Since we’re all busy people, sometimes news and other interesting bits of maths don’t get reported quite as they happen. Here’s a few stories that slipped through the cracks over the summer.
MoMath presents a virtual maths art gallery
Composite, MoMath’s temporary exhibition gallery, hosts shows and installations demonstrating mathematical art and models, and highlighting the connections between maths and human endeavour.
Since it’s been harder recently for people to actually visit the museum, they’re offering a virtual tour of their current exhibition, Alternative Perspective, by artist Anton Bakker. It showcases perspective-based artworks that change as you walk around them, and you can request access by registering on their website. You can also arrange school group visits with a tour by the artist.
(via Frank Catalano on Twitter)
LMS Atiyah Fellowships Awarded
The London Mathematical Society, in partnership with the Centre for Advanced Mathematical Sciences at the American University of Beirut, has recently established the Atiyah UK-Lebanon Fellowships. Named for the late Sir Michael Atiyah (1929-2019), the fellowships aim to support an exchange of mathematical ideas between universities in the UK and the Lebanon. Fellows will be supported to visit the UK or the Lebanon and work with other mathematicians, for anything between a week and six months.
The first two fellowships have been awarded to Professor Mark Wildon, from Royal Holloway University, and Professor Ahmad Sabra from the American University of Beirut. Applications for Fellowships to be held in 2021-22 will open in early September (which is now).
(via London Mathematical Society on Twitter)
Mathical Book Prize for 2020
Way back in March, The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, CA announced the 2020 winners of the Mathical Book Prize, which recognises outstanding works of fiction and literary nonfiction, for ages 2-18, which offer readers unique ways to explore mathematical ideas in the world around them.
Winners include, for pre-K (under-5s), One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller by Kate Read; for K-2 (roughly KS1), Pigeon Math by Asia Citro; for grades 3-5 (KS2), Solving for M by Jennifer Swender, and for grades 9-12 (GCSE/KS4), Slay by Brittney Morris. More information, and a longer list of runner-up ‘Honor Books’ is available with the prize announcement.
Two Mathematical Discoveries reported on Quanta
Turns out people just keep doing maths and discovering new things, and Quanta magazine does some excellent and accessible write-ups, covering fairly meaty topics.
Mathematicians Report New Discovery About the Dodecahedron – it’s got 13 sides! Only kidding – they’ve discovered (infinite families of) straight paths on the surface of the dodecahedron starting from a corner, which will return to their original starting point (proven not to exist on any of the other four platonic solids).
Computer Search Settles 90-Year-Old Math Problem – a computer proof of Keller’s Conjecture, about tiling space in different numbers of dimensions, which claims that if you cover an n-dimensional space with n-dimensional square tiles, at least two of the tiles must share an edge.