The London Mathematical Society Popular Lectures present exciting topics in mathematics (and its applications) to a wide audience. Each year, the LMS Popular Lectures feature two lecturers, who have been chosen for their mathematical distinction. Usually, there is one pure mathematician and one applied mathematician.
The lectures are suitable for all who have an interest in mathematics.
The Popular Lectures are a free annual event held during either June or July in London and repeated in late September at one other UK venue; for the past few years, this has been Birmingham.
2013 POPULAR LECTURES
For 2013, the Popular Lecturers are Professor Ray Hill (University of Salford) and Dr Vicky Neale (University of Cambridge).
The Lectures will take place on Tuesday 25th June 2013 (7:00pm) in London at the Institute of Education. They will be repeated on Thursday 26th September 2013 (6:30pm) in Birmingham at King Edward's School.
Popular Lectures Poster 2013 (PDF)
ABSTRACTS
Professor Ray Hill (University of Salford)
Mathematics in the Courtroom
In this talk, Ray Hill examines the role of coincidence, probability and statistics in criminal trials.
- Do juries underestimate the true chances of coincidence?
- How should mathematical evidence be presented in court?
- What are the “prosecutor’s fallacy”, “defendant’s fallacy” and “jury observation fallacy”?
These are some of the questions he will consider, with reference to cases involving DNA evidence, psychological profiling, and multiple sudden infant deaths.
In particular, he will consider the safety of the verdicts in some high-profile cases such as those of James Hanratty, OJ Simpson, Stefan Kiszco, Barry George, Sally Clark, and Harold Shipman.
Dr Vicky Neale (University of Cambridge)
Addictive Number Theory
For hundreds of years, mathematicians have asked intriguing questions about adding whole numbers, for example concentrating on particularly important sequences such as the prime numbers and the square numbers.
We shall discuss some of these problems (solved and unsolved), and some of the elegant techniques from across mathematics that have been used to tackle these problems.
If you wish to attend the Popular Lectures, please write to popular.lectures@lms.ac.uk or to Popular Lectures, London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HS. A form for registration is available below.
Popular Lectures Mailing List
If you would like to be included on the Popular Lectures mailing list, please email education@lms.ac.uk
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