This year marks 500 years of Mathematics at the University of Aberdeen and to help celebrate this monumental milestone the University is hosting a public lecture evening later this month.
The 500th anniversary of the appointment of the first Professor of Mathematics at King's College will be celebrated at an evening event which will take the form of short lectures, anecdotes, memories and plans for the future from staff of the Mathematics Department both past and present.
Speakers will include Professor Graham Hall, who will give a short lecture on some of the great mathematics that has been accomplished in Aberdeen and, in particular, on James Clerk Maxwell and Colin MacLaurin; Professors Edward Paterson and John Wright, who will walk down memory lane and reminisce on their time at Aberdeen; and Professor Ran Levi, who will speak on the plans for a new Mathematics Research Institute in Mathematics.
Professor Hall has been involved in organising the event and explains: “Aberdeen is an ancient Scottish University founded in 1495. Our first chair in Mathematics was created in 1505 and we have been studying and teaching Mathematics ever since.
“This month’s public meeting will consist of presentations by invited speakers to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Mathematics at the University. All of the evening’s talks are aimed at a general audience, requiring no scientific background.”
The meeting will take place in the Fraser Noble Lecture Theatre, FN2 on Thursday, October 27, between 7.30 and 9.00pm. The event is free of charge and everyone is welcome. Booking is not required and refreshments will be provided by the College of Physical Sciences after the event.
The celebration of 500 years of research and teaching of mathematics has also been heralded with a major expansion in the Department of Mathematics’ academic staff. Five Sixth Century Chairs have been appointed in the last 12 months. Four of these are specialists in Group Representation Theory - Professors Dave Benson, Meinolf Geck, Markus Linckelmann and Geoffrey Robinson. There have also been five new appointments in Mathematics, including Professor John Wright who has been appointed as a Sixth Century Chair in Functional Analysis.
As the main area of emphasis is Representation Theory, it was decided that these events be celebrated by holding a Conference in Representation Theory, which will be held on October 26-29. Invited speakers from the UK, Europe and the US will be presenting. The conference is aimed at professionals interested in Representation Theory and related subjects.
Professor Hall added: “I am looking forward to welcoming delegates from across UK, Europe, America and as far away as Australia to this month’s Representation Theory conference.”
For further information about the conference, please visit: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/~wpe006/conference/sixc/register.php