An old-fashioned tale of romance and estrangement, Graham Farmelo's Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture charts the 350-year relationship between Mathematics and Physics and its prospects for the future. Might things be less dramatic in future? Might they just have to be 'going steady' for a while?
Our Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are aimed at a general audience who are curious about maths and its many facets. They are all live streamed and available afterwards on our YouTube Channel. For a full list of forthcoming lectures please click here. You are all very welcome.
Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Back in October, for the first time, we filmed an actual student lecture, Vicky Neale's lecture on 'Complex Numbers.' We wanted to show what studying at Oxford is really like, how it is not so different to school while at the same time taking things to a more rigorous level. Since we made the film available, over 375,000 people have watched some of it.
Emboldened, we went one stage further in February and live streamed a lecture (and made it available subsequently), James Sparks on 'Dynamics.' But in addition to the lecture, we also filmed the subsequent tutorial which all students receive, usually in pairs, after lectures, and which is the essential ingredient of the Oxford learning experience. Both have been huge successes.
So we come to the third in our series of filmed student lectures. This is the opening lecture in the 1st Year course on 'Analysis III - Integration.' Prof. Ben Green both links the course to the mathematics our students have already learnt at school and develops that knowledge, taking the students to the next stage. Like all good lectures it recaps and points forward (the course materials accompanying the Integration lectures can be found here).
The lectures and tutorial are all part of our going 'Behind the Scenes' at Oxford Mathematics. We shall we filming our Open Days in July and more lectures in the Autumn. Please send any comments to @email
Oxford Mathematician Matthew Butler has been awarded the biennial Lighthill-Thwaites Prize for 2019. The prize is awarded by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications to researchers who have spent no more than five years in full-time study or work since completing their undergraduate degrees.
Matthew's research focuses on fluid dynamics, particulary flows at low Reynolds number involving surface tension and interactions with elastic boundaries. His talk at the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium 2019 where the prize was awarded was entitled 'Sticking with droplets: Insect-inspired modelling of capillary adhesion" and focused on how having a deformable foot can be beneficial when trying to adhere to a substrate using the surface tension of a fluid droplet. In his PhD Matthew is studying insect adhesion, and in particular how insects can utilise physical laws to improve their ability to stick to surfaces.
Oxford Mathematician Doireann O'Kiely won the prize in 2017 and Laura Kimpton, also from Oxford, won it in 2013. Oxford Mathematician Jessica Williams was also a finalist this year.
Oxford Mathematician Artur Ekert has been awarded a Micius Quantum Prize 2019 (Theory category) for his invention of entanglement-based quantum key distribution, entanglement swapping, and entanglement purification. The prizes recognise the scientists who have made outstanding contributions in the field of quantum mechanics and the 2019 prizes focus on the field of quantum communication.
Artur Ekert is one of the leaders in the Quantum Cryptography field. His research extends over most aspects of information processing in quantum-mechanical systems and brings together theoretical and experimental quantum physics, computer science and information theory. Its scope ranges from deep fundamental issues in physics to prospective commercial exploitation by the computing and communications industries.
Oxford Physicist and close colleague of Artur's, David Deutsch was also awarded a prize in the Quantum Computation Theory Category.
The Micius prizes are awarded by the Micius Quantum Foundation. The Foundation is named after Micius, a Chinese philosopher who lived in the fifth century BC.
Far from taking us down the road of unpredictability and chaos, randomness has the power to help us solve a fascinating range of problems. Join Julia Wolf on a mathematical journey from penalty shoot-outs to internet security and patterns in the primes.
Julia Wolf is University Lecturer in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at the University of Cambridge.
The recent votes in the House of Commons on Brexit are a type of high-dimensional data which is hard to understand, as each MP votes on several motions. Oxford Statistician and Mathematician Florian Klimm has illustrated such data as 'bipartite networks’, in which nodes represent either MPs or motions which are connected if an MP voted in favour of a motion. In this layout, MPs that voted similarly are close together. We can also explore how single MPs voted and how parties are divided or unified. We also see that motions that have the support of a similar set of MPs are close by each other.
For many research projects in applied mathematics and statistics, such visualisations are a first step to understanding complex data and forming working hypotheses. On a larger temporal scale, for example, we can investigate how political voting networks change over time, as this study on the U.S. Senate demonstrates.
Please click on the images to enlarge and click here for the interactive version.
Oxford Mathematician Jon Chapman and Visiting Fellow Mason Porter have been made Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Jon is Professor of Mathematics and its Applications here in Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College. His research interests cover a vast range of the Applied Mathematics landscape including industrial mathematics, mathematical modelling, matched asymptotic expansions, partial differential equations, mathematical physiology, tumour growth and nonlinear models of biological tissue.
In the words of his citation Jon is being recognized "for his outstanding contributions to physical and biological modeling as well as for his asymptotic methods development in applied mathematics."
Mason is a former member of the Oxford Mathematics Faculty and remains a Visiting Fellow as well as holding a full-time position as a Professor of Mathematics at UCLA in the United States. Mason's work spans a wide range of interests including nonlinear science, nonlinear dynamics and chaos, nonlinear waves, quantum chaos, network science, social network analysis and mathematical biology. Mason was cited for his "contributions to diverse problems and applications in networks, complex systems, and nonlinear systems."
If you are Interested in postgraduate study and curious about what it would be like to do research at Oxford we are delighted to announce that Oxford Mathematics is taking part in the UNIQ+ pilot programme, a six-week summer school encouraging access to postgraduate study from under-represented groups in UK universities.
UNIQ+ is free to take part in and includes a £2,500 stipend, plus free accommodation in an Oxford college. It will give you the opportunity to experience postgraduate research at Oxford by carrying out a research project, and a chance to meet our staff and student community.
UNIQ+ will run from 1 July to 9 August 2019.
To see if you qualify for UNIQ+, and to apply, click here.
Oxford Mathematician Kristian Kiradjiev has won the Gold Award in the Mathematical Sciences category at this year’s STEM for Britain at the House of Commons on 13th March. This prestigious competition provides an opportunity for researchers to communicate their research to parliamentarians.
Kristian’s poster covered his research into the mathematical modelling of flue-gas purification and the removal of toxic chemicals from the gas.
As reported last week, Kristian was one of three Oxford Mathematicians presenting in the Commons.
Oxford Mathematics Visiting Fellow and Reader in Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath, Apala Majumdar has been awarded the 2019 FDM Everywoman in Tech Academic Award. This is awarded to a woman in academia who has made an outstanding contribution to technology and science and whose work has made or has the potential to make a significant long-term impact in STEM.
Apala is an applied mathematician researching fundamental mathematical theories in material science. She specialises in Liquid Crystals and has published over 40 papers to date. Moreover, Apala works to inspire female researchers globally through mentorship and is deeply committed to teaching and training young people.
Apala was nominated by Oxford Mathematician and Director of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (OCIAM), Alain Goriely, who said: “I cannot think of a more deserving candidate for an academic award for young women who are inspiring other female researchers around the world. Apala has single-handedly built an international network spanning four continents, making her one of the world leaders in her field and most internationally recognised of her generation."
The FDM Tech Awards take place in the week of International Women’s Day and celebrate 50 of the most talented individuals shaking up the tech industry.
