London Mathematical Society

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London Mathematical Society
London Mathematical Society (logo).png
Formation1865
TypeLearned society
HeadquartersLondon, WC1
United Kingdom
President
Caroline Series
Key people
Catherine Hobbs (Vice President)
Websitewww.lms.ac.uk

The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA)).

History[edit]

De Morgan House

The Society was established on 16 January 1865, the first president being Augustus De Morgan. The earliest meetings were held in University College, but the Society soon moved into Burlington House, Piccadilly. The initial activities of the Society included talks and publication of a journal.

The LMS was used as a model for the establishment of the American Mathematical Society in 1888.

The Society was granted a royal charter in 1965, a century after its foundation. In 1998 the Society moved from rooms in Burlington House into De Morgan House (named after the society's first president), at 57–58 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, to accommodate an expansion of its staff. The Society is also a member of the UK Science Council.

Proposal for unification with the IMA[edit]

On 4 July 2008, the Joint Planning Group for the LMS and IMA proposed a merger of two societies to form a single, unified society. The proposal was the result of eight years of consultations and the councils of both societies commended the report to their members.[1] Those in favour of the merger argued a single society would give mathematics in the UK a coherent voice when dealing with Research Councils.[2] While accepted by the IMA membership, the proposal was rejected by the LMS membership on 29 May 2009 by 591 to 458 (56% to 44%).[3]

Activities[edit]

The Society publishes books and periodicals; organizes mathematical conferences; provides funding to promote mathematics research and education; and awards a number of prizes and fellowships for excellence in mathematical research.

Publications[edit]

The Society's periodical publications include five printed journals:

  • Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society
  • Journal of the London Mathematical Society
  • Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society
  • Journal of Topology

It also publishes the journal Compositio Mathematica on behalf of its owning foundation, Mathematika on behalf of University College London and copublishes Nonlinearity with the Institute of Physics.

The Society publishes four book series: a series of Lecture Notes, a series of Student Texts. Previously it published a series of Monographs and (jointly with the American Mathematical Society) the History of Mathematics series. It also co-publishes four series of translations: Russian Mathematical Surveys, Izvestiya: Mathematics and Sbornik: Mathematics (jointly with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Turpion), and Transactions of the Moscow Mathematical Society (jointly with the American Mathematical Society).

An electronic journal, the Journal of Computation and Mathematics ceased publication at the end of 2017.

Prizes[edit]

The named prizes are:

In addition, the Society jointly with the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications awards the David Crighton Medal every three years.

List of presidents[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "New Math Soc". Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  2. ^ Rogers, Alice (12 May 2009). "Why I believe a united society would be better". Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  3. ^ "LMS Special General Meeting votes against progressing with unification plans". London Mathematical Society. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  4. ^ "2011 LMS Election Results". London Mathematical Society. 18 November 2011.
  5. ^ "List of Presidents of the London Mathematical Society" (PDF). London Mathematical Society. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  • Oakes, Susan Margaret; Pears, Alan Robson; Rice, Adrian Clifford (2005). The Book of Presidents 1865–1965. London Mathematical Society. ISBN 0-9502734-1-4.

External links[edit]