Saint Petersburg will host the next International Congress of Mathematicians, in 2022.
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- Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore;
- The Unexpected Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos and Other Wild Tales by Lucy Cooke;
- The Beautiful Cure: Harnessing Your Body’s Natural Defences by Daniel Davis;
- Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine by Hannah Fry;
- Liquid: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives by Mark Miodownik;
- Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created The Modern World by Simon Winchester.
2018 Christopher Zeeman Medal awarded to Hannah Fry
TV maths legend and UCL-based mathematician Hannah Fry has been awarded this year’s IMA/LMS Christopher Zeeman Medal, which aims to recognise and acknowledge the contributions of mathematicians involved in promoting mathematics to the public and engaging with the public in mathematics in the UK.
Named after the late Professor Sir Christopher Zeeman FRS, whose Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on mathematics in 1978 were a shining example and led to the development of their mathematics and engineering Masterclass programme, the medal will be awarded at a ceremony to take place in 2019, where Dr Fry will also give a lecture.
From the official announcement/citation:
Hannah Fry’s dedication in promoting mathematics to the widest possible public has not only done untold good for the subject, but has provided a powerful role model for mathematicians, most especially female ones, making mathematics feel more relevant, more humorous and most of all more human. Her spectacular success in an otherwise notoriously difficult endeavour may be ascribed to a unique and enviable set of characteristics. First, she has an uncanny instinct for spotting mathematics that will readily engage the public, and then of constructing the perfect context and using it to convey profound mathematical ideas that might otherwise appear dry. Second, she is effortlessly able to transcend audience boundaries and make mathematics both accessible and “cool” to an enormous range of hard-to-convince onlookers. Finally, Hannah has a tremendous capacity for her sheer hard work: the breadth and range of activities that she undertakes, the number of separate media appearances to which she commits, and the widely disparate audiences and age groups that she is able to reach are all eloquent testament to her ability and commitment. Perhaps her most significant achievement is to have inspired a generation of girls in a way that has not been done before.
Hannah Fry awarded 2018 Zeeman Medal, on the LMS website
More information about the Christopher Zeeman Medal award, on the LMS website
Medal citation (PDF)
Caucher Birkar becomes first person ever to receive the Fields Medal twice
You may know from our recent foray into breaking news that the Fields Medal awarded to Caucher Birkar was stolen, minutes after it was awarded. It turns out the International Mathematical Committee (IMU) had a spare medal in Rio for display purposes, and they decided to award it to Birkar as a replacement.
Birkar is quoted as joking “I’m much more famous than I would be,” in reference to the increased media attention following the theft. Being the first person in the world to ever receive the Fields Medal twice certainly makes him a good answer to a trivia question at your next maths-themed pub quiz.
A post from the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) tries to play down the incident. ICM Chairman Marcelo Viana called it a “regretful incident with a happy ending” – slightly strange as the stolen medal hasn’t been found – and Birkar himself is quoted saying how lovely Rio is.
https://twitter.com/icm_2018/status/1025763167861985280
More information
Royal Society Science Book Prize shortlist announced
Announcing our 2018 #scibooks prize shortlist. Celebrating outstanding popular science books from around the world @InsightInvestIM https://t.co/dhlFsCQLNx pic.twitter.com/oCURZRAFXr
— The Royal Society (@royalsociety) August 2, 2018
The 2018 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize has announced its shortlist:
For the mathematically-minded, the highlight of the list is probably Hannah Fry’s upcoming Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine, published next month. Certainly the news has Hannah excited! An extract entitled ‘Can crime be predicted by an algorithm?‘ has been released by the publisher, Penguin.
The prize is judged by a panel of expert judges. A page about the prize says that “the winner will be announced at the award ceremony, taking place on Monday 1 October presented by Professor Brian Cox. The ceremony is open to the public and free to attend.” Though, curiously, the Royal Society website public events page has no listings for 1st October at present.
Fields Medal theft
Have you seen this medal?
Reports are emerging of the disappearance of one of the Fields medals awarded today, to Cauchar Birkar. The official statement from the International Congress of Mathematics is reproduced below.
The organizing committee of the International Congress of Mathematics (ICM2018) profoundly regrets the disappearance of the briefcase of mathematician, Cauchar Birkar, which contained the Fields Medal he received at this morning’s ceremony.
Images recorded at the event are being analyzed. The organizing committee is cooperating with local police authorities in their investigation.
More as we get it. (Shuffles papers.)
UPDATE (morning of 2nd August): The briefcase has been found by a security team under a bench, with the medal missing. Birkar’s phone and wallet were also in the briefcase. The thief is said to have been identified from security footage, so hopefully the medal can be found.
The event was also troubled earlier in the week by an accidental fire on the roof of the building, which caused the event’s overnight team to evacuate.
World’s most prestigious maths medal is stolen minutes after professor wins it, at The Guardian
UPDATE (evening of 2nd August): The ICM have published these photos of the suspects.
Who stole Birkar's Fields medal? | Help us spread these images and identify the suspects! pic.twitter.com/rX5E9dsigw
— ICM2018 (@ICM_2018) August 2, 2018
UPDATE (evening of 3rd August): The ICM have announced that Birkar will receive a new medal at noon (in Rio) tomorrow.
Mathematician Caucher Birkar to receive new Fields Medal ► https://t.co/lsWcQWnvL7 pic.twitter.com/BKkg5A0tUh
— ICM2018 (@ICM_2018) August 3, 2018
2018 Fields Medal Winners Announced
“A lot of the time, when you do Math, you’re stuck. But you feel privileged to work with it. You have a feeling of transcendence and feel like you’ve been part of something really meaningful.” – Akshay Venkatesh, 2018 Fields Medallist.
The Fields Medal is awarded every four years to four mathematicians, in recognition of outstanding achievement in mathematics. This year’s winners have just been announced at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro, and they are algebraic geometer Caucher Birkar, PDE specialist Alessio Figalli, arithmetic algebraic geometer Peter Scholze, and number theorist Akshay Venkatesh.
Alexander Bogomolny, creator of Cut the Knot, has died.
Rest in Peace, Alexander Bogomolny @CutTheKnotMath
Devastating news.
He was of the few saints you meet in life: He gave more, much more than he took.
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) July 8, 2018
Alexander Bogomolny was a mathematician and educator well known for his website Cut the Knot, which offered interactive mathematical miscellany and puzzles. You can learn more about him, education and antisemitism in the USSR, his mathematics research and his approach to Cut the Knot in this interview from 2014.