Imagination is the creative force for artists. But what about mathematicians and scientists? What part does imagination play in their work? What do the artist and the scientist have in common? And how do each envision things that will never be seen?
In this panel discussion two scientists and one artist, all leaders in their field, will provide an answer. They have more in common than you would think.
Nobel-prize winning scientist Roger Penrose is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor in Oxford. Carlo Rovelli is a Professor in the Centre de Physique Théorique de Luminy of Aix-Marseille Université and the author of several popular-science books including 'Seven Brief Lesson on Physics'. Conrad Shawcross is an artist specialising in mechanical sculptures based on philosophical and scientific ideas. His exhibition, 'Cascading Principles' is currently showing in the Mathematical Institute.
The discussion will be chaired by curator and writer Fatos Ustek, curator of the 'Cascading Principles' exhibition.
There will be an opportunity to view the exhibition from 4pm on the day of the lecture.
5pm, Thursday 27 July 2023, Mathematical Institute, Oxford (and on our YouTube Channel three weeks later)
Oxford Mathematicians Frances Kirwan and András Juhász have been awarded London Mathematical Society Prizes for 2023. Frances is awarded the Pólya prize, while András receives the Whitehead Prize.
Frances receives her award for "her many outstanding and influential results in geometry and for her career-long service to the mathematical community" where she has been mentor and guide to many students and colleagues. András receives the Whitehead Prize for "his fundamental work in low-dimensional topology, in particular for applying Heegaard Floer homology to obtain a better understanding of knots, 3-manifolds, and 4-manifolds."
Frqnces Kirwan is Savilian Professor of Geometry in Oxford and a Fellow of New College. She specialises in algebraic and symplectic geometry, notably moduli spaces in algebraic geometry, geometric invariant theory (GIT), and the link between GIT and moment maps in symplectic geometry. She recently received a 2023 L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in ScienceInternational Award.
András is a Fellow of Keble College. He specialises in low-dimensional topology and knot theory from the point of view of invariants. Recently, in collaboration with DeepMind, he explored how machine learning might be used to advance pure mathematics, specifically in knot theory.
30 years ago today Andrew Wiles told an excited audience at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge that he had proved Fermat's Last Theorem, arguably the greatest puzzle in mathematics, a 300 year-old mystery.
And so began a story of wonder at the achievement, followed by despair at the discovery of an error, the elation of a final proof, a TV documentary, a biography, a musical, prizes galore and the naming of a building where, 30 years later, in the Andrew Wiles Building in Oxford, Andrew Wiles continues his research.
And all because of Maths.
Our friends at the Isaac Newton Institute dropped by the Andrew Wiles Building last month to make a short video and podcast to celebrate.
We will be celebrating the discovery of 'The Hat', a tile which tiles only aperiodically, on the 20th and 21st July here in the Mathematical Institute, Oxford. Come and join us!
The theory of tilings in the plane touches on diverse areas of mathematics, physics and beyond. Aperiodic sets of tiles, such as the famous Penrose tiling that you see as you walk into the Mathematical Institute, admit tilings of the plane without any translational symmetry.
The Penrose tiling is made of two elementary shapes, or tiles, and mathematicians have long wondered about the existence of a single tile that could tile the plane aperiodically. Earlier this year such a shape was discovered: the hat! This hat turned out to be the first of a whole family, and is being celebrated across a two-day meeting in Oxford.
Confirmed speakers include Roger Penrose (Oxford), Rachel Greenfeld (Institute for Advanced Study), Jarkko Kari (Turku), Natalie Priebe-Frank (Vassar), Lorenzo Sadun (UT Austin), Marjorie Senechal (Smith College), and the authors of The Hat pre-print. There will be space for a small number of contributed talks.
The first day will consist of talks accessible to the public, ending in a panel discussion (register separately) between the speakers, chaired by Dr Henna Koivusalo (Bristol). The second day will be colloquium-style talks aimed at the broadest possible audience of mathematicians and physicists. There will also be exhibits by a number of invited artists, and activities related to aperiodic tilings.
The event is free and open to the public. There will be funding available to cover the travel and accommodation costs of PhD students, Postdocs, and Early Career Researchers, courtesy of the Institute of Physics' Theory of Condensed Matter group and the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research.
For more information, please contact the organisers: Felix Flicker (@email), Nick Jones (@email), Henna Koivusalo (@email), and Mike Whittaker (@email).
Starting from just a sheet of paper, by folding, stacking, crumpling, sometimes tearing, in this Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture, Tadashi Tokieda explores a diversity of phenomena, from magic tricks and geometry through elasticity and the traditional Japanese art of origami to medical devices and an ‘h-principle’.
Much of the show consists of table-top demonstrations, which you can try later with friends and family.
So, take a sheet of paper. . .
Tadashi Tokieda is a professor of mathematics at Stanford. He grew up as a painter in Japan, became a classical philologist (not to be confused with philosopher) in France and, having earned a PhD in pure mathematics from Princeton, has been an applied mathematician in England and the US; all in all, he has lived in eight countries so far. Tadashi is very active in mathematical outreach, notably with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Like so many people around the world, our Oxford Mathematics students are in the middle of the exam season.
Our fourth year students started at the end of May and finish tomorrow, third year students finish a week later while first and second students are preparing for their exams which start soon and finish on 23 June.
So what will they be revising? Well, for first years, definitely Patrick Farrell's 'Constructive Mathematics' course which focusses on algorithms. If you want to get a flavour of what it is about you can watch the lecture below. It is one of over 80 student lectures on our YouTube Channel.
Best wishes to everyone taking exams, wherever you are. They will soon be over.
In July 2022 Oxford Mathematician James Maynard received the Fields Medal, the highest honour for a mathematician under the age of 40, for his groundbreaking work on prime numbers.
In this Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture which took place in May at London's Science Museum, he explains the fascinations and frustrations of the primes before sitting down with Hannah Fry to discuss his work and his life, from the non-conformist child to the young prodigy in his twenties and the acclaimed star in the field that he is today (in his thirties...). And alongside the successes are the stories of dead-ends and doubt.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Frances was recognised for "techniques that have been used by theoretical physicists searching for mathematical descriptions of our universe." Frances specialises in algebraic and symplectic geometry, notably moduli spaces in algebraic geometry, geometric invariant theory (GIT), and the link between GIT and moment maps in symplectic geometry.
Frances Kirwan studied mathematics at Cambridge before taking a DPhil in Oxford under the supervision of Michael Atiyah. She was a Junior Fellow at Harvard before returning to Oxford where a successful career culminated in her appointment as Savilian Professor of Geometry, one of the oldest Chairs in the University. She is a fellow of New College.
Frances has received many honours including being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001 (only the third female mathematician to attain this honour), and President of the London Mathematical Society from 2003-2005. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014 and received the Sylvester Medal from the Royal Society in 2021.
There's much debate about inspiring a greater appreciation for mathematics. Art has a key role.
Plosion 1 (Yellow) is the 40th and final piece in the mathematically inspired exhibition that is Conrad Shawcross' Cascading Principles: Expansions within Geometry, Philosophy, and Interference.
Whereas the other 39 works are placed in the public and private areas of the Andrew Wiles Building, home to Oxford Mathematics, Plosion sits outside, between the Andrew Wiles Building and The Radcliffe Humanities Building, appropriate for a work that combines artistic flair with mathematical precision.
We are delighted to announce our first Maryam Mirzakhani Scholar. Marta Bucca (pictured) will join Oxford Mathematics in October as a postgraduate student in the Mathematical Physics Group, to carry out research on String Theory under the supervision of Professor Mark Mezei.
The Maryam Mirzakhani scholarship has been enabled by philanthropy, including a £2.48m gift from founding and principal donor XTX Markets. It was launched in memory of Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani who, in 2014, became the first female mathematician to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious prize for a mathematician under the age of 40.
The Maryam Mirzakhani Scholarship aims to address the disproportionately low levels of representation of women applying for and completing postgraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Nationally, only 29 per cent of postgraduate research students identify as female, according to figures from HESA.
The gift from XTX Markets has led to further donations and together they have endowed fully funded scholarships for female students of any nationality to complete a standard four-year DPhil in Mathematics at Oxford’s Mathematical Institute.
James Sparks, Head of the Mathematical Institute, said: "Our first Maryam Mirzakhani scholar marks an important step in our commitment to widening female participation at postgraduate level in the Mathematical Institute. We look forward to welcoming Marta to the Mathematical Physics research group in the autumn. I would like to express my thanks to XTX Markets and our other funders for so generously funding the scholarship scheme."
