In this newsletter:
- Latest news
- Browse with Plus
- Mathematical moments
- Live maths
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Latest news from Plus
Volunteers discover new largest prime
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec05/mersenne/index.html
History helps maths - Learning about the history behind maths helps
students understand it better
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec05/history/index.html
Rap: rivalry and chivalry - How rappers interact
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec05/rappers/index.html
Plus... more news from the world of maths
Symmetry, dance and sexual selection
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#symmetry
Communicating maths
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#descartes
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Browse with Plus
A cabinet of mathematical curiosities
Plus reader Denis Bilodeau alerted us to this interesting article on Ivars
Peterson’s Math Trek. It’s all about visualising maths and there are
amazing pictures of things that are otherwise hard to imagine.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20051224/mathtrek.asp
SciTalk – science and fiction
SciTalk is a NESTA-funded project set up by former scientist Ann Lackie,
who is also the novelist Ann Lingard. Its aim is to bring together fiction
writers and scientists to change the way science is represented in
fiction. Over 100 UK scientists – from PhD students to FRS - are already
registered and writers are using the site to find out how scientists think
and work. If you’d like to register as a writer or scientist go to:
http://www.scitalk.org.uk/
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Mathematical moments
Sir Isaac Newton - Born: 4 January 1643 in Lincolnshire, England
Died: 31 March 1727 in London, England
Newton is no doubt one of the most important scientists that ever lived.
Born the son of a wealthy but uneducated farmer he entered Trinity College,
Cambridge, in 1661 to study for a law degree. It is said that he became
interested in maths after being unable to understand a book on astrology
he had bought on a fair in Cambridge. But his tour de force did not start
until 1665, when Cambridge University closed after an outbreak of the
plague and he had to return to Lincolnshire. In the following two years he
laid the foundation of the works that were to revolutionise mathematics and
physics. From a pure mathematical viewpoint, his most important
contribution was the differential and integral calculus. Working
independently from Leibniz, who can also be credited with its invention, he
realised that integration was the inverse process of differentiation and
developed is “method of fluxions”. He finished a written account of this
work in 1671, yet it did not get published until 1736.
His work on physics, entitled Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica,
but simply known as “Principia”, is hailed as one of the greatest science
books ever written. The centrepiece of the Principia is the law of
universal gravitation: “all matter attracts all other matter with a force
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them.” Newton’s understanding of gravity
and motion revolutionised physics.
Newton also contributed extensively to optics. Having observed a ray of
light passing through a prism, he was one of the first to claim that white
light was not a single entity, but could be split into a variety of
different rays.
During his career Newton got into various arguments with colleagues. It
seems that he had problems accepting criticism, which caused him to
withdraw from the academic world. After a nervous breakdown he left
Cambridge in 1696 and took up a government position in London. Although he
did not return to active research, his last years were overshadowed by a
dispute with Leibniz about who had invented the calculus first. He was
knighted by Queen Anne in 1705, the first scientist ever to receive this
honour.
Find out more about Newton at the MacTutor site:
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Newton.html
and the Newton project:
http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1
You can read the transcript of a Gresham College lecture on Newton by Robin
Wilson at http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=4&EventId=66 This site
also features a video of the lecture.
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Live maths
The secret world of codes and code breaking
This is one of the free public lectures organised by the Millennium
Mathematics Project. Claire Ellis will demonstrate a genuine World War II
Enigma machine and explain how mathematicians managed to unravel the
Germans’ Enigma code. Suggested age range: 16+.
The lecture will take place on the 26th of January at 5pm at
Centre For Mathematical Sciences
Wilberforce Road
Cambridge
CB3 0WA
Admission to the lecture is free but by ticket only. For tickets please
contact Charlotte Goodburn, Millennium Mathematics Project, tel: 01223
766839 or email [log in to unmask]
More information: http://mmp.maths.org/events/eventlist.php
This is a repeat of a very popular lecture, be sure to book early!!
There are three public maths-related lectures at Gresham College, London,
in January:
Time: a guide for travellers
2006 would have seen the 100th birthday of the great mathematician Kurt
Goedel. He is most famous for his groundbreaking work on the theory of
mathematical proof, but he also worked on another mindboggling concept:
time travel. Professor John D Barrow FRS describes time travel in physics
and fiction and explains how you can travel into the past without altering
your future.
12th of January at 1pm at The Lecture Theatre, The Museum of London
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=359
Wallpaper patterns and buckyballs
Ever wondered how many ways there are to tile your bathroom floor? Find out
with Professor Robin Wilson:
18th of January at 1pm and 6pm at Barnard’s Inn Hall
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=389
Impossibility: the limits of science
Professor John D Barrow explores the limits of science and asks whether
they are consequences of our nature, consequences of the universe’s nature
or consequences of the nature of knowledge itself.
26th of January at 1pm at The Lecture Theatre, The Museum of London
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=361
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The Plus team would like to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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