Speaker: Prof. Simon Tavaré (DAMTP)
Venue: Winstanley Lecture Theatre
Time: 4/03/2013 20:30, drinks from 20:15

Dynamo theory is concerned with the generation of magnetic fields by motion in electrically conducting fluids. This process, quite straightforward in a conventional generator, is more complex in homogeneous fluids. I will discuss various different mechanisms of dynamo action and their application to the magnetic fields of astrophysical bodies.

Speaker: Dr. Julia Goedecke (DPMMS)
Venue: Winstanley Lecture Theatre
Time: 18/02/2013 20:30, drinks from 20:15

The word abstraction often sounds daunting to many non-mathematicians, and probably also to some mathematicians. However, abstraction is all around us: not only in mathematics, but also in the way we form terms and concepts in our language. For example we all group together houses, schools, college chapels and skyscrapers under the word “building”. So if we know something that is common to all buildings (for example that they have to be maintained), then we know this for every building we meet without having to work it out anew in each case.

Mathematics builds heavily on abstraction. Some even say that abstraction is the main ingredient in mathematics. I will present some examples of mathematical concepts that arise as abstractions of well-known situations which every undergraduate has met. My research area – category theory – can be called the most abstract area of mathematics. We will try to explore the point of view and underlying principles that drive category theorists to their very abstract way of thinking.

Speaker: Dr. Susan Pitts (StatsLab)
Venue: Winstanley Lecture Theatre
Time: 11/02/2013 20:30, drinks from 20:15

Mathematical models for premium income and claim payments are important in the assessment of risk in insurance. I will describe some current risk models, and illustrate the use of mathematical ideas and techniques in ruin theory.

Speaker: Prof. Grae Worster (DAMTP)
Venue: Winstanley Lecture Theatre
Time: 4/02/2013 20:30, drinks from 20:15

Melting of the great ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland has the potential to raise sea level significantly. Whereas many inland ice sheets are controlled by a balance between accumulation of snow at high altitudes and melting at low altitudes, marine ice sheets, which flow into the ocean, are controlled dynamically by the rate at which ice detaches from the submarine bedrock along which it flows to form floating ice shelves. Fundamental aspects of the flow of marine ice sheets can be understood using viscous fluid dynamics. I shall describe recent laboratory and mathematical studies of marine ice sheets, which are helping us to understand what controls them from collapse.

Speaker:Dr. Piers Bursill-Hall (DPMMS)
Venue: Winstanley Lecture Theatre
Time: 08/10/2011 20:30, drinks from 20:15

Bursill-Hall was educated – at least in some sense – in France, America, Canada, and England; most of his learning coming from dubious public houses in Devon and he ended up at Cambridge University, and has managed to avoid the workhouse or madhouse ever since. He has taught undergraduate courses in history of mathematics and most aspects of history of science at Cambridge and a few other places foolish enough to invite him to talk. It is not known where his ‘off’ button is, but chocolate usually shuts him up temporarily. He is currently 39 years old, and has been for many years.

Speaker: Prof Geoffrey Grimmett (Stats Lab)
Venue: Winstanley Lecture Theatre
Time: 5/3/2012 20:30, drinks from 20:15

Since its discovery around 1899, the star-triangle (or Y-Δ) transformation has become an important tool in the theory of disordered physical systems. It turns out in addition to have an important connection to tilings of the plane.

The Trinity Mathematical Society is running our first symposium, from 10:00 to 7:00 on Sunday 4th March, in the Winstanley Lecture Theatre. We have a talk by Lord Rees, 3 other fellows and a number of PhD students, ranging across all areas of mathematical research. The event is free and open to all. There is no need to stay for the whole day – just drop in on talks you find interesting.

The timetable will be:

10:00 – 10:45      Prof Rees: From Planets to Universes
10:45 – 11:15       Lee Zhao: Branching-selection processes
11:15 – 11:45       Ben Barber: Compressions in extremal combinatorics
11:45 – 12:15       Kenny Wong: The Past, the Future and Elsewhere: a Geometric Excursion into Spacetime

12:15 – 13:15       -LUNCH-
13:15 – 14:00      Dr Forster: Ordinals
14:00 – 14:30      Will Sonnex: Dependant Type Theory

14:30 – 15:00      Rachel Newton: Local Reciprocity: a Mysterious Map from Number Theory

15:00 – 15:30      Peter Ford: Freezing

15:30 – 16:00      -BREAK-
16:00 – 16:45      Dr Neale: Adding integers
16:45 – 17:15       Alex Shannon: What’s the point?
17:15 – 17:45       Maurice Chiodo: Decision problems in group theory
17:45 – 18:15       Hiro Funakoshi: Blackhole Thermodynamics
18:15 – 19:00     Prof Korner: Back in the Stone Age

20:00 –                Annual Dinner

(Made possible by the kind support of the Heilbronn Fund)