News

EPSRC has recently invested significant resources in nonlinear PDEs in the UK by making two Science and Innovation awards in this area. These, to be held in the University of Oxford and in the Maxwell Institute, Edinburgh (comprising the mathematics departments of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt universities), are designed to enhance the position of nonlinear PDEs throughout the UK. In addition to new posts in the three institutions, there will be a large programme of activities to benefit the entire UK nonlinear PDE community. Included in this programme are international conferences, workshops, instructional conferences/summer schools, activity groups/networks, and visitor programmes.

The directorships of the two centres - the Centre for Analysis and Nonlinear PDE in the Maxwell Institute and the Centre in the Analysis of Nonlinear PDEs in Oxford - are now interested in ideas, suggestions and proposals from the UK PDE community for specific activities that could be undertaken by one of the two centres, or jointly, under the aegis of these programmes. It should be noted that there will be every opportunity for activities to take place outside Oxford and Edinburgh.

At this time, the directors would like to invite views from groups and/or individuals on ways in which these two new centres can best help energize and be responsive to the UK nonlinear PDE community. Specifically they invite expressions of interest, ideas and suggestions under the following headings:

• International conferences;
• Workshops;
• Instructional conferences/summer schools;
• Activity groups/networks;
• Visitor programmes.

We are not at this stage asking for full proposals.

Contributions received by 15 May 2007 will be especially welcome. Please make such on at most two sides of A4, and send them to the directors by email (contact points below).

In order to involve and consult the UK PDE community as widely as possible, we shall be holding a UK Nonlinear PDEs Scoping Consultation Meeting open to all. This will take place on 29 May 2007 at the LMS, De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS. The ideas and suggestions received prior to this meeting will help shape it, and the more concrete proposals for activities which will follow. See the agenda of the meeting for further information.

Colleagues planning to attend the meeting should indicate their participation by email to Laura Darling (@email). For more information, please contact one of the directors below.

There will be a one-day combinatorics meeting on Wednesday, 14 March 2007.

Marcus du Sautoy will be giving one of this year's prestigious Darwin Lectures. The theme for the twenty second annual Darwin Lecture Series is IDENTITY. Other speakers include the conductor Christopher Hogwood. Marcus's lecture entitled MATHEMATICAL IDENTITY is at 5:30 pm on Friday 9th February The Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge.

More details available

Marcus du Sautoy will be giving one of this year's prestigious Darwin Lectures. The theme for the twenty second annual Darwin Lecture Series is IDENTITY. Other speakers include the conductor Christopher Hogwood. Marcus's lecture entitled MATHEMATICAL IDENTITY is at 5:30 pm on Friday 9th February The Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge.

More details available

There will be a one day workshop on New Perspectives in Mathematical Fluid Mechanics on Monday 22nd January.

An account of the interview with John Ball at the end of the 2006 ICM.

The Guardian have recently published an interview with Marcus du Sautoy.

In the third round of Science and Innovation Awards, announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Mathematical Institute will receive £3.3m to establish a world-class research centre in the analysis of non-linear partial differential equations.

Professor Sir John Ball FRS led the project to establish a research centre in the analysis of non-linear PDEs at the Mathematical Institute. The centre aims to create a vibrant and stimulating research environment and provide leadership in the areas of non-linear PDEs within the UK. The analysis of PDEs is a fundamental subject area of mathematics, which links important strands of pure mathematics to applied and computational mathematics. They provide a natural mathematical description of many phenomena in the physical, natural and social sciences, often arising from fundamental conservation laws such as for mass, momentum and energy.

The grant will pay for three new permanent posts for an initial period of five years, and provide funding for postdoctoral and research students. The University will upgrade one of the permanent posts to a Chair.

Professor Sir John Ball, from the Mathematical Institute, said: `The grant represents a wonderful opportunity to help invigorate the study of non-linear partial differential equations in the UK, a topic that is of central importance to many parts of mathematics. The theoretical and practical importance of PDEs can not be over-emphasised, and fundamental advances in their understanding have implications throughout science and technology.'

OCIAM student Rosemary Dyson has won a prize in the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Graduate Student Prize Symposium for her presentation, "The Mathematics of Curtain Coating".

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The RI and Five are delighted to announce details of leading Mathematician and best-selling author, Marcus du Sautoy's 2006 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

The lectures, which serve as a forum for presenting scientific issues to young people and are sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, will be shown during peak-time as part of Five's Christmas schedule for the second year running.

Du Sautoy's lectures promise a grand tour of the fascinating world of mathematics. From numbers to shapes and from codes to chaos, the num8er my5teries will tell some of the great stories of mathematics.

At the heart of every lecture is a conundrum that has stumped mathematicians and for which a million dollar reward has been offered for a solution. So, today's audience might even be tomorrow's mathematical millionaires.

Du Sautoy, who is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Wadham College, said: "I became a mathematician because I attended the first Christmas Lectures dedicated to mathematics in 1978 and saw, for the first time, what mathematics is really about".

"It thrives as much on the enigmas we haven't explained as on the things we know. I hope that this year's lectures will inspire the next generation of mathematicians who will crack the mathematical mysteries that still remain unsolved".

Aimed at capturing the imagination of children in their early teens, the lectures will show how a small amount of maths can bring alive some of the most exciting mysteries of the universe.

Many adults might be surprised to find that there is much more to a subject they thought was just a load of long division and fractions. In the lectures, Marcus reveals how mathematics has helped build the modern world.

Every time we download a song from i-tunes, take a flight across the Atlantic or talk on our mobile phones, we are relying on the great inventions of mathematics.

In The curious incident of the never-ending numbers, Marcus looks at the most fundamental numbers in mathematics: the primes. These indivisible numbers aren't just important for mathematicians. They are also the key to Real Madrid's success, secrets on the Internet and the survival of insects in the Forests of North America.

In The story of the elusive shapes, Marcus explains how to use mathematics to fake a Jackson Pollock, how to work out whether or not the universe has a hole in the middle and how to make the world's roundest football. Marcus will even show us how to see shapes in four dimensions.

In The secret of the winning streak, find out how maths provides the best strategy for optimising your success in game shows and gambling. We also discover why mathematics is behind some of the best magic tricks and can give you the edge in many strategy games.

In The case of the uncrackable code, Marcus reveals how mathematicians have been making and breaking codes ever since we've been trying to communicate secretly. In a reconstruction of the dark days of World War II, Marcus will challenge a team at Bletchley Park to crack a code that many thought impenetrable.

The final lecture of the series is The quest to predict the future. From the flight of asteroids to an impending storm, from bending a ball like Beckham to predicting population growth, maths can help sort out what's going to happen next. But not everything is as predictable, as Marcus will illustrate.

The 2006 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures air on Five from 25-29 December at 7.15pm.