The regular monthly lecture meetings (October-June) are intended for an informed mathematical audience, and certainly not just for experts in a particular research area: they therefore provide a splendid opportunity to sample the flavours of many parts of mathematics and its applications that may previously have been unfamiliar. As usual, the meetings were held at numerous venues throughout Scotland. The Society is very conscious of its role as the premier mathematical society in Scotland and as the provider of a forum where its members can meet regularly to further mathematics and its applications -- and to catch up on the gossip from other places over a cup of tea!
At our first meeting of the past session, Adam McBride delivered his retiring Presidential Address with typical energy and panache: a bravura celebration of fractional integration and its uses. The subsequent lectures were notable for the speakers' mastery of, and enthusiasm for, their various subjects as well as (mostly!) their ability to communicate with non-specialists. The forthcoming programme for 1994-95 looks a very interesting one indeed, with invitations accepted by all our first-choice speakers.
The session closed at Strathclyde University with the 1994 Popular Lectures, jointly sponsored by the E.M.S. and the London Mathematical Society. There, around 200 senior schoolchildren and their teachers (including a busload from as far away as Elgin) heard two remarkable lectures. Dr. Richard Pinch gave a fascinating account of the history of "Fermat's Last Theorem"; then Dr. Colin Wright provided a captivating lecture/performance of "Juggling", complete with mathematical prediction, and subsequent demonstration, of new untried juggles! Video recordings of most of the previous Popular Lectures (but unfortunately not Dr. Wright's) are available from the L.M.S.
The Society's periodical, Proc. Edin. Math. Soc., continues to flourish. Through the efforts of the Editorial Board, under its Convener Prof. J. Howie and its Managing Editor Dr. C. M. Campbell, high standards are applied in selection of papers for publication. A problem associated with success in attracting good papers was a lengthening delay in publication: this has been alleviated by increasing the number of pages of some issues, with only a modest increase in the cost to subscribers.
The Treasurer Dr. A.D. Sands, advised by the Investments Committee, has continued to administer the Society's finances with wisdom and prudence. Our good financial position has enabled the General Committee and the Policy Advisory Group to consider ways of expanding the Society's activities to meet a wider audience, and so to increase our membership. As a start, we have decided to offer free membership to all research students matriculated at Scottish universities. Plans are in progress for a mini-conference or reading party with talks mainly by and for research students. Discussions are also taking place for future joint meetings with the London Mathematical Society and with the British Society for the History of Mathematics. The former is likely to be a one-day or two-day meeting in Scotland of advanced lectures on a major research area; and the latter will focus on the work of leading Scottish mathematicians from the past. Details of these meetings will be announced later.
The Centenary Fund continues to support worthwhile research activities that are unlikely to attract funding from Research Councils. Many of these grants support short visits to Scottish Universities by foreign researchers, to initiate or continue collaborative projects with our members. In addition, the Fund has supported activities of the International Centre for Mathematical Studies (ICMS) in Edinburgh; but, to preserve its grants to individuals, a ceiling of about one third of the Fund's annual budget has been put on its support of ICMS-related projects. A small separate fund has recently been set aside to foster mathematics in developing countries in ways not covered by the Centenary Fund rules. We should be glad to hear from any member who has, or knows of, a project that deserves our support. Our aim is to help improve local facilities and opportunities; but we are unlikely to make grants to support individual students.
The E.M.S. remains involved in national and international matters. Most notably, a new administrative structure has been adopted for running the annual British Mathematical Colloquium, with appointment of a Scientific Steering Committee that includes three nominees of the L.M.S. and three of the E.M.S. The current E.M.S. nominees are Prof. E.G. Rees (Edinburgh), Prof. K.A. Brown (Glasgow), Dr. A.C. McBride (Strathclyde). It is hoped that this new committee will help reverse the declining attendance at the B.M.C. The Society was also consulted, and offered advice, about appointments to the Chairmanship of the International Conference on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (to be held in Edinburgh in the year 2000) and to the Steering Committee of the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge. The President and Vice-President continue to represent the Society on the main committee and Higher Education Section of the Joint Mathematical Council, and a Society representative attends the meetings of HUDOMS (Heads of University Departments of Mathematical Sciences). We have also been in touch with the National Library of Scotland, which was considering cancellation of several important mathematics periodicals, including Math. Reviews and the SIAM journals: fortunately, these have been reprieved, at least for the time being. The Society Librarian has compiled a list, available on request, of foreign periodicals received in exchange for our Proceedings: these are held in the University of Edinburgh Mathematics Library at Kings Buildings.
The Society was not invited to comment on the Cabinet Office Consultative Document 'A New Structure for Postgraduate Research Training', but the General Committee took the view that we should do so anyway. As a result, I first circulated all Scottish Mathematics Departments to invite comments and then, with Adam McBride, sent a response from us, as President and Vice-President. Our letter reflected the majority, though not unanimous, views of our respondents and this turned out to be broadly in line with the independent submission made by the L.M.S. We emphasised that a first-class honours degree (or near miss) should continue to be the normal entry to a Ph.D. in mathematical subjects; that five-year undergraduate degrees and the proposed one-year M.Res. degrees had little merit; that any increase in the number of Masters degrees should not bring about a decrease in the number of Ph.D.'s; and that we did not favour external accreditation of research courses in mathematics.
The preparation of the last document brought home to me the role that the Edinburgh Mathematical Society can play as an independent voice for Scottish mathematics, that is not tied to any one institution. There are many causes for concern, with many changes being implemented (or, in some cases, not!) by each university in order to adapt to changing circumstances. What seems certain is that the central position of the traditional Scottish four-year B.Sc. is changing, as modules, semesters, credit transfer and M.Sci.'s proliferate in some though not all of our universities. But do we really want to abandon the old distinctive structure of Scottish university education without first agreeing on a coherent alternative? Answers on a postcard, please...
In the past year, I have become more aware of all the work that has to be done by the Officers of the Society. The main burden falls on the Treasurer Dr. A.D. Sands, on the Secretaries Dr. P. Heywood and Dr. C.J. Smyth and on the Proceedings Editors; but many other members have contributed their time and expertise as committee members or as local organisers of meetings. We are grateful to them all, and also to those University Departments that provided hospitality at our meetings. Particular thanks go to Dr. Adam McBride, our retiring Vice-President. Adam has been an office-bearer of the Society ever since 1974 and has done more than anyone to restore it to its present healthy state. He has been a hard act to follow as President, and we look forward to his continuing support, and his inimitable sense of fun, in the years to come.
Alex D.D. Craik
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Chris Eilbeck / Heriot-Watt University / chris@ma.hw.ac.uk