Representatives from the Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS) joined colleagues from the STEM community at Parliamentary Links Day on Tuesday 29 June.

Gresham College has announced the appointment of Chris Budd OBE, Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of Bath, to the oldest mathematical chair in Britain, the Professorship of Geometry and Other Mathematical Sciences at Gresham College. In his role as Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, Chris Budd will continue the 419-year-old tradition of delivering free public lectures within the City of London and beyond. 

Professor Alice Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, King's College, London, has received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to Mathematics Education and Higher Education.

Nigel J. Hitchin, Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, is the winner of the 2016 Shaw Prize in the Mathematical Sciences. This international award honours individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have recently achieved distinguished and significant advances, who have made outstanding contributions in academic and scientific research or applications, or who in other domains have achieved excellence.

The London Mathematical Society (LMS) would like to extend its warmest congratulations to LMS Members Martin Bridson (Whitehead Professor of Pure Mathematics, University of Oxford), Marcus du Sautoy (Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford) and Caroline Series (Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick) on being elected Fellows of the Royal Society.

In his budget the Chancellor George Osborne announced that he has asked Sir Adrian Smith, Chair, Council for the Mathematical Sciences, to review the case for how to improve the study of mathematics from 16 to 18, to ensure the future workforce is skilled and competitive, including looking at the case and feasibility of all students continuing to study Mathematics to 18, in the longer term. The review will report during 2016.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2016 Abel Prize to Professor Sir Andrew Wiles, University of Oxford, ‘for his stunning proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem by way of the modularity conjecture for semi-stable elliptic curves, opening a new era in number theory’.Wiles will receive his award from His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon at the University of Oslo on 24^th May 2016.

Sir Christopher Zeeman, FRS, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday 13th February 2016 at home in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, aged 91. Sir Christopher was the Founding Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. He later served as President of the London Mathematical Society (LMS) from 1986 to 1988 and as Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. He is survived by his wife, Lady Rosemary Zeeman and his six children.

At the Special General Meeting held on 5 February 2016, the motion put before the membership was:

Instruct the Council to continue publication of the LMS Journal of Computation and Mathematics as a charitable activity, thus reversing the Council’s decision to close down the Journal.

The motion was not carried. Votes were, 158 against the motion, 131 for the motion, and one abstention.