The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2016 Abel Prize to Professor Sir Andrew Wiles, University of Oxford, ‘for his stunning proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem by way of the modularity conjecture for semi-stable elliptic curves, opening a new era in number theory’.Wiles will receive his award from His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon at the University of Oslo on 24th May 2016.
Sir Christopher Zeeman, FRS, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday 13th February 2016 at home in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, aged 91. Sir Christopher was the Founding Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. He later served as President of the London Mathematical Society (LMS) from 1986 to 1988 and as Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. He is survived by his wife, Lady Rosemary Zeeman and his six children.
At the Special General Meeting held on 5 February 2016, the motion put before the membership was:
Instruct the Council to continue publication of the LMS Journal of Computation and Mathematics as a charitable activity, thus reversing the Council’s decision to close down the Journal.
The motion was not carried. Votes were, 158 against the motion, 131 for the motion, and one abstention.
The Alan Turing Institute has announced the appointment of Professor Andrew Blake, currently Director of Microsoft Research Cambridge, as its first Director. Professor Blake will join the Institute in October. Along with the announcement of its new Director the Institute has marked its first few days of operations with the confirmation of £10 million of research funding from Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a research partnership with GCHQ, a collaboration with Cray Inc. and EPSRC, and its first research activities.
The results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) were announced today.
Professor Martin Hairer FRS, University of Warwick becomes the ninth UK based mathematician to win the prestigious Fields Medal over its 80 year history. The medal recipients were announced today in a ceremony at the four yearly International Congress for Mathematicians, which on this occasion is being held in Seoul, South Korea.
