̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Centre for Mathematical Sciences

Exceptional scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society 2023

lw355 — Wed, 10 May 2023 10:52:57 +0000

̽��ֱ��Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship of many of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering and medicine.

̽��ֱ��Society’s fundamental purpose, as it has been since its foundation in 1660, is to recognise, promote and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.

This year, a total of 80 researchers, innovators and communicators from around the world have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society for their substantial contribution to the advancement of science. These include 59 Fellows, 19 Foreign Members and two Honorary Fellows.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society said: “I am delighted to welcome our newest cohort of Fellows. These individuals have pushed forward the boundaries of their respective fields and had a beneficial influence on the world beyond. This year’s intake have already achieved incredible things, and I have no doubt that they will continue to do so. I look forward to meeting them and following their contributions in future.”

̽��ֱ��Fellows and Foreign Members join the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Dorothy Hodgkin.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Fellows are:

Professor Cathie Clarke FRS

Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics, Institute of Astronomy, and Fellow of Clare College

Clarke studies astrophysical fluid dynamics, including accretion and protoplanetary discs and stellar winds. She was the first to demonstrate how protoplanetary disc formation around low-mass young stars is determined by their radiation field. In 2017 she became the first woman to be awarded the Eddington Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society and in 2022 she became director of the Institute of Astronomy.

She said: “It's a great honour to join the many Cambridge astrophysicists who have held this title. I would like to particularly pay tribute to the many junior colleagues, PhD students and postdocs who have contributed to my research.”

Professor Christopher Jiggins FRS

Professor of Evolutionary Biology (2014), Department of Zoology, and Fellow of St John's College

Jiggins studies adaption and speciation in the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). In particular he is interested in studying how species converge due to mimicry as a model for understanding the predictability of evolution and the genetic and ecological causes of speciation. He demonstrated the importance of hybridisation and movement of genes between species in generating novel adaptations. He also works on the agricultural pest cotton bollworm and carries out genomic studies of the insect bioconversion species, black soldier fly.

He said: “I am amazed and delighted to receive this honour, and would thank all the amazing students, and postdocs that I have been lucky enough to work with over the years.”

Dr Philip Jones FRS

Senior Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute and Professor of Cancer Development, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and Fellow of Clare College

Jones studies how normal cell behaviour is altered by mutation in aging and the earliest stages of cancer development. He focuses on normal skin and oesophagus, which become a patchwork of mutant cells by middle age. He has found that different mutations can either promote or inhibit cancer development giving hope of new ways to prevent cancer in the future. He is also a Consultant in Medical Oncology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

He said: “I am delighted to be elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. This honour is a tribute to the dedication of my research team and collaborators and support of my mentors and scientific colleagues over many years.”

Dr Lori Passmore FRS

Group Leader, Structural Studies Division, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Fellow of Clare Hall

Passmore a cryo-electron microscopist and structural biologist who works at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology and at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. She is known for her work on multiprotein complexes involved in gene expression and the development of new supports for cryo-EM studies. She also studies the molecular mechanisms underlying Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disease resulting in an impaired response to DNA damage.

She said: “I am so honoured to be recognised alongside such an exceptional group of scientists. I am grateful to all the trainees, collaborators and colleagues whom I have worked with over the past years - science is truly collaborative and this is a recognition of all the courageous work of many people.”

Professor Peter Sewell FRS

Professor of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science and Technology, and Fellow of Wolfson College

Sewell’s research aims to put the engineering of the real-world computer systems that we all depend on onto better foundations, developing techniques to make systems that are better-understood, more robust and more secure. He and his group are best known for their work on the subtle relaxed-memory concurrency behaviour and detailed sequential semantics of processors and programming languages. He co-leads the CHERI cybersecurity project, for which his team have established mathematically-proven security properties of Arm's Morello industrial prototype architecture.

He said: “This honour is a testament to the work of many excellent colleagues over the years, without whom none of this would have been possible.”

Professor Ivan Smith FRS

Professor of Geometry, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, and Fellow of Caius College

Smith is a mathematician who deals with symplectic manifolds and their interaction with algebraic geometry, low-dimensional topology and dynamics. In 2007, he received the Whitehead Prize for his work in symplectic topology, highlighting the breadth of applied techniques from algebraic geometry and topology, and in 2013 the Adams Prize.

He said: “I am surprised, delighted and hugely honoured to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. I’ve been very fortunate to work in a rapidly advancing field, learning it alongside many inspirational and generous collaborators, who should definitely share this recognition.”

Professor William Sutherland CBE FRS

Miriam Rothschild Chair of Conservation Biology, Department of Zoology and Professorial Fellow of St Catharine’s College

Sutherland is a conservation scientist who is interested in improving the processes by which decisions are made. This has involved horizon scanning to identify future issues to reduce the surprises of future developments. His main work has been the industrial-scale collation of evidence to determine which interventions are effective and which are not and then establishing processes for embedding evidence in decision making. He has developed a free, online resource, Conservation Evidence, summarising evidence for the effectiveness of conservation actions to support anyone making decisions about how to maintain and restore biodiversity and an open access book Transforming Conservation: a practical guide to evidence and decision making.

He said: “I am delighted that our work on the means of improving decision making in conservation and elsewhere has been recognised in this way and thank my numerous collaborators.”

Seven outstanding Cambridge researchers have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences and the oldest science academy in continuous existence.

These individuals have pushed forward the boundaries of their respective fields and had a beneficial influence on the world beyond

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society

Courtesy of ̽��ֱ��Royal Society

̽��ֱ��Royal Society, London

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Yes

New institute is set to push the boundaries of information science

pbh25 — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 11:46:11 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Cantab Capital Partners LLP are launching a new institute which is set to push the boundaries of information science.

Established through philanthropic support of £5m from Cantab Capital Partners, a multi-billion dollar systematic hedge fund manager based in Cambridge, the Cantab Capital Institute for the Mathematics of Information will sit within the ̽��ֱ��’s renowned Faculty of Mathematics.

̽��ֱ��new institute will draw on fundamental techniques from mathematical sciences to tackle head on the challenge of deciphering meaning in the reams of data which surround us. Bringing together some of the world’s leading academics in various related disciplines to advance understanding on multiple fronts, the Institute will ultimately help ensure all available information is used when, for example, doctors make clinical diagnoses, financial institutions make sensible evaluations of risk, or planners build the cities of the future.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has been at the forefront of the study of mathematics and its benefits to society for many centuries. Today Cambridge stands as a world leader in mathematics and its applications across government, education, health, science, business and finance, and in particular in the development of advanced techniques for data gathering and information extraction.

Dr Ewan Kirk, CIO of Cantab Capital Partners, said: “Mathematics is the foundation of all sciences and, in the 21st Century, information and data plays an increasingly vital role in a diverse range of fields. Now more than ever, using mathematical and statistical techniques to understand vast information sets can have a huge impact on our daily lives. Cantab is immensely proud to be supporting the research which will be at the forefront of this information revolution. ̽��ֱ��Institute aims to galvanise and accelerate progress in the mathematics of information and become a centre of excellence for innovative research both in the UK and internationally.”

Professor Nigel Peake, Head of the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, said: “Many institutions currently working in this space focus their efforts on incremental advances on what is now a well-established discipline of financial mathematics. At Cambridge, we are looking to build on the world-leading expertise available to us to develop a broader and more enduring approach, reflecting the very latest insights into the mathematics of information. We are naturally delighted that Cantab has provided us with such a substantial donation, enabling us to turn this vision into a reality.”

Image: Dr Nigel Peake. Credit: Dr Ed Brambley.

Philanthropic support of £5m from Cantab Capital Partners, establishes the Cantab Capital Institute for the Mathematics of Information.

Now more than ever, using mathematical and statistical techniques to understand vast information sets can have a huge impact on our daily lives.

Dr Ewan Kirk, CIO of Cantab Capital Partners

About Cantab Capital Partners LLP

Cantab Capital Partners LLP is a multi-billion dollar hedge fund manager based in Cambridge, UK.
̽��ֱ��firm employs a rigorous, systematic, multi-strategy, multi-asset approach, often referred to as systematic macro, CTA or managed futures. Cantab manages assets for some of the most sophisticated institutional investors worldwide including large pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and fund of funds.
Cantab was founded in 2006 by Dr Ewan Kirk and Erich Schlaikjer. Cantab manages two programmes, the CCP Quantitative programme and the CCP Core Macro programme. ̽��ֱ��cornerstone of Cantab’s investment philosophy is the marriage of science with cutting-edge technology, high levels of transparency and robust risk systems.
̽��ֱ��majority of Cantab’s team are dedicated to investment and technology research and combine a diverse skill set. Most come from academic backgrounds having excelled at statistics, maths, physics, computer science or other quantitative disciplines, with the common denominators being academic excellence and collegial spirit.
www.cantabcapital.com

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Yes

Year 10s test drive maths at Cambridge

ta385 — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 09:00:00 +0000

Cambridge has nurtured some of the world’s most influential mathematicians – Sir Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, G.H. Hardy, John Edensor Littlewood and Srinivasa Ramanujan among them.

None of these great minds had the benefit of working in the CMS, seven futuristic pavilions built in 2000-3, but thirty Year 10s from Bedfordshire are clearly embracing the opportunity.

“I’m going to turn you all into a super computer” proclaims James Munro, an applied maths PhD student and today’s workshop leader. His audience exchanges nervous glances but James, an effervescent young tutor, is already bounding between tables handing out dice and describing the scenario.

“You are in a duel with a cowboy. He misses half of the time and you miss five times out of six. Fortunately, you get to shoot first….”

James invites everyone to start rolling their dice to simulate the probability of surviving the duel. For several minutes, a satisfying chorus of clattering dice and mathematical discussion fills the room.

James keeps score and throws out questions about the results, before introducing progressively more complex scenarios. These include a Mexican Standoff in which one cowboy never misses, another strikes half the time and the weakest misses five times out of six. Before they know it, James’ students are tackling some thorny equations.

James’ own specialism, fluid dynamics, complements his teaching style. His workshop feels decidedly more energetic than an ordinary maths lesson.

Describing his current work, James enthuses “I'm looking at the extremely fast flow that you get when two bubbles pop together to form one bubble. It's too fast to see in experiments and too fast for computers to model, but nothing is too fast for maths!”

And this is the whole point of the HE Getaway – to give young people inspiring university experiences and introduce them to scholars who rhapsodize about their subjects.

“I love doing these events”, says James, “maths is often seen as abstract and irrelevant, but playing games as we have today, can I hope, make students care about tough concepts like conditional probability and game theory. This group rose to the challenge and I was delighted to hear so many of them say they were interested in taking maths further.”

A tour of Emmanuel College and a physics taster session at the Cavendish Laboratory completed an action-packed day. ̽��ֱ��event was part of an HE partnership programme, in this instance between the Universities of Cambridge and Bedfordshire, which aims to raise aspirations among Year 9 – 11 students and give them an inspiring taste of higher education.

As part of the partnership, a group of students from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough visited the ̽��ֱ�� of Bedfordshire’s campus, where their programme included a workshop exploring computer game design. Both groups also took part in a team-building, problem-solving adventure day which included climbing trials and a rafting race.

Project Coordinator, Matt Diston, said

“We’ve developed a fantastic collaborative relationship with the ̽��ֱ�� of Bedfordshire over the last four years which means we can provide inspiring opportunities for schools in both areas. Our programme is deliberately energetic and varied. We find it’s a really effective way to give Year 9 -11s a stronger sense of their abilities and interests, build their confidence and at the same demystify university so they can make positive decisions about their futures.”

A group of intrepid fifteen-year-olds recently visited the ̽��ֱ��’s Centre for Mathematical Sciences as part of a high-octane HE getaway.

It's too fast to see in experiments and too fast for computers to model, but nothing is too fast for maths!

James Munro, Applied Maths PhD student

PhD student James Munro with HE Getaway students

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Yes

Statue to mark close bonds with Poland

th288 — Mon, 18 May 2015 13:07:17 +0000

̽��ֱ��Sierpinski Tree is based on the geometric figure devised by Polish mathematician Waclaw Sierpinski who did pioneering work in the early 20th Century on the field of fractals.

A fractal is a geometric figure in which each part possesses the same statistical properties as the whole.

̽��ֱ��Polish Ambassador, His Excellency Witold Sobkow, was welcomed to Cambridge by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, himself of Polish descent.

Unveiling the statue, the Ambassador said: "As ties between Poland and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge are stronger than ever before, there is no better place in Britain to celebrate the growing importance of Polish science. ̽��ֱ��Ministry of Foreign Affairs is proud of the establishment of the Polish Studies programme at the Department of Slavonic Studies, partly financed by the Foundation for Polish Science."

In response the Vice-Chancellor said: “I am delighted to see a new home for the Sierpinski Tree in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences. ̽��ֱ��tree has been installed by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London to mark the centenary of Wacław Sierpiński’s achievement. It is a fitting symbol of the long history of mathematical excellence that is enjoyed by both Poland and Cambridge.

“Our knowledge exchange with Poland extends to this day, with collaborations across a range of subjects. Last week we submitted a twinning bid to the EU Horizon 2020 programme, with the Wroclaw ̽��ֱ�� of Technology, on Developing Scientific Excellence and Innovation Capacity in Data Science.

“We recognise Poland’s strengths in both the physical and life sciences, and are keen to build on our base of existing bilateral cooperation. It is fitting, therefore, that we met today to celebrate the installation of such an auspicious symbol of scientific achievement.”

̽��ֱ��Sierpinski Tree, which was on display on London’s South Bank for the past year, celebrates Polish Science and is seen as a symbol of the modernity and dynamism of contemporary Poland.

In response to growing interest in Poland, the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Slavonic Studies launched a new initiative in Polish Studies in October 2014.

This innovative pilot initiative – sponsored by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), the M. B. Grabowski Fund, Trinity College’s Zdanowich Fund, and the School of Arts and Humanities – combines undergraduate education in Polish literature and language with a rich cycle of special events, including guest speakers, public debates, film screenings, and academic conferences.

̽��ֱ��initiative aims to make Cambridge a key centre for the study of Poland in the UK and beyond.

Dr Stanley Bill, the new Lecturer in Polish Studies, said: “It is high time for new visions of Poland and Polish culture in the UK. Poland is a rising economic power on the crucially important eastern border of the European Union, while Polish immigrants continue to make a powerful contribution to the fabric of life in Britain. Above all, the academic programme and public events of Cambridge Polish Studies aim to convey the dynamism of contemporary Polish cultural, social and economic life, while also disseminating broader understanding of Poland’s role in European history.”

On 30 June-1 July 2015, Cambridge Polish Studies will be co-hosting an international conference on the future of Polish-Ukrainian relations at Sidney Sussex College.

See more at: http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/polish

For a video of the event click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecO8CqxV3dc

̽��ֱ��close bonds between Poland and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge have been marked by the unveiling of a striking sculpture at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences on Wilberforce Road.

It is a fitting symbol of the long history of mathematical excellence that is enjoyed by both Poland and Cambridge.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

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Yes