Paywall notwithstanding, you may have seen today the Times’ Eureka magazine celebrating science with a list of “the 100 most important people in British science and engineering“. With apologies for decisions made and promise of causing “some debate” from the Editor.

So the question is: where are the mathematicians? Andrew Wiles is top, at #41. Simon Donaldson is #75. Marcus du Sautoy is #76. There are a few ‘almost rans’* but I think that’s it for mathematicians listed for their mathematics.

So, being a partisan modern thinker (no Renaissance men here) I wonder: why so few mathematicians? Of course this raises questions, and Mark Henderson is right to ask: Who are the mathematicians that are missing? (And, really, how many mathematicians should we expect?)

Whether you read it or not, if you were asked for examples of “important” (set your own criteria) living UK mathematicians, who would you offer? Answers in comments or to @peterrowlett please! I’ll read out your answers and ask this question again on the Math/Maths Podcast 17 when we record it on Monday.

* The ‘almost rans’: Stephen Hawking is #3, but is listed as “cosmologist and best-selling author”. Simon Singh is #33, mostly as a libel reformer and, despite his excellent Fermats Last Theorem and status as a friend of mathematics, not a mathematician. Iain Lobban is at #12, again not a mathematician but GCHQ, which he Directs, is noted as a large employer of first-rate mathematicians. Adrian Smith is at #70. He’s a statistician but listed as a civil servant and outspoken critic on science education (and, incidentally, as “former wPrincipal [sic] of Queen Mary, University of London”).