Dear all

	I would like to second Chris' point about the cost of exhibits. I ran the 
"How do shapes fill space?" exhibit at the Royal Society in 2009 on a similar budget.

	I would say that both exhibits were actually quite cheap (and this is bourn out
by comparing to many of the other exhibits there, some of which had budgets 3 or
even 4 times the size). The quality of both exhibits was only ensured by the hard work
and enthusiasm of the teams involved.  

	It is indeed important that mathematics is shown in its best light at festivals and 
public talks, that we help build a conception of what research mathematics is doing.
With high quality exhibits we can build popular support for mathematics that should 
keep governmental and other funding active, but we have to accept that £15,000 is 
a minimum to do such things effectively.

	Edmund

On 13 Apr 2011, at 03:15, Chris Budd wrote:

> Dear all
> 
> Whilst I take John's point about the need for substantial
> funding for a maths museum, and fully agree with Richard that the
> Mathematikum is a good model for such, I would like to query
> his view that the exhibition we ran was rather expensive for something
> quite small.
> 
> For an investment of £15k we ran an exhibition at the Royal
> Society to which 50,000 people came, and followed this up with
> exhibitions at the Big Bang for 30,000, the Manchester Science
> Festival for 10,000 and Bath Taps for 2,000. The exhibition will
> be having further appearences at the Big Bang next year, Bath Taps and
> at the Manchester Festival, so I estimate that the £15k
> led to a maths exhibition seen by over 100 000 people (that
> works out at 15p per person). I hope that this shows what can be
> done with a bit of energy. I would really like to push all
> maths promoters to run such exhibitions. Science festivals have far
> too few maths exhibits in them (with of course some excellent
> and glorious exceptions) and maths is much cheaper to
> exhibit than some of the other areas of STEM.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Chris
> 
> Quoting Richard Browne <[log in to unmask]>:
> 
>> Dear All
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I think a permanent mathematical museum in the UK is an excellent idea.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> We should also make sure we learn from experience in Germany, where  a similar museum exists in Giessen http://www.mathematikum.de/ (the  website has an English version)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Richard Browne
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> From: Mathematics Promoters list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]  On Behalf Of John Sharp
>> Sent: 12 April 2011 13:17
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: A UK Maths "Museum" ?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Robe and All
>> 
>> When Chris Budd sent his admirable document on getting funding for  exhibits, I looked at the amounts and thought it was expensive to do  something quite small.
>> Almost at the same time, I had an email from George Hart talking  about much more money.
>> 
>>>> You may be interested to see that the Chief Technology Advocate at
>>>> Google lists polyhedra as an important boyhood inspiration:
>> 
>> http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/supporting-our-beloved-science-museums.html
>> 
>>> > I'm also happy that it announces Google is supporting the Museum of
>>>> Mathematics with a $2 million donation!
>> 
>>>> George Hart
>>>> Chief of Content
>>>> Museum of Mathematics
>> 
>> A similar idea in this country needs someone like this who knows  what we are talking about.
>> 
>> I know George personally from my involvement with the Bridges  Conference. He is also someone who can get something moving.
>> 
>> George is in Europe for the Bridges Conference this year
>> 
>> http://bridgesmathart.org/bridges-2011/2011-speakers-coordinators/
>> 
>> He also gave a web talk with other members of the Museum of  Mathematics which can be heard at:
>> 
>> http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/Momath
>> 
>> John S
>> 
>> 
>> ==============================
>> 
>> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Rob Eastaway  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear All
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Geoff Wain (who ran the PopMaths Roadshow in 1990) and Margaret  Brown of Kings College London have formed a small group that aims to  set up a permanent “Mathematics Museum” in the UK -though the word  museum has the wrong connotations, better to think of it as  something highly interactive that will attract all age groups, more  along the lines of the old “Exploratory” in Bristol.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The USA has set a precedent, with its travelling exhibition that’s  due to become a permanent “museum” in New York  http://momath.org/
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Projects like this need substantial funding, and only succeed if  there is a core group of individuals who are passionate about the  idea and committed to driving it forward.  I suggested to Geoff that  those individuals might be found within the Maths Prom list. If you  want to help bring about a UK Maths Museum/Exploratory , can you  email Geoff Wain to express interest.    [log in to unmask] uk
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Rob E.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Edmund Harriss
Department of Mathematics
University of Arkansas
[log in to unmask]
http://www.mathematicians.org.uk/eoh

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
----------------------------------------------------------------------