of Warwick

Witold Sadowski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland

Alejandro Vidal-López, Xi’an

Jiaotong-Liverpool University, P. R. China

• A broad overview which makes an ideal introduction for students entering the field

• Provides up-to-date surveys of active topics

• Includes exciting new research papers from experts in the fields

London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series, No. 430

Paperback | 978-1-107-55497-9 | January 2016 | £50.00

www.cambridge.org/lms430

Geometry, Topology, and Dynamics in Negative CurvatureC. S. Aravinda, TIFR Centre for Applicable Mathematics, Bangalore, India

F. T. Farrell, Tsinghua University, Beijing

George Galanis, Hellenic Naval Academy, Piraeus, Greece

J.-F. Lafont, Ohio State University

• Ten high-quality articles overview the state of the art in the mathematics surrounding negative curvature

• Accessibletograduatestudentsandmathematicians from other areas interested in entering the field

• Providesafreshperspectiveonknownresultswith brand new proofs

London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series, No. 425

Paperback | 978-1-107-52900-7 | January 2016 | £60.00

www.cambridge.org/lms425

DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

AND POLYNOMIALS

Volume2

byDrMehranBasti

Solvingsystemsofdifferentialequations(onaCD).

ThemethodwillbeaspowerfulasIsaacNewton’sgravitational

formula.

InfinityPublishingandmajoronlinebookstores

whether J.H.Conway’smathematics shouldhavebeenmore ‘serious’.Thebookspendsa significant amount of pages hinting atthat. I think this is completely beside thepoint;mathematicsshouldnotbejudgedbyits seriousnessbut ratherby itsbeauty. J.H.Conway’smathematicsshinesinthatregard.Ishouldmentionthatthereareafewhis-toricalinaccuraciesandomissions,whichisapityforabooksocarefully researched.ForexampleindescribingtheMoscowcongressthe author notes a pro Vietnam petitionbut fails tomention the famous S. Smale’spress conference and subsequent arrest orA. Grothendieck’s boycott. Also some ofthemain protagonists of the Classificationtheoremarebarelymentionedinthebook.All things considered, this is a very in-triguing and interesting book. I enjoyed itverymuchandlearnedagreatdealfromit.Thanks!

CorneliuHoffmanUniversityofBirmingham

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30

FROM THE CONTINUUM TO THE TECTONIC: THE MAGMA/MANTLE DYNAMICS OF PLANET EARTH

6-10 June 2016

inassociationwiththeIsaacNewtonInstituteprogramme Melt in the Mantle

(15February–17June2016)

Plate-tectonic boundaries are thepredominant (butnot theonly!) geological context formantlemelting.Global-scaletectonic forcesactingonplatesgiverise tomantleflows.Atdivergentandconvergentplateboundaries,theseflowscarrywiththemtheenergyrequiredfor partialmelting, leading to extensive volcanism. The nature of the boundary imposesgeometricandmaterialaspectsoftheproblem:insubductionzones,forexample,meltingtakesplaceinawedgeofmantlerockthatliesabovethefounderingtectonicplateandbelowthesurfacetectonicplate.Thiswedgeispermeatedwithwater,CO2,andotherchemicalsthatare released from the founderingplateand that chemically react to triggermelting.Furthermore, the tectonic context shapes the observations that can bemade, andwhichmodelsshouldaimtoreproduce:mid-oceanridges,forexample,arefoundbeneathseveralkilometresofocean,creatingsomechallenges(andsomeadvantages)forobservationalists.

Models of magma/mantle dynamics that seek to match observations must respect thegeometric and material influences of the tectonic context. For understanding the Earth,modellingthegeologicalcontextmaybeasimportantascapturingthefundamentalconser-vationprinciplesandthematerialpropertiesofatwo-phasecontinuum.

Thesefeaturesimposethemulti-scalenatureofthephenomenaandpresentsignificantchal-lengesfornumericalmodelling.Theyare,however,crucialaspectsofthesystemthatshouldnotbeneglectedinanattempttoexplainobservations.

Oneimportantclassofobservationthatcouldconstrainsuchmodelscomesfrommeasure-mentsofseismicwaves.Whenseismicwaveshavepassedthroughthepartiallymoltenregionandarrivedatthesurface,theycarrysomeinformationaboutthepropertiesofthemedium.However,interpretationofsuchmeasurementsintermsofthosepropertiesisnotstraight-forward. Their analysis requiresmodels of poro-(an)elasticity based-ongrain scalephysics,represented in termsof continuum theory, and informedby themeso-scalepatterns thatemergefrommagma/mantledynamics.Therearemanychallengesinthedevelopmentanduseofsuchtheory.

The aim of this workshop is therefore to bring together mathematicians and scientistsworkingonmulti-scaleproblemsinnumericalanalysis,software,andmodelling.Inparticular,theworkshopwillfocusonmeasuring(seismically)andmodellingmagmatransportthroughaporousmedium,albeitonethatisdeformingviscously.

Furtherinformationandapplicationformsareavailablefromthewebsitewww.newton.ac.uk/event/mimw03

Closingdateofthereceiptofapplications4 March 2016.

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No. 455 February [email protected]

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CALENDAR OF EVENTSThiscalendarlistsSocietymeetingsandother

mathematicalevents.Furtherinformation

maybeobtainedfromtheappropriateLMS

Newsletterwhosenumberisgiveninbrackets.A

fullerlistisgivenontheSociety’swebsite(www.

lms.ac.uk/content/calendar).Pleasesendupdates

[email protected].

MARCH 201616-20NordicCongressofMathematicians,

Stockholm(453)

21LMSMeetingatBMC2016,Bristol(455)

21-24BMC2016,Bristol(455)

21-25LMSInvitedLectures,EdgarKnobloch

(Berkeley),Loughborough(455)

29-1AprAlgebraisationandGeometrisationin

theLanglandsProgramme,Bristol(453)

30-2AprSingularitiesandApplications,Liverpool

(454)

APRIL 20164-8ExplicitMethodsinNumberTheoryin

HonourofJohnCremona's60th,Warwick(455)

4-8EasterProbabilityMeetingonRandom

StructuresArisinginPhysicsandAnalysis,

LancasterUniversity(453)

5-8BAMC2016,Oxford

6-8YoungFunctionalAnalysts’Workshop,

Queen’sUniversityBelfast(455)

9-10MathematicsEmerging,TheQueen's

College,Oxford(454)

9-10ProbabilisticCombinatorics,Oxford(455)

11-15FromtheGraintotheContinuum,INI

Workshop,Cambridge(454)

20LMSInauguralHirstLecture,StAndrews(455)

26PointProcessesandWarpingFunctionswith

StatisticalApplications,Nottingham(455)

JULY 20164-8ModernTopicsinNonlinearPDEandGeometricAnalysis,Reading(454)8LMSGraduateStudentMeeting,London8LMSMeeting,London18-227ECM,TUBerlin(451)21LMSMeetingatthe7ECM,Berlin25-31InternationalMathematicsCompetitionforUniversityStudents,Blagoevgrad,Bulgaria(455)

FEBRUARY 20164-5FromSymbolicDynamicstoApproximation

Methods,King'sCollegeLondon(453)

5-6IntegrableSystems,Newcastle(454)

8WhybeNoncommutative?UniversityCollege

London(454)

26MaryCartwrightLecture,London(455)

NOVEMBER 201611LMSGraduateStudentMeeting,London11LMSAnnualGeneralMeeting,London

DECEMBER 201620LMSSouthWest&SouthWalesRegionalMeeting,Bath

AUGUST 20161-4YoungResearchersinMathematicsConference,StAndrews25-26CaucasianMathematicsConference,Turkey(453)

MAY 20162-4Hilbert'sSixthProblemWorkshop,Leicester(455)12TheDavidCrightonLecture,ProfessorFrankKelly,TheRoyalSociety,London(455)16-19Operators,OperatorFamiliesandAsymptotics,Bath(455)18-20TheDymamicsofComplexSystems,Warwick(454)20-21GroupsinGalway,NationalUniversityofIreland,Galway(454)21TheHistoryofNumberTheory,Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon(455)23-25WalesMathematicsColloquium,GregynogHall,Powys(455)

SEPTEMBER 201618-23HeidelbergLaureateForum(454)

JUNE 20166-10FromtheContinuumtotheTectonicINIWorkshop,Cambridge(455)20-24SpatiallyDistributedStochasticDynamicalSystemsinBiologyINIWorkshop,Cambridge(455)

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LMS-FUNDED MEETING: BRITISH TOPOLOGY MEETINGheld at Queen's University Belfast from 7 to 9 September 2015

(see report on page 8)

ImmaGálvezCarrillo(Catalonia,Spain) JarekKędra(Aberdeen,UK)

CarlosCasacuberta(Barcelona,Spain) GrahamEllis(Galway,Ireland)

BorisChorny(Haifa,Israel) AlexandruSuciu(Boston,USA)