Ever since we were first surrounded by the mathematically-inspired art of Conrad Shawcross in multiple locations across our building, we have wondered what we would do when they had to leave us. The works seemed not so much to blend in as to enhance the building, from the tetrahedral uncertainties of the Paradigms to the dazzling colour and light of the Beacons. Moreover, they have captured the imagination of our mathematicians. They recognise the art. They also recognise the mathematics.
So we are delighted that thanks to the generosity of exhibition supporter XTX Markets, curator Fatoş Üstek and, of course, Conrad himself, the show, featuring over 40 works, will be living with us for another year. We encourage you all to come and see it. Some of the works are in the public areas, some in the private, mingling with the mathematicians whose ideas inspired the artist. If you wish to have a full tour please e-mail @email.
Oxford Mathematician Balint Koczor is one of 68 of the most promising research leaders who will be funded £104 million to lead research into global issues and to commercialise their innovations in the UK.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s flagship Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) are designed to enable universities and businesses to develop their most talented early career researchers and innovators and to attract new people to their organisations, including from overseas.
Balint Koczor is Associate Professor in Quantum Information Theory in Oxford Mathematics. His research includes quantum theory and in theory of (near-term) quantum computers, with a view to making quantum computers practical.
This includes developing new and improved ways to deal with errors (error mitigation techniques) in quantum computers . Balint's research also aims to exploit classical supercomputers to squeeze out as much performance from quantum computers as possible. He works with experimentalists and with quantum companies to develop optimised platforms to best tailor quantum applications to hardware.
UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said: ‘UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training to develop ambitious, transformative ideas.
‘The programme supports the research and innovation leaders of the future to transcend disciplinary and sector boundaries, bridging the gap between academia and business.
Two other Oxford researchers are also recipients: Luc Rocher (Oxford Internet Institute) and Dennis Timo Egger (Department of Economics).
Our final year students have now left us, in some cases never to return to mathematics, but in others to pursue the subject as researchers, in Oxford and across the globe.
However, before they left we asked some of them them to reflect on what they'd liked and disliked about the mathematics course, which parts of mathematics had really grabbed them, and whether they had any regrets - a fun and instructive exit interview, if you like.
You can watch the full range of videos via our social media (links at the bottom of this page), but here is a taster of their thoughts. Good luck to them all.
Two Oxford Mathematicians, Andrew Wiles and Marc Lackenby, have received Basic Science and Frontiers of Science awards.
Andrew receives a Basic Science Lifetime Award both for his famous proving of Fermat's Last Theorem and its subsequent influence on the development of the field, and for the inspiration he has provided to many aspiring mathematicians.
Marc receives a Frontiers of Science award for his paper 'A polynomial upper bound on Reidemeister moves' published in the Annals of Mathematics. Marc's expertise lies in low-dimensional topology and group theory. His paper resolved a longstanding open problem in knot theory.
The awards will be presented at the 2024 International Congress of Basic Science which takes place in Beijing, China, next week.
The Vicky Neale Public Lecture recognises the invaluable contribution to mathematical education of the late Vicky Neale. In this lecture, economist and broadcaster Tim Harford looks at how data built the modern world - and how we can use it to build a better one.
Please email @email to register to attend in person.
The lecture will be broadcast on the Oxford Mathematics YouTube Channel on Wednesday 31 July at 5-6pm and any time after (no need to register for the online version).
The Vicky Neale Public Lectures are a partnership between the Clay Mathematics Institute, PROMYS and Oxford Mathematics. The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Gui-Qiang G. Chen is awarded the Pólya Prize for his deep research into nonlinear partial differential equations, and in particular his rigorous theoretical analysis of the equations of gas dynamics, especially those involving transonic flows.
Emmanuel Breuillard is awarded the Fröhlich Prize for his landmark work on groups and their actions, masterly combining in ingenious ways algebraic groups, combinatorics, number theory, Diophantine approximation, topology and C*-algebras. His work is notable for its originality, conceptual clarity, elegance and depth.
James Newton is awarded a Whitehead Prize for his groundbreaking contributions to the Langlands programme, and in particular for his spectacular joint proof with Jack Thorne of symmetric power functoriality for holomorphic modular forms.
They are the subject of Oxford Mathematics postgraduate student theses, displaying how much ground maths can cover. You can watch the six students present their research in just one slide in our 3-Minute Thesis Competition.
Starring (at 3 minute intervals): Tommy Muller - The Geometry of Tensors and Higher Quivers Javier Chico Vasquez - The Mathematics of Balance Sofía Marlasca Aparicio - Purely Inseparable Galois Theory Kit Gallagher - How would Charles Darwin treat cancer? Ouissal Moumou - Quantum Pre- and Post-Selection Paradoxes Wojciech Aleksander Woloszyn - The Mathematics of Possibility
Have you ever wondered what happens in a research meeting between a professor and a postdoc or graduate student?
As part of our demystifying of mathematical (and not just mathematical) life, Fields Medallist James Maynard and postdoctorcal researcher Lasse Grimmelt allowed us to film one of their meetings. The mathematics may be very specific, but it is the interaction and process that has proved so interesting to the outside world, mathematical or not. And perhaps, so recognisable.
James and Lasse are anayltic number theorists. Lasse researches the connection between the spectral theory of automorphic forms and number theoretical problems like the twin primes conjecture. In this meeting Lasse talks to James about applying his new insights, for example their potential to improve results related to primes in large arithmetic progressions, particularly their application on prime gaps.
Between 1905 and 1910 the idea of the random walk was invented simultaneously and independently by multiple people in multiple countries for completely different purposes. In the UK, the story starts with Ronald Ross and the problem of mosquito control, but elsewhere, the theory was being developed in domains from physics to finance to winning a theological argument (really!).
In this Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture, Jordan will tell some part of this story and also gesture at ways that random walks (or Markov processes, named after the theological arguer) underlie current approaches to artificial intelligence; he will touch on some of his own work with DeepMind and speculate about the capabilities of those systems now and in the future.
Jordan Ellenberg is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of best-selling works of non-fiction and fiction, and has written and lectured extensively for a general audience about the wonders of mathematics for over fifteen years.
Please email @email to register to attend in person.
The lecture will be broadcast on the Oxford Mathematics YouTube Channel on Thursday 18 July at 5-6pm and any time after (no need to register for the online version).
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Oxford Mathematician Alain Goriely has been appointed Gresham Professor of Geometry. The Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, is one of ten lecturers whose roles are to give free educational lectures to the general public, the purpose for which the college was founded in 1597 in the will of Thomas Gresham. In total there are over 130 public lectures a year, all of which are online.
Alain's work ranges across many areas of applied mathematics including the mechanics of biological growth, the modelling of the brain, the theoretical foundations of mechanics, the dynamics of curves, knots, and rods, the modelling of cancer, the development of new photovoltaic devices, the modelling of lithium-ion batteries and, more generally the study and development of mathematical methods for applied sciences.
Alain has also given many public lectures on his work and mathematics more broadly and was formerly Director of External Relations for Oxford Mathematics in which role he instigated and developed the popular Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture series.
In his first series of lectures, Alain will explore how mathematics is being used to understand the brain.
Alain is the author of Morphoelasticity: The Mathematics and Mechanics of Biological Growth' and 'Applied Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction'.
