Two Dames for Mathematics

The London Mathematical Society (LMS) would like extend its warmest congratulations to its former President, Professor Frances Kirwan FRS, and also to Professor Celia Hoyles, current President of the IMA, on becoming Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honours list.

Frances Kirwan receives a Damehood for services to Mathematics. She is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford where her research area is algebraic geometry. Her notable career has included many honours including being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001 (only the third female mathematician to attain this honour), and the President of the London Mathematical Society from 2003-2005 (only the second female ever elected). Professor Kirwan is a member of a number of UK, European and International Scientific Advisory Committees, including that of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn.  Professor Kirwan has for many years been active in addressing the gender imbalance in mathematics and is currently a member of the LMS Women in Mathematics Committee. She has also been active in European Women in Mathematics, having served as Convenor as well as chairing the Prizes Committee of the European Mathematical Society’s 6th European Congress of Mathematicians in 2013. Professor Kirwan has recently been awarded the LMS Senior Whitehead Prize having received the LMS Junior Whitehead prize in 1989.

Celia Hoyles becomes a Dame for services to Education. She is Professor of Mathematics Education at the Institute of Education, London and formerly Director of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. Professor Hoyles was awarded an OBE in 2004 for services to Mathematics Education. In the same year she took up the position of the government's Chief Adviser for Mathematics, a role she held until 2007. In 2011 she received the first Royal Society Kavli Education Medal. Professor Hoyles became President of the IMA in January this year.

Professor Terry Lyons FRS, President of the LMS, said: ‘Mathematics is vital to our society in so many different ways and we are delighted that the outstanding contributions of Frances Kirwan and Celia Hoyles have been recognised. The huge contribution to the mathematical community depends on the effectiveness of mathematics education and on the development of world-class mathematical research. Both are indispensible and we are very fortunate to have benefited from the services of both Frances Kirwan and Celia Hoyles’.